Living In A Predicted Future

When I was much younger, I read a book about a future where the ratio of workers to available positions was so upside down, workers committed an hour per week, not the 40 hours that’s the standard now.

It was also a time when that $600 weekly paycheck took care of most of a person’s obligations.

The story line also included, shall we say, social identity that allows a person to enter a store or travel out of his or her community. It almost sounds familiar.

Prior to that there were the books “1984,” and “Brave New World.” Just to offer a fair discussion, let’s include parts of the Bible. Now, before everyone gets caught at the shock and awe, I’m not saying the Bible is fiction. I’m saying, as with the others stories, some books are treated as fiction. The Book of Revelations is famous for confusing, even frightening people for what is said to come. In a way, it shouldn’t. Flying horses, for example, have been part of history since Greek and Roman mythology. Strangely, people are entertained by the idea of a horse with wings, but a “cloud of witnesses” sounds like too much to digest.

The funny part is it is being played out before us; the Bible and fictional novels of past generations are often softly rewritten headlines as if inspired by previous writers.

I’m sure there were countless other writers besides those referenced who polished the crystal ball in their hope of telling a fanciful tale. What is interesting is how many of these novels have become prophetic, at least in chapters.

Who would have thought George Jetson and James Bond would have something in common? Or that a political satire from decades ago would sound like last week’s headlines?

What if the phrase “science fiction” is based on “It’s a good story and we can’t prove the ‘facts’ used.” What if we don’t find out what’s true and what’s literary license until it is too late, or that the literary license is a type of insight even the writer doesn’t understand?

Who would have thought we could have robots, artificial intelligence units, so sophisticated you have to be observant to initially see the difference between and person and the AI likeness It’s one of those situations that recalls a quote from a big screen series: “We were so busy trying to see if we could, we didn’t stop to ask if we should.”

So what is the point in a mechanical likeness of a human? Why is it OK to scrub history publicly and digitally to fit an apparent goal?

I’m just as curious why a book printed in 1949, oddly set between the end of World War II and the beginning of the Korean conflict, caught so little attention on how accurately society is described 73 years later. In one scene, Big Brother, has control over both parties, implying the perceived good and bad in society come under one puppet master.

I recall reading a comment proposing much of these end time prophecies tell what will happen if mankind doesn’t change, not that the doom and gloom are guarantees. What if those prophecies are written, strongly influenced, by someone who knows mankind will not pull it together and change?

Human history proves we are a work in progress, especially when we surrender our future to variations of ourselves.