O Distant Future

The beauty of the imagination is that it won't ever tell you something is too outlandish. The future is a fantastic prospect. Half a century ago, the people may have thought my generation would be cruising around in flying cars with smart tools that would help us complete the tasks that still plague us today. Laundry is still bothersome, painting a house, taking out the trash, and well, anything else that we still have to do on our own. Especially mowing the lawn. Sure, we can hire people to do that for us, but people are still doing it.

Today, we have fantastic things like computers, plasma screen television, central air-conditioning, sewers, and reliable medicine. I suppose we're still in that transitional period between the 50's Imagination and the year two-thousand something something. Seeing the 50's black-and-white Leave it to Beaver style of life is still entertaining. Those banana seat bicycles are still intriguing and the youthful innocence is something to admire in comparison to our kids. Then, in stark comparison, we get the noir, Judge Dredd (I AM THE LAW!) kind of bleak view of the future. I mean, really, who wouldn't want to drive a car and not have to worry about a flat tire - because you won't even have tires.

What else will we have in the future? Perfect bodies and faces and such? Well, possibly. There was that short stint of being able to customize the color of your baby's eyes or whatever that was about. We may be closer to that than you'd think. Even in a local magazine, I see advertisements for cosmetic surgery. Late night television is mostly composed of fitness programs including a belt you can wrap around yourself that will flex your abdominal muscles for you. The Bowflex body is only a few installments away and Hip-Hop Abs, Ab-Roller, Ab-Lounge, and Nutrisystem all promise you with a loss of weight. While I don't necessarily doubt that these things work, they're marketing to a society that would spend more time looking for the remote control than just changing the channel manually.

Modern technology has allowed us to live longer and healthier lives which, to the majority of people, is a blessing in itself. Airbags, hospital therapy, medicine, and other innovations has afforded us more time to create and invent other things. Alzheimer's Disease is still a frightening thing, but with the help of modern technology, some of the symptoms can be aided. Perhaps, out of all the flying cars, entertainment, and foods mentioned, the future is really about improving the human lot in life. By furthering our research in longevity and battling diseases, we can indirectly cure other ailments and save the earth from a rogue comet barreling towards us at a zillion miles per hour.

In an article published on CNET in February of 2006, they claim that MIT's "Transition" car may be ready for full production as early as 2009 or 2010. Imagine that for a moment. Virtual surgery is already helping train our new generation of doctors. There's also that novelty vacuum robot that can go between chair legs and such. By far, the most interesting thing I saw was a Japanese doctor who was experimenting with neurological connections and prosthetics. They were able to somehow affix an arm onto an amputee and they somehow connected it to their nerves so they could use the limb. Cyborgs! Believe it! That, along with ASIMO, the robot created by Honda, who can play a trumpet, climb stairs, and actually begin to learn.

So, where the hell is my flying car? It may just be a little ways off, actually. Everything else has a remote control, including cars now, so what's a few years? Just get your Jetsons collection and keep watching. Rosie's new name might be ASIMO and you may actually figure out what the actual function for a "sprocket" is. But remember, no matter how far into the future it is, your redheaded wife will be taking your wallet.