Modern-day prophets

I just saw the evening news. There was really nothing special on it except a feature story which kinda pushed my imagination into overdrive. The feature is about the progress of communication nowadays and how communication has become a multimedia playing field. Nothing fancy there especially when you've grown accustomed to the leaps-and-bounds growth of the communication
industry.

And so i was marvelling at the progress we have attained. Phones today have reached a level of sophistication unthinkable 20-30 years ago. Who would have thought that there would come a time when phones can be carried anywhere, that they could fit in pockets? Heck, the smallest nokia phone i've seen looks just like an oversized lipstick. I still remember the first mobile phones that hit the Philippine market about 10 years ago. These were the motorola phones that you would have to carry in a backpack because of the sheer size of the battery. After some time, these analog phones got a bit smaller and we had a barrage of contraptions reminiscent of the brick-game craze. But back then, these were already the top of the line improvements of their "jurrasic" (wired) ancestors. Or who would have thought that phones would now be able to act as cameras, or as mp3 players (or who would have thought about mp3's before? but that's another matter). One is never sure if he/she is buying a phone with a camera on the side or it's the other way around. But i'm not one to complain. I've always loved the fancy stuffs of science.

What i want to point out is the fact that what we have today, we were only imagining yesterday. And therein lies the rub-idubdub. "Life immitates art" or so they say. It makes you wonder if art is not the only thing it plagiarizes. Because it seems that what science fiction writers can churn up, technology can bring to life. There are so much technological inventions now which were but staples of science fiction stories before that i feel a mention of one specific example would just belabor the point too much. Science writers have become modern-day seers with only their mind as a crystal ball, or a divining rod, depending on one's metaphorical taste. They have become visionaries who are able to look into what is to come. They bring us news of great joy at times by their imagination of utopian world(s). Imagine a time coming when we are able to set aside - no, talk through would be more apt - our differences and create a world where we can be all we can be (without necessarily joining the army). Imagine, sings Lennon. If that time comes, we may need to confer a PhD in Prophecy to the guy.

Some visions of the future are nonetheless frightening. We may never be able to create that utopian universe. In fact time may come that somebody - no, something - may have to create it for us. A furtive glance at Andrew Clarke's 2001, A Space Oddysey and Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics makes one shiver in nervous anticipation of what may be ahead for us. One needs only to be reminded of the quantum leaps computing and robotics are making nowadays to understand that Asimov et al may very well be in deep visionary trance while writing these "harrowing" prophecies. Imagine self evolving machines who are conscious and are able make their own choices. Hugo de Garris, a pioneer in this field, thinks that we are nearer to this "future" than we think. Conscious machines could, afterall, be man's ultimate contribution to evolution. We can only hope that when we're done with the project, it would look more like the Bicentennial Man than I, Robot or Terminator for that matter. We can only hope that when machines evolve into concious "artilects", their conciousness would include the dimensions of moral reasonability and benevolence that we, their predecessors can never seem to perfect. Our very existence depends on this hope.

Oh well, dismiss the ramblings of a mind in hyperspace mode. I may have just had too much coffee to drink. As my shrink always says, caffein is bad for a paranoid's health. But while i'm at it, let me make my own prediction: time will come and someone will discover how telepathy telepathy works. And so we will then, in principle, be able to contact one another without use of any gadget. Telepathy will be the name of the game. But wait, there's more! Telecommunication companies will apply for patents to try turn telepathy into a cash cow. This means that we may then have to apply for a telepathic line so that our esp waves can be unlocked. Hmmm, i wonder what telepatic ringtone would be cool.... Prepaid telepathic lines anyone?

Wait, what's this... a blue and a red pill?