There are plenty of conspiracy theories about. Ideas about how power really works and who holds it behind the curtains. They don’t know so they have to guess. They get so close sometimes and at others they are hilariously wrong. They don’t have the perspective to see the world as it is. They are ants trying to appreciate the world as an eagle above might see it. There too many obstructions, too much just out of sight. They could never appreciate the scale of the truth. I find it hard to fathom myself, and its my job to keep track of this stuff. It is my job to keep humanity in check.
The year is 2320, fourteen years since everything changed. I remember watching as the lights of the world flickered and all of the power in the world flowed into our hands.
You can blame the E.M.P for the end of the last electronic age. As the next begins we have set the course for a golden age of technological advance. The progress of technology will no longer be marked by the increase in natural destruction.
We skirted suspicion after the E.M.P rendered our competition worthless. Luckily various terrorist groups have been blamed for the destruction. The scapegoats are hunted to this day by those who blame them for way life has changed. It can be more fluid, less predictable a living cannot be taken for granted as it once was. This is the sacrifice for a change in momentum that has steered us away from an abyss of ecological disaster.
Too many were blind to the threat posed by our actions. Warnings were given and ignored so we were more forceful. The E.M.P was the last resort of desperate men and women who saw clearly the storm headed our way. We left the water without drowning, gratitude not forthcoming, survival will suffice.
The sad thing is that the potential was always there for the kind of progress that is being made now. Clean energy was perfectly feasible before, it was just a boring option. Now we have eliminated the alternatives and continue to suppress any hint of resurrecting the fossil fuel industry. The manipulation is for the good of humanity and natural world at large.
Humanities history of non renewable energy use and harvest has been peppered with environmental disasters and conflict. There is no need to fight for the light that spills from the sun, conversely it has required the cooperation of international groups to harness the potential of this profound energy source. Finally the potential of renewable energy is being pursued. New ways of generating power using the latent energy of the natural world are found regularly whether it be harnessing the potential energy when water changes state in the clouds or converting the destructive movements of the earths crust into electricity for the world above. The new technology has yielded a cleaner, safer and more open minded future.
Biotechnology is being explored for those who feel our carnivorous nature ill befit’s the modern pacifists of humanity.
It’s not like all the wars are over, we still fight over nuclear material but even this once poisonous source of conflict has been given a facelift. Science has refined the means of extracting energy from nuclear material. The material itself can be manipulated making it no less potent but with I half life that is a minute proportion if what it was affording any mistake nothing like the longevity.
This change to the reality of nuclear proliferation has also changed attitudes, making it seem a more casual option apparently which has spawned the idea of neutralising the material using the same delivery means as the E.M.P. The means to neutralise nuclear material completely is being looked into as we speak. What was once considered magical alchemy is not just the reality but a likely way to overt nuclear war. We are not all seeing and therefore cannot prevent all attempts at the recreation of conventional weaponry but we might destroy that which these weapons might harness.
If the conversion of nuclear material to non nuclear proved effective the principle could be applied to other materials used near exclusively in weaponry. Mankind’s capacity to take lives could be dealt a massive blow. That’s not really my area of expertise though. Until then I’ll wear my ‘Kill the Killing’ t-shirt and march in protest to every war my mislead ‘leaders’ want to start. I will campaign for dealing in diplomacy instead of death. The world