In the past century, any media representation of the future tended to centre on labour-saving gadgets so we would have more time to do other things. Now, here we are in a future where we actually have a lot of labour-saving gadgets and I’m wondering what people are doing with all that extra time?

Hello everyone

In the past century, any media representation of the future tended to centre on labour-saving gadgets so we would have more time to do other things. Now, here we are in a future where we actually have a lot of labour-saving gadgets and I’m wondering what people are doing with all that extra time? Hmmm…from the looks of things, for many, keeping in contact with all their mates on their mobile phones as they wander around, seemingly talking to themselves. If not that, then a plethora of assorted apps that supply you with information so you don’t have to do much thinking any more other than deciding which button to press. An idyllic life is an empty one. After all, how long before your boredom threshold is reached by such activity? People grow and development by being stimulated, not by having decisions made for you. Is this the road to decadence?



Early Science Fiction would also have future societies where computers run the world, too. I can’t help but wonder that we’re moving in that direction if you’re relying on some automated software to do your thinking for you. OK, so these apps are programmed by those organic things that belong to your species called humans. However, if these people end up creating apps to get the information for you then ultimately they step away from the equation and so software is running without much intervention. Therefore you end up not even knowing who is giving you the advice as to which restaurant to eat at or whether they have a vested interest in telling you why that particular place. Well, at least as far as the adverts are concerned. Anything else depends on how willing you are to tick the mark for recommending a place which says little for where the place will change for the better let alone worse. We all know how much a bad word sticks after all. I doubt if you’ll have much more than a couple words as to why, let alone the taste of the individual who recommends or warns against a particular place.

I was in three minds to wind a story around those thoughts that but it seemed more pertinent to turn it into an editorial instead. I mean, don’t you find the above just a little bit worrying or do you merely see it as a means for an easy life? Are you that easy to give up your personal freedom of choice and decision to a little box you carry that hasn’t been around for more than a couple decades? About the only times you don’t is when it no doubt needs its battery charged and I bet it tells you when to do that as well.

Science Fiction stories set in the future with a renaissance man from the past arriving and returning old century values is a common occurrence but are we that far off that reality? Well, perhaps we are. There’s currently no hibernation chambers or suspended animation gas formulas a’la Buck Rogers doing the same so we aren’t likely to see anyone from the past by that method. As to time travelling machines? A bit too advanced for the past and the people of the future would no doubt be too busy texting their friends to get that creative, let alone listen, assuming it was possible to do so. Then again, a modern phone user would probably find him or herself at home with them doing a similar thing, although with an advanced implant. I might well be the one out of place and them trying to convince me to change. That should be interesting battle of wills.

Of course, I can hear you say, not everyone uses modern technology like mobile phones. Your editor here already admits he doesn’t last month. However, are we likely to have a them and us situation where the non-users are in a very small minority to do anything effective other than perhaps do some of the programming. Are there any safeguards installed to prevent you not having some independency in choice or the worse case scenario, like in that ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Rise Of The Cybermen’ where you can be hypnotised through your phone earpieces. I should point out that certain things like cultivating crops and other basic housing functioning activities that aren’t automated will still carry on but you wouldn’t need many smart people to do that. If you pick the right ten per cent of the population to control, the rest will follow is just good herd instinct. Guess which ten per cent uses them and then discover about eighty per cent use mobile phones these days and you can see a distinct problem, assuming they know how to use apps.

Could such activity be just a fad? At present, mobile phone technology has been around in its current form for less than a couple decades. Home computers are barely thirty years but more people own them and the relative price is always dropping now, making it easier for everyone to own one. Neither of them are likely to fade away because they are devices that allow a greater means of communication and people like to communicate. For computers, I suspect they are used more for communication on the Internet and leisure like computer games than mundane things like word processing.

