Dan Ludois, Hon. Seminar.

A Brief Description of America 2034

With Incite to Colin Michaels

The year is 2034, and the world is much different than it is today. It is a time where everyone gets to be anything they like, and the survival of the fittest is no longer a factor. This entails all aspects of life, everyone makes the team, everyone gets an award, and everyone is special. In fact, starting in 2035, it will be legal for parents to select the best of their own genes to give to their children, making them physically superior to their elders. No one experiences hardships in life anymore; there are no more epic battles, no trying to make it on your own. Most of all, the human race has encased itself in a shield of its own overprotective and lazy condition. Children getting dirty in the mud, using their imaginations, playing outside, seeking adventure outside the realm of video games, is completely gone. Everyone takes jokes too seriously and the vast majority of people claim no responsible for their own actions, they simply pass it off on someone else. People define living simply going to their job every day, not expecting to work hard for what they want, and immediate gratification is the standard.

Of the people who possess a great deal of influence outside the government, Colin Michaels is the most powerful. Born in 1984, he has seen first hand the loss of individualism and uniqueness in society over the last 50 years. He is a physicist, electrical engineer, businessman, adventurer, and self-proclaimed philosopher, however the most general term to describe him would be an inventor. When he was 25 he marketed several small inventions that earned him a small fortune which was used to fund further research. At the age of 38 he created his greatest invention making him the richest man in the world practically over night, the wireless transmission of industrial electric power. With no wires to tie them down, cars, boats, and planes were able to run completely on electricity and never have to worry about charging a battery bank, eliminating the need for fossil fuels in transportation. Energy in any amount can be delivered across the globe, thus transforming the United States as the primary energy source for the world. Electricity is the primary pillar in the economy followed by other technologies. Some fossil fuels still exist in the production of electricity; however, nuclear power is the predominant source of energy. The world economy depends upon Colin Michael’s technology, making him one of the wealthiest men on earth, not to mention one of the most powerful.

Colin Michaels seemed to look down from on high at the religious and social situations in the United States. Religion has separated the country’s population into two basic groups, strong religious believers and atheists. The country is evenly split almost; the religious slightly outnumber the non-religious. Somehow, in the last 30 years religion and conservatism rapidly took off, to an extreme actually, there is no middle ground. Colin Michaels supports the atheists, though he is not an organized leader in any sense, he simply issues his opinion from time to time (at least for now). In some ways, the religious and non-religious are at a kind of war with each other, one fought in city councils, PTA meetings, dinner parties, and elections.

To Colin Michaels religion is the most primitive form of technology; perhaps the first piece of invention man has ever created. His reasoning is that up until recently, the last 400 years, the human race had no scientific or logic based system for explaining nature and happenings of the world. Therefore, what man did long ago was to create his first hypothesis on nature and how it got there. Very simply an angry god could explain lightning, and the fear of death is eliminated by trust of acceptance to a land of eternal happiness and enlightenment. Michael’s view of religion is that it provides a “comfort zone” for the week minded.

Disgusted with society and its meaningless dibble, Michaels decides to upset the entire planet. The people of the earth need to be reinvigorated, individual character brought to the surface, independent thinking, and a willingness to explore the unknown, or rather, embrace what we can never know and accept it. He is tired of everyone being the same, tired of legends being simply stories, tired of the limitations and exploitations of religion, and most of all, tired of being the only one in power who sees it. He will use all of his inventions, influence, and cunning to shape the world as he sees fit. To quote Jules Verne, “No man could demand from him an account of his actions; God, if he believed in one--His conscience, if he had one--were the sole judges to whom he was answerable.”