Cleaner Environment

Environment:

In the picture above it seems like trees and the environment are spreading at a rapid pace. This indicates that people are more focused on the environment and keeping the cities more ‘fresh’ as a way to keep it clean. However, the cities aren’t very appealing as buildings are only white and the surrounding areas are green. Also, the environment looks much more cleanly compared to the polluted industries that create smoke. Birds inhabit the area as if they it’s abandoned, with the whole green environment it doesn’t seem like there’s any people as if they let the land grow like that without doing anything about it. This could also indicate that people left the area and this is why the world is transforming. Without human population the area has become more clean because industries are abandoned which causes no pollution in the atmosphere. The city doesn’t necessarily look appealing because everything is just one of two colors – green or white. Having an area full of trees just looks like a tropical forest and with forest lurk dangerous animals and creatures that hide. This depicts that humans caused too much damage to the environment and that led to isolation or ghost towns which the forest began to rapidly spread.

Can the population even live in an all tree filled society? How far will people go in order to save their cities? Will people live in this city? How much destruction had caused people to isolate this city?

No matter how much destruction is caused, people will still continue to live in the city and overtime they’d just fix it. I think people who love the environment would actually live happily in this city as it’s what they wanted all along. Also, with much cleaner air people could live in a much safer environment.

Industrial Cities

Technology:

As depicted in this futuristic city, the future will become much more industrial. Buildings will become closer to each other and instead of being bright and colorful, the world transforms into a much more dull and colorless. It also seems that Coca-Cola is still a drink in the future meaning that it’s still a leading drink. In the sky, there are flying vehicles where traffic flows in one direction; but it seems rather unorganized meaning that without traffic signals the future is accident prone. Everything seems rather dusty and old which means that maintenance isn’t a concern as people seem to be airborne. However, trains and boats are still used most likely for those who can’t afford a futuristic car. The train resembles a bullet indicating that it’s much more efficient to travel on land. If a train wasn’t faster as a flying car than train services will be far in profit; thus they needed to match a car’s speed by creating a much more efficient way to travel. Though, it doesn’t seem like a boat has advanced as much, but the engines could be made quicker. It’s also important to note that some buildings are actually bigger than a car’s travel route which indicates that people who aren’t experienced would crash into them. As a result, licenses might not be given as easily and laws are stricter in order to have more experienced drivers on the road. This indicates that in the future cities will be more based in the air in terms of travel; however, for those who prefer land, they still have the options to choose from a train and boat.

How would people react to flying cars? Why are buildings larger than the maximum height cars travel by? Why does the city look more industrial and badly maintained? Will people accept these changes? How far will people be willing to go to adapt to these changes?

While flying cars may be a cool idea, it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily safe. As depicted in the picture cars seem to drive at a lower height than the taller buildings which means that it’s dangerous. Just because laws and customs changes when obtaining a driver’s license it doesn’t necessarily mean that people will be great drivers. Also, with the lack of traffic signals it seems like the airways are rather unorganized which may cause mayhem.

Experimental Destruction

Inequality:

Children of Men is a movie where women aren’t able to have children anymore which causes devastation among society as no child has been born for 18 years. Unknown to them an African woman is pregnant and thus needs to be transported away before people suspect what’s going on. Since people aren’t able to have children anymore the population is dwindling. Once people find out they attempt to go after the woman as a way to experiment on her. It seems like the population is going against women as a way to experiment on them to find the source of their infertility. They want to experiment until they can find the cure; but they’re too obsessed with returning the population to normal that they cast away rights. Since people want their legacy to be carried on in their children they’ll reproduce, though in this society they aren’t able to do that and by experimenting they attempt to find a cure with little to no possibility that they will. It’s like they’re treating the pregnant woman as if she was a miracle but the problem is that she’s not willing to allow the society to take her baby away, so she creates a way to hide herself. If she was taken into custody she would have the chances of losing her baby and in another way she could save the human population. However, she rather save her own child and move on rather than help the population; but society won’t allow her to do that; thus they’re taking her own rights away as a way to save the population. Either way if she didn’t want to help then she doesn’t – forcing her would only take her rights away; but this shows that people will do whatever they want when an opposing side disagrees.

How would government help the people – would they choose saving one person or the whole population? Is it one person’s right to save the population even if they don’t want too? Will people continue to fight for what they think is right?

In conclusion the government will always do what’s best for the entire population even if they had to steal the rights from one person. The fact is that if it’s one person they would rather save the whole population compared to only one. If someone had to save the whole population they wouldn’t have too, but it’ll be best if they did.

Censorship as a Source of Control

The following excerpt is taken from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

Government:

IT WAS A PLEASURE TO BURN

IT was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.

With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous

kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the

hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning

to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. With his symbolic helmet

numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of

what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that

burned the evening sky red and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies.