Granted, it might seem unusual that for someone so into Science Fiction is pointing out dangers but then SF has always looked at the bad side of things as well as the good of the future and as I’ve already pointed out, we are living in a SF reality. How far are we caught up and living in a dangerous SF situation? Have any of you given thought to the consequences yet? It can only be a matter of time before we fall victim to one of our gadgets and the one that would be the easiest to creep through is the mobile phone cos it’s always there and taken for granted. Already, in the UK, we hear of city folk who have no conception of what farm animals are, let alone that they are living on a planet orbiting a sun. To some extent, this could be seen as a failure with the education system but it also looks like another sign of dependency without realising it. Not helped by them also being insular mobile phone users. A previous generation would have called it decadence especially as it appears to be growing.

Mind you, if you’re here, you’re now also probably not using your mobile phones that intensely and are probably looking around suspiciously at those who are. In an odd contradiction, communication might be evolving but it appears ironically that it isn’t in the direct way using talking. The world could end up being very quiet with only the tapping of keys, deciding txting is better than speaking and someone forgetting to press the external mute button on their music tracks.

This doesn’t mean an advocacy for throwing away your mobile phone, just some care not to make it a total dependency as that throws away your own decision-making process. Let’s not even talk about how accessible information about yourself could get on the Internet should any information dumps be accessed by the security services or hackers. Security is, after all, all open to interpretation. Knowledge is power in anyone’s hands. The important thing is to ensure you make the important decisions and that doesn’t mean what colour shell your mobile phone is wrapped in.

Thank you, take care, good night and control your technology, not let the technology control you.

Geoff Willmetts
editor: SFCrowsnest.co.uk

Question: How can you tell the Norse and Greek pantheons apart?
Answer: One Aesir’s higher than the other.

[Sorry, if it’s a bit subtle, say the word phonetically to get the pun.]

A Zen thought:One more year is also one year less on your personal calendar.

Anyone interested in reviewing books for me, especially fantasy and military SF, as we have a surfeit of books, and lives in the UK should contact me through gfwillmetts@hotmail.com. I’m always recruiting and details are through a link on the top of the SFC main page and in the SFC Forum. If you’ve on a budget, a book for a review is a good bargain and I can teach the nervous how to do it by seeing what you do when you present a sample. It’s a good deal. We get books in a variety of formats these days so all things are possible to those with the knack for putting words into sentences. We would dearly like a few more fantasy fan and military sub-genre SF readers on the team.

PPS Don’t forget to join on in the new SFCrowsnest Forum. Join up and express your thoughts in leaving typed words that make sentences. I’ve noticed many of you are joining up but the Forum isn’t supposed to be a passive site. Remember the editorial above. I’m not advocating a vow of silence. Are you going to be a lurker or a typer??!! Remember the editorial above, passivity is for sheep not a sentient species. Write something and others will respond. Equally, you could just be a guest and look around but the more the merrier when you have something to say. We haven’t been spammed since inception with this new version now so you should feel safe to come and communicate on anything Science Fiction. I’m dying to see you people fill in the survey polls. They won’t bite y’know and are active when you sign in and you must be dying to find out why I consider Element Lad the most powerful Legionnaire. It’s postponed another month due to my knee hitting the ground after slipping on some ice and can’t get in the attic to check some vital information.

Speaking of the Forum, if you want up-to-date info of book signings and such, have a peak. You don’t have to sign up to have a look as to when these things are happening and I’ve yet to hear of a flash crowd turning up for such things but there’s always the first time. We’re not libel if you do such a thing, just to keep my boss happy.

Don’t forget, I’m always on the lookout for new reviewers as well as articles, interviews and stories and after some recent changes, let’s see if the full details about that appears below. If they don’t then look in the new Forum or on the link line at the top of the main page. For potential book reviewers in the UK, it’s a good way to keep up your reading habit and show you can write. There are detail links scattered over the website and on the forum. If you don’t think you’re up to scratch, you’ll discover why I’m the dutch uncle.

Another real Zen thought but this time for potential writers: If you can express an opinion independently of others and aren’t likely to bend to the masses then you might show potential as a writer.