Ookings of d00m

As I sit here reviewing the latest Service Request document, listening to Dr. Steel sing about the Singularity with an article on transhumanism open in the web browser, it suddenly hits me: I am passively, yet eagerly, awaiting the future. The passivity bugs me.

The question I am asking myself is this; "What am I doing to make the future more awesome?"

How does one make the future more awesome? Technology is one way. Organ cloning, iPhones, collaborative technology and the stuff of incomprehensible buzzwords. The raw tools of the Amazing Future are the technological and scientific discoveries of today.

Another way is cultural¹ - art, Art, music, fashion, literature and the other dozens of media that bond us all together. The simultaneous record and genesis of our collective unconscious. Vaguely speaking, contributing to intentionally changing society into something a little bit niftier.

I have friends doing thier part on the technology side. I have friends doing thier part to stave off the Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse, and friends working to be ready for when it comes anyway. Friends who write, friends who create art, friends that fight for political change, friends who are walking paradigm shifts² in stylish shoes.

When I look at my own life, I find that I just sort of sit here waiting for the Future to arrive. I am a passive consumer of the Future, sitting around reading about tomorrow and wondering when my flying car and jet pack are going to arrive.

Now, having 31 years of experience of being me, I strongly suspect that I'm not going to undergo some major change of self that's going to see this changing.

In the end analysis, the answer to the question "What am I doing to make the future more awesome?" is simply "Waiting. Watching. And hoping I notice the Future when it comes by." I don't know that that is good enough, but it might be all I've got.

¹And yes, I'm blurring media, art and culture together into one bucket. It is intentional.

²I cannot believe I just intentionally used the phrase "paradigm shift".