He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the

furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the

house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned

dark with burning.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury demonstrates a strong censorship of books enforced by the government. The government isn’t trying to aid the people; but instead they’re destroying it. It’s plausible that the government originally intended to burn books because society decided that it wasn’t worth the time anymore. However, by doing so they brainwash the people by not only allowing society to think for themselves by educating them with less education – only sports and activities where they can’t stop to think. If they allow society to stop thinking then they won’t go against the laws they set. With a strong government control people won’t go against laws and just follow it exactly which allows the government to create whatever laws they see fit. People don’t even see the need to think because they know that the government will help them in creating a strong centralized society; but they will never be able to understand that when they don’t even stop to think. Censorship is established to control, not help – what the people in this society don’t realize is that the government isn’t helping them. If the people allow leaders to lead the control with 100 percent authority, they’ll use that to their advantage by gaining absolute control and people will lose their freedom. In Fahrenheit 451 if people wanted that type of government they should have moved to a communist or a dictator run country instead – which goes against ideal society of America. This shows that when people throws something away such as reading – the government will establish laws to censor it in order to end disputes; but as people give up on other things; that’s when the government will take full control.

How will the world stop the government if they took full control? Will the government ever attempt to gain absolute power? Is censorship going to lead to the end of society? How far will people go in order to stop something?

In the end, there will always be a group of people to go against the government because everyone has their own set of ideals. No matter how hard the government attempts to destroy something another group will continue to form and hide items that are censored and spread their ideals. Government can’t gain full control even if they wanted too as others will go against their enforcement.

One Man War

War:

The movie “The Book of Eli” takes place in a post-war future and presently there’s still some war waging on. Denzel Washington who plays the main character Eli is blind; but yet he has mysterious powers that protect him from danger – it’s later shown that the Bible was protecting him. As he continues to travel west he encounters a man named Carnegie who attempts to steal the bible from him. The whole movie is depicted with war which is waged against one man – Eli. Carnegie is trying to steal the book in order to control his town and have power; but the only person standing in his way is Eli. A war against one man is dangerous; it’s like having the whole world against you. However, Eli is still able to pull everything off whenever he holds the book but because he’s blind it stops him from being able to know what he’s doing and once he loses the book, he’s done for. It’s obvious that no matter how strong one person is or how capable their abilities are they won’t survive in a war filled world by themselves. Since the setting is post-war it indicates that in the past that the world was most likely purged to rid the world of humankind as technology increased. People wanted power and that led to devastation and even in Eli’s world he’s still in a war – a war for the possession of one book. War destroys everything as you can see in the movie trailer, the towns and buildings were all destroyed and it seems like everyone has resorted to becoming bandits – to steal and kill. War leaves nothing and that’s the whole depiction of the movie because war continues to destroy rather than help human population. The movie demonstrates that when people attempt to gain something they will wage war, no matter how terrifying the losses will be they still continue on.

With war will everyone join one side? Is everything going to be destroyed? What kind of weapons will be created in order to combat against one another? How far one people go to obtain something? How far will someone go to protect something? Would war lead to change?

In conclusion, war will destroy mostly everything as when people try to steal or destroy an opposing side will always attempt to protect. In order to win against war – each side creates a more advanced technology in order to fight against the opposing side or the losses will become devastating.

Futuristic Destruction and Devastation

Environment:

The video above is a movie trailer entitled 2012, what 2012 depicts of the future is the end of the world. As you can see in the video, the words, “How would the government of our planet prepare six million people for the end of the world?” The images shown in the video shows the ocean consuming everything and easily destroying a building as it crumbles into the violent waves. 2012 depicts yet another apocalyptic movie – however, it does state that there will be no survivors indicating that the world will truly come to an end. This devastation is caused by the earth’s core increasing in atmospheric heat causing natural disasters. People won’t be able to escape and nor will the earth’s population ever be brought back with no survivors. The use of huge waves engulfing everything shows another theory in our current society – Global Warming where the polar ice caps are melting due to an increase in temperature and climate changes. Global Warming will cause more water to be added into the ocean depths causing less land. If this movie was to be true then civilization will end as we know it. The monk in the beginning of the traveler rings the bell to warn others; but it doesn’t seem like there’s even anyone around him and he was the only person shown. Ocean waves had destroyed everything by the time – the waves reached dangerous levels – it was above land. No matter how people try to escape there won’t be an end, and if the whole Global Warming controversy is true than the world will end as shown in the movie; though, I don’t think that it will be real as the world ending in 2012 has no real proof besides the Mayan calendar – which evidently ends at 2012. In fact, Harold Camping stated that the world would end in 2010; but he was wrong, and recently he stated that his calculations were all wrong and the world was to end in October 21, 2011 which Rapture would occur; but yet again it’s October 25, 2011 right now and the world still hasn’t ended.

