So I had this dream (17/5/2013 before dawn) I really want to talk about, I had many epic dreams in my life, and i always wanted to write them down, yet i guess this is the first time i actually do it.
i have sense (no scientist facts to back me up) that how complicated and how much details your dream have direct connection to the complexity to your brain, and your capability to use it, it is only my guts feeling, that dreams are like the software and your brain is the hardware, if your hardware isn't advance enough, the result you see won't be too impressive, at the same time, if your software isn't powerful enough, no matter how advance your hardware is, it just won't produce anything.
Anyway, before we begin, i wish i am a great artist can truly illustrated every single details and scenes in my dream, because none of these pictures i found on internet come close to what my perspective of the future in my dream, maybe in the future i can find someone to draw precisely as i remembered.
Also bear in mind i had no control over my dream, and i have absolutely no idea how these concept came out, i think it combines a lot of Si-fi movies and futuristic books i watch and read over the years, some of the stuffs i saw have already been discussed in real life, but many of them i think it is truly generated purly from my brain during my dream, some expert say our brain is so locked up due to restriction, rules, logic and emotion suppression in reality when we are awake, when we have self-control, so our brain can only release its true capability when we are in deep sleep, when only we are relax, and not in control.
Living in 2099
Anyway, lets start off with when i realize i am in 2099, i "woke up" in a room, i know it is my home, i was living by myself, i also know it is 2099 (for no particular reason except everything is very futuristic and roughly 100 years from now). My identity haven't changed much from my reality - a typical lower middle class who have to work everyday, but the room is a bit dark, because it is in the evening, my apartment is like in the mid sky, when i look out the windows, i see all buildings in the city is relatively tall compare to nowaday's skyscrapers, due to over-population, everything have to build up vertical, consider 60 billions is hard to handle today in 2013, think of the population will be growing exponentially in 100 years time, think of 300-500 billions of people living on this planet in 2099, things have to develop upward.
City Planning
In my dream, I am living somewhere between 120-140 level of a public housing, already consider to be lower deck, and when i looked out my windows, there are many floors above me, and further way there are some commercial buildings, they are built to be as tall as the earth atmosphere, i don't see buildings, i see a bunch of "sticks" poking to the sky above the cloud, the difference between luxury apartments and normal apartments is that, luxury apartments are set above the cloud, so there are always sunshine, while normal apartments like myself have to accept we will always affected by the weathers.
the material of the building is no more bricks and steel, it is a composition i cannot understand, but the whole apartment is like a single composition, it means it was built as a modules.
Yet one thing i can remember very clear is, everything in the city is being optimized, from traffics, pedestrian flow, shopping mall, estimate time to destination. I didn't see many vehicles in my dream, but i have this idea that if i want to buy anything, i will be informed where and how to get it, or ask for delivery to my door. People go out and do not find what they need will be impossible, and cars don't have to wait for pedestrian, and they won't be any car crashes, or hitting people on the road, because everything will be in automation, no traffic lights anymore, things just run extremely smooth and super efficient. Men and vehicles are completely separated. Every facilities will also be optimized for everyone, disables, special needs, when new needs occurs, all the facilities will adapt and add new modules for particular needs in an extreme efficient time manner.
Aircraft? Too much risk!
One thing i notice in my dream is that use of aircraft have been eliminated, aircraft have become antique in 2099, people see flight vehicle as we see steam engine nowadays, because it is too much risk of flying. Instead people are traveling by vacuum bullet train between different countries, this idea is definitely not from me, i read this concept when i was 5 and it have been sticking in my head forever.
However in my dream i added a bit more explanation to it, the "tube" is so well developed the network come across everywhere between continents, when the tube is at a vacuum status, the train can travel as the speed of bullets, and engineers have more control over then an aircraft which need to deal with turbulence and much more uncertainties. you shoot the train which hover in the middle of the tube by magnetic fields, no more take off, landing risk, no more fiction, air resistance, thus acceleration, safety are all superior than aeroplanes, and the tubes are very flexibility, almost organic, can it adapt to water flow, even earth quakes.
Space travel? It is so not necessary!
In most of the si-fi, like starwar, star trek, spaceship has been invented for exploration, because "space, our final frontier!" and it is attractive and cool. Yet in my dream, spaceships are not so popular, people get to space by space evaluator, works pretty much like the vacuum tube, except it is vertical. People are being "shot" to space inside a carrier, the space stations are orbiting the earth inline with the rotation speed of the earth. Space stations are mainly for commercial, e.g. shopping, romantic dinner, office (because the rent is cheaper outer space than on land).
What about space travel, the exploration, the advantage, like the U.S.S. Enterprise in Star Trek? Space exploration in 2099 is pretty much like going to the Amazon forest, or north pole, do people nowadays find interest in an icebreaker heading to north pole? yes, for scientists and environmental protection organization e.g. green peace, or few individual want to travel far far away for couple months, not so much for a normal citizen, nor the government, because there isn't much useful things out there, and more importantly, people just don't care, they have their own business and family need to deal with on daily basic, not much different from today.
