part0085

So, if you have read this far then you have accompanied me on a little tour of my universe, which has comprised a few reflections on how far we have come in terms of science and technology, what might have been holding us back, the major threats we face, and what the future might hold. And that future is going to be, I believe, an extraordinarily bright one. Why there is such a fashion for depicting dystopian futures, for example in films, I don’t know – what’s the point? I guess it’s the old profession of being a doom-merchant – which so much of the media seems to be overly focused on. Essentially it creates a sensation and thereby gets the writer responsible noticed. Who wants to hear about everything going well? A scandal is juicier and more intriguing and certainly sells newspapers. This is why so much of our news is sensationalised and presented in a dramatic and emotional format. I swear that some news agencies could provide a dramatic and/or sensationalist spin on the news that, for example, there has been no bad news for a while e.g. “we poor humans have had too much of a good run of it and I expect we will have to pay for it”, or something similar.

Not that there are no threats that are emerging that are potentially serious, and which require our attention to avoid or minimise possible negative effects. I have endeavoured to describe a few and I hope I have provided some realistic contexts for what they do/might mean for mankind and how we can tackle them.

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.”

I am with Willie Nelson in believing that positive thoughts can lead to positive actions. That is why I have made such mention of figures associated with popular culture – most of the people mentioned had a positive influence, if not directly then surely through their creative influence. Amongst all of the imagery, some of the strongest positivity comes, at least for me, from Star Trek ; as George Takei (who played Mr Sulu) expressed it:

And Sherlock Holmes, who you will have noticed I have made much mention of, is a character who, despite his somewhat dark habits, comprises a very positive figure – so much so that he even overcame the ‘foremost champion of crime’ – Professor Moriarty, albeit at the cost of his own life (or so Watson thought). Watson eloquently expressed his admiration for Holmes in the short story ‘The Final Problem’, which ends with Watson saying he shall ever regard Holmes as “the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known”.

So, I am very much not in the dystopian camp. But I might also have some difficulties in believing in a future utopia, since I haven’t seen much evidence that man is, or will be, capable of creating a community or society that is perfect or ideal. However, one thing I do believe is that there is realistic potential for the future to be vastly better than anything mankind has experienced up to now. I am also convinced that the chances of realising such an agreeable future will be increased by general positivity and specifically by imagining various possible positive future scenarios.

But what of the title of this book: “Why you can’t catch a rocket to Mars”? Well, the design and build of such a device will require, I fancy, quite an impressive effort and engineering achievement. Engineering is facilitated by scientific and technological advances. Impressive developments in these areas were made by the ancient Greeks, who managed to communicate some concepts to the Romans; but it seems that most of their advanced culture was somehow forgotten for many centuries. The world effectively fell asleep all through the Dark Ages. It may well be that if the barbarians had not sacked the great library at Alexandria, thereby burning the many thousands of scripts and parchments therein, the hiatus in man’s achievements would not have occurred and previous generations could have built upon the excellent accomplishments of the ancient Greeks (Carl Sagan certainly thought so). If this had occurred, then I feel that there would be little doubt that you would be able to catch the Martian rocket – if not the Alpha Proxima one!

But we are where we are, and we do need to ask why all the excitement of the space race, culminating in man landing on the Moon, did not lead to the kinds of accomplishments that were expected – for example, humans travelling to Jupiter and Saturn as in the films 2001 A Space Odyssey and Silent Running . I have tried to present some reflections and narratives that may help to explain this apparent shortcoming, but the causes might be simpler than we realise and it may be entirely possible to also express the situation very succinctly; here, for example is my rather simpler take on the situation: Nowadays it’s all about bean counting and spin-doctoring, with emphasis put on such things as economics, personality (rather than character), and disposable pop culture. As I mentioned before, I enjoy history programmes and reading novels as much as the next person, but such things will not save the planet – for that we need science and engineering!

In making the attempt at the end of Part 3 to predict important anticipated developments/inventions of the far future, I am doing something that wise men would probably advise against. Of course, I, like anyone else, can’t realistically peek into the far future. Its secrets and astonishing possibilities are hidden from us as a consequence of the things we can imagine being heavily influenced by the limitations of our own age. The far future will be more influenced by, and similar to, the medium future rather than anything we could dream up. However, I do think it is important to consider the far future, if for no other reason than just to show that we do have sufficient confidence in the wisdom of man to expect there will be a positive far future to look forward to (as mentioned, it is likely that maintaining a positive belief such as this will increase the chances of it becoming true).

Arthur C. Clarke once said: “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” I don’t know if the possibilities are terrifying, but they must both certainly be astonishing. Most people, most of the time, simply don’t think about such concepts – presumably because they involve questions they cannot answer and which they believe will not affect their lives. I hope that, with this book, I have shown in some modest kind of way, that they might just be somewhat in error in both of those convictions.

It is natural to be somewhat afraid of the unknown, and the future, by its very nature, is something that will always have elements of the unknown associated with it. But if we look to the suffering and ignorance of the past millennia it becomes clear that progress for humankind has, over the ages, comprised a long move forward into broad, sunlit uplands (to employ Churchill’s phrase) – we have no reason to suppose that the next phase of man’s destiny will not be similarly positive. We, like our ancient predecessors, can choose to look over the next mountain if we wish. I believe that if we step forward with resolve and determination, in the certain belief that our knowledge and achievements can lead us to a new Golden Age, then we will be bound to find ourselves justified.

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.