If the world was to end will it occur just like it happened in the movie? Will the world even end? What will happen to the population? Will people continue to ignore those who try to make depictions? Would the world survive?

In conclusion, the world may not end as depicted in the movie because even if Global Warming was a cause it’d take years for ocean levels to increase over land.

An End to Civilization

Religion:

In the video above it depicts the opening cinematic for a video game called Darksiders, the game demonstrates several aspects of its future – an apocalypse and the usage of figures from the bible – the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The name of the protagonist is War, after being accused of starting the apocalypse early has to confront a multitude of tasks – destroying both Heaven and Hell’s army. As depicted in the bible, the Four Horsemen are to bring forth the devastation as harbingers of the Last Judgment. Even though this event is described in the bible it’s nearly impossible for anyone to being upon an apocalypse as it just happens. I doubt that during an apocalypse that anyone would even survive or live to the extent for years. Having dangerous monsters isn’t possible as those are just shown in movies and if that was true; someone wouldn’t be able to fend off all those huge monsters like War had done. The game heavily follows chaos being foretold in the bible, obviously with its own variations. It wouldn’t actually be cool if an apocalypse were to happen because throughout the game there were no human survivors – only monsters, an army, and War himself. Everything is destroyed and there’s basically nothing left, even though War stopped the whole gap of destruction, he would never be able to bring back civilization – note that despite being a harbinger he only went against his job because he was accused of treason; so ultimately he was only trying to clear his name. No progress will be made or would civilization ever be revived due to monsters inhabiting the land; thus according to this game and the bible an apocalypse will only bring upon devastation rather than cause change to mankind as humans are wiped out.

Is an apocalypse really going to occur? Would Four Horsemen even come upon the world? I don’t have any religious preference but it seems like something as mythical people would ever be true. Could civilization survive during an apocalypse? There might be some people who would survive, but even if they did the question is how long would they survive? – Probably not very long as if there’s only one survivor, it means that humans will be wiped off the face of the earth. Could people ever try to find ways to stop this event from occurring? It just happens so I doubt it could be stopped. Though it might not ever happen even 2012 mark the end of civilization; but that’s also unbelievable. It doesn’t seem right to me that an event could even occur even if the bible depicts this event – nor does the bible explicitly states when the apocalypse will occur.

Sub-Zero Temperatures - A way of Living?

Biotechnology:

With the recent release of Batman Arkham City – a video game, the fictional character above known as Mr. Freeze is an example of biotech. After an accident he’s can only survive in a cryogenic suit. All his powers revolve around the theme of ice which in the future means that people will have the ability to mutate and create dangerous suits and weapons like Mr. Freeze. This suggests that people will acquire the technology to alter their genes and mutate into something beyond human – a superhuman. The idea is still far-fetched as currently individuals do not gain super strength through gene alteration. It’s impossible to acquire power such as someone’s body only being able to survive in sub-zero temperatures; however, if that was to happen, technology can be created to allow the person to survive. Though, under normal circumstances will a person be able to survive a cryogenic environment. With new technology coming out like the iPhone – which advances with every new release and more advance technology being revealed even super computers can be built; thus creating a super powered suit is plausible. However, I doubt that someone would be able to survive below sub-zero temperatures even if they were altered since the normal human body temperature is about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit which makes it almost impossible for anyone to survive – in fact, they’ll freeze to death. In the future, the idea may be plausible because technology advances every day and with technology that Batman uses/creates it just means that knowledge will keep on increasing which will eventually lead to development of suits just like Mr. Freeze’s and gene alteration – which may or may not be dangerous depending on the alteration and person.

Questions are if society will ever reach or consider altering their bodies in order to have superhuman powers? Will these powers come with consequences? For example, in Mr. Freeze’s case, his downfall is that he cannot survive without his suit or anywhere warmer above sub-zero temperature. Will society ever allow mankind to become like this? How would society use this advancement – either positively or negatively? Would people become insane with power or use it for the good of others?

Even if this idea may be far from being possible, I do think that most people would like to have superpowers. Though, some might use it for evil purposes – these powers do come with negative side effects. With side effects, I don’t think most people will ever consider trying to become this advanced, unless of course the positive outweighs the negatives. Society may resort to altering genes to save the lives of people; but that’ll ultimately come at a cost. It may seem cool to have superpowers, but that’s not always the best option for humankind to follow or go towards.