Social Structures
As you can see, the major cities are developed majorly vertical and horizontal in my dream, and left a large amount of airspace only few will use, in order to minimize the risk of flight crashing and incalculable weather.
What about the society? Do unfairness or discrimination have been eliminated? I think i am pretty certain in my dream is that, the system has been advanced and evolved, but human is pretty much the same, i will get back to human in the last section. In my dream, citizen have been specified in such details your ID will have information like: Yim Tien Ho Calvin, Class D3 citizen, address: Apt 4003, section 45D, code 8546A4542, Job: financial service, Nature: Insurance, post: Insurance agents, date of birth: 10/01/1982.
Citizen have been identified into many classes, like you would be in a company, this will help the authority to keep track of all citizen for efficient and effective arrest if any crime happens, as you can imagine, it is extremely difficult to keep a low crime rate when the population of a single city have reached 1 billion.
The lower class, middle class and upper class separation have no changed much, the poor become poorer and the rich do indeed become richer. The lower class live in the bottom of the city or the public housing, the upper class do reach the sky literally because their apartment are all above clouds, and middle class are somewhere in between.
Party in the space, and complaining and fighting at the bottom at the lower deck, there is nothing new under the sun. And for country side, either you are getting some extremely luxury mansion, most of the house are for people who do not enjoy a busy city life.
Religions and Cultures
People who hate religions always dream they will be vanished in the future, in my dream the major religions still exist and become strong, Catholic, Christianity, Islamic and Buddhism do not disappear with the advance of technology, in fact it grows even stronger. And there are many little religions come and go, that have not root deep in the history. Funny thing i do see a small church at around level 150 from my windows, and a Buddhist temple at another building further away, religions just adapt the culture and changes of this world, as their core value do satisfy human desires, that many do not feel the needs of it, remain deists, atheists or skeptic.
More over, many people still suffer from low-esteem or self-doubt, so there are many guru, psychologist, public figures, spiritual leaders that wrote self-help books or talk show who are earning millions of dollars from it, just like today, you name it, they will have it.
The world will have so much varieties, being classified into detailed catalog in the government's central system, some are legal and some are not, which a lot of people resist to do so today, they will have no choice in the future of my dream.
Laws and Orders
Pretty much the same, but zillions more different new scenario will be applied, things that we find weird or unacceptable today. Think of 200 years ago, even the most forward thinking and open minded person cannot accept many ways we live today, so we called them dinosaurs, and we will be called the same in the future.
It is easy to understand, to govern so many people, things need to be specific and effective, China is doing it right now, holding the largest population of the a single country, manage 13 billions people without proper laws and orders will be impossible, and extremely at risk of collapse. Imagine after 100 years, even a less dense country like USA will become as sizable as China today, and for China, the numbers will be enormous.
There is particular one memory in my dream is that, there is a law enforce on every citizen who know they are going to die, e.g. in the hospital, they have to create a song and sing it when they pass away, yes, a law, i don't know how my brain make that up. The law is base on a proof that creativity and music will somehow help human to accept our final destiny easier, and by expressing it (singing out) will make us go away more peacefully. It is a compulsory act, not a citizen can choose from, yet when this regulation is executed, it doesn't look very mean, it's more like few doctors and nurse will encourage you to sing it out, and the patients will start singing, some refuse because they don't want to die, but some will accept and go away peacefully. I know it is kinda weird, but what is not in the future at today's standard?
Humanity
In my dream, i see high tech artificial limbs, people like Nick Vujicic won't have problem to take care of himself (not like he can't now, but you know what i mean) without any assistance, but you think the technology will kill all the disease and humanity will have all healthy and happy? Precisely the direct opposite, more virus, more disease appeared, people live a longer life, because the medical also offer a counter to the new virus and disease, medical industry will be as important as financial industry today, many new medicines are invented, but at the end of the day, which side is winning? pretty much like today.
genetic engineering is like the new mechanical engineering in the industrial revolution and electronic and digital engineering today. People will keep trying to play the God we can never be, we can start manipulating, altering life, try to change the fate of mankind, but at the end of the day, we can never create life.
Have human evolved? probably not also, our nature is the same in the past, now and will always be the same in the future, the desire for food, drinks, sex, social status, respect, remain the same, the society just give us different package at different stage of human history. There will be people always not happy with their life, people complain the government is the big brother want to control all, people find joy in relationship, suffer from it, office politics, people get fired, there are jerk, punk, nice guy, genius, idiots, nothing change much. Yet overall, human will be degrading as time goes on, no robots or aliens come to destroy us and run our life, we do that to ourselves
There you have it, reminiscences of my dream, I was only standing at the terrace of my level 120+ apartment, and the pictures still inside my head and everything i tried to figure out inside my dream, i am pretty sure the future won't be exactly the same, but i hope you will find this article interesting, even realistic. :D
