A Future in Escape
Posted on November 6, 2021 — 2 Minutes Read
Since the dawn of modernity, breakthroughs in sciences advance technological progress. From the steam engines to the internet, they change and improve our lives one step at a time. The direction at which scientific research or technological development are oriented today provides as such a glimpse of what the future might hold for the generation next. Unlike the past where most if not all of the advancements in science and technology were almost exclusively born out of academic or military research, today technological developments are being progressed as much in the industry as well. For in an age of capitalism and consumerism, the size of the market provides lucrative rewards for technology company that can paint a picture of the future that no one else can while it funds its way there. It is then all the more frightening to see that the two directions the technology giants are progressing towards today are both on the premise of escape.
Whether it is the 21th-century space race between Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and SpaceX, that respectively champion space tourism, extending life and work to the space above, or Mars colonisation for transforming humanity to a multiplanetary species; or the inroads into metaverse, by Meta or previously known as Facebook, that aims to build a 3D virtual and augmented reality where people could connect and socialise; both of these directions are founded on the same principle of escaping the physical reality on Earth today. Together with the challenge to hold global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels or risk edging towards the point of no return; while politicians in the developed countries are keen on blaming the developing ones for their lion’s share of carbon emission today, who are nonetheless arguing their carbon emission is for no other than producing food and services for precisely the people in these developed countries, and is merely a dash comparing to historical emission by these developed ones that brought humanity to the crisis today; it makes you wonder if perhaps those in the forefront of technology have given up hope.