Anyone who’s a fan of the sci-fi genre knows that there are certain aspects of the future that the writers of these books, films, and television shows sometimes predict in an eerily accurate way.
Just a few examples…
Author Jules Verne released From Earth to the Moon, in 1865 which described three Americans' mission to launch a spacecraft and land on the moon. Parts of the novel were similar to the first real moon landing, which occurred 104 years later. Both even launched from Florida.
The Communicator device from "Star Trek," first shown in 1966, looked just like a flip phone. Though engineers were working on developing this technology in the 1960s, it took Motorola until 1973 to debut the world's first mobile phone.
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, a dystopian novel published in 1931, features a mood-altering pill called Soma that acts as an antidepressant hallucinogen. Two decades after Brave New World came out, scientists began researching antidepressants.
There are many more examples of this phenomena.
As a sci-fi author myself, I can personally attest to this. The places imagination can take you sometimes seems as real as reality. The process of working in the sci-fi realm for years on end train you to spot trends and then walk them decades into the future to imagine how they'll evolve.
I began writing my first sci-fi novel, Alarm Clock Dawn, in the early 2000’s and many things portrayed in the novel have come into being. One of them, China’s Social Credit System, stands out as one of the closest similarities (but there are others). I wrote about a social scoring system that categorizes people into tightly defined/controlled groups and affects every aspect of their lives. When I think about how so much of what I wrote about all those years ago are coming true today I get goosebumps.
Little did I know that providing educated guesses about where the world is heading is now in high demand. It's now possible to build a lucrative career as a futurist. Military institutions, NATO, and multinational companies believe so much in the value of this they’re employing futurists to help predict/develop future products and strategies (source). This would be an amazing way to help shape the future.
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I think blockchain/cryptocurrency companies, specifically, should begin actively seeking this same kind of help from futurists. Futurists could help to predict all of the wonderful ways in which cryptocurrency and blockchain can be integrated into our lives, and also help us avoid some of the potential pitfalls. Creatives can provide a bridge between those who are in the forefront of developing it and the public who needs to be shown how cryptocurrency and blockchain will benefit them in ways they can relate to.
As early adopters in this space it's easy to forget how young this industry really is. A lot of us here understand and are excited about the potential in distributed ledger technology to help humanity build a more free and equitable society. We’re also frustrated by how long it's taking the world to realize it. If we can use the development and adoption of the internet as a yardstick (as many are beginning to do), it’s still very early in the game.
You only have to watch the news or spend time on social media to realize how desperately our world is in need of substantive change but change on a scale this immense takes time. It's important that we get it right. Throughout this stage of development we must be very mindful of how this technology evolves. Like any tool, it could be used for good or, if it falls into the wrong hands, it could make for an even more inescapable life of serfdom for the masses.
I love the Tesla quote above because it accurately embodies so many of us in the industry today. Whether we realize it or not, all of us early adopters are “planters” in our own unique ways. Patience can sometimes be difficult to muster. This extended bear market, hacks, scams, regulatory concerns, and the low price of Steem in particular, have taken a toll on us all. Whenever I feel like I'm beginning to lose hope, I only have to pause, take a breath, and remind myself how new this all is. Quitting, or doing nothing, will result in an endless continuation of the status quo so it's not a viable option.
Each line of code that’s written, every new person we bring into the fold, and each time we think of ways distributed ledger technology can make our quality of life better we’re progressing. We’re sowing the seeds that future generations will enjoy the fruits of. I can think of no better legacy to leave. I've seen a glimpse of this new world and now I can never look back.
Keep on planting,
Eric
(Gif sourced from Giphy.com)
Alarm Clock Dawn, one of the first full length novels published on the blockchain, and the book that started it all for me can be found HERE. Or Click Here to read it for free on the Steemit blockchain
My book on meditation, The Perfect Pause, is priced at $12.99 (paperback) and $4.99 (eBook). Buy the paperback and receive the eBook for free!