Down Through The Ocean Depths

Environment:

The image above demonstrates that we as society are moving towards. This city looks like it’s underwater with no signs of a dome to protect the citizens – they can’t breathe. However, because there seems to be no form of protection this also illustrates that in the future people will begin to live underwater – without fear of being attacked by sea creatures. From the looks of it, killer whales and mantis rays seems to be heading towards the city meaning that they’re attracted to it. This could be the result of the light shining from the dome. Currently it’s impossible for society to move fully underwater – it’s still far reached from what technology is fully capable of; however, as society begins to evolve more, we may be capable of producing something as high-tech like an underwater themed city. This could also suggest that with the impact of Global Warming society is becoming more strained; impact of natural disasters will cause nations to fall beneath water and as a result scientists come up with a way to prevent us from drowning. With large changes in technology today such as the use of 3D, who knows where society will end up in a couple of years?

My questions are as a nation who’s already fully dependent on technology; will this cause us to fully become lazy? – Technology makes things more ‘efficient’ in terms of getting rid of the need to do something by making it ‘easier’ – as a result it forces us to become too dependent. How can we fully live in the ocean? Can we become adapt to the ocean currents and become like sea creatures – just like growing fins, etc.? What happens if the city fails to protect us – humans? Will we ever survive in a small island? Living in the ocean may sound like a great idea; but will it benefit us? I rather live above the surface than stay trapped in the ocean with dangerous creatures lurking about.

Controlling Society

Government:

The following excerpt is taking from 2 B R 0 2 B by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

"Or something," said the painter. He took a list of names from his smock pocket. "Duncan, Duncan, Duncan," he said, scanning the list. "Yes—here you are. You're entitled to be immortalized. See any faceless body here you'd like me to stick your head on? We've got a few choice ones left."

She studied the mural bleakly. "Gee," she said, "they're all the same to me. I don't know anything about art."

"A body's a body, eh?" he said, "All righty. As a master of fine art, I recommend this body here." He indicated a faceless figure of a woman who was carrying dried stalks to a trash-burner.

"Well," said Leora Duncan, "that's more the disposal people, isn't it? I mean, I'm in service. I don't do any disposing."

The painter clapped his hands in mock delight. "You say you don't know anything about art, and then you prove in the next breath that you know more about it than I do! Of course the sheave-carrier is wrong for a hostess! A snipper, a pruner—that's more your line." He pointed to a figure in purple who was sawing a dead branch from an apple tree. "How about her?" he said. "You like her at all?"

"Gosh—" she said, and she blushed and became humble—"that—that puts me right next to Dr. Hitz."

"That upsets you?" he said.

"Good gravy, no!" she said. "It's—it's just such an honor."

"Ah, You admire him, eh?" he said.

"Who doesn't admire him?" she said, worshiping the portrait of Hitz. It was the portrait of a tanned, white-haired, omnipotent Zeus, two hundred and forty years old. "Who doesn't admire him?" she said again. "He was responsible for setting up the very first gas chamber in Chicago."

"Nothing would please me more," said the painter, "than to put you next to him for all time. Sawing off a limb—that strikes you as appropriate?"

"That is kind of like what I do," she said. She was demure about what she did. What she did was make people comfortable while she killed them."

---

Leora Duncan is a citizen that worships Dr. Hitz simply because he created the first gas chambers. When asked a question she blushes and states “Gosh..that – that puts me right next to Dr. Hitz”, she’s basically hypnotized to the point that she thinks anything that Hitz does is for the well-being of the people. Basically in a dystopian society the people follow authority in order to avoid putting themselves in danger or because they can’t think for themselves – authorities will take advantage. Leora is an example of following others and thinking they’re great because she feels that it’s right; however, she’s not thinking about the consequences – she could even be the next person sacrificed. But yet she still “admires him”, the fact is, when given a chance people follow leaders instead of thinking rationally. In this dystopian society, the government censors us into follow their lead, if we don’t, we’re sent to the gas chambers. Fear is the whole control; thus we can’t think for ourselves leading us to look for someone that can lead us. It’s obvious that Hitz is a villain, but yet Leora worships him as if he was a god. As a result, Hitz has condemned society into believing gas chambers was right – a correct way of trying to control and maintain society – to what he feared, if population became too big a revolution would begin.

After World War II, the Milgram experiment was conducted – people had headphones, a button, and an authority figure standing next to them. They were told that the person in the next room would be shocked whenever the button was pressed; no matter how badly they wanted to stop (since they could “hear” the person screaming stating that they need to stop because they had a heart condition) they couldn’t since the authority figure said they had to continue. However, the trick was that they did not have to stay – the authorities weren’t forcing them to stay. This experiment proved that people listen to authorities even if they don’t agree with their ways; more people in this experiment continued on; but only a few actually left. Along with 2 B R 0 2 B, this shows that people follow authorities even if they don’t believe in their ways. As a society we just follow laws and only a few people would go against it – these people believe that some laws are wrong and should be revoked. Though, the majority just follow and never question because they believe that authorities are always right – though this is not always the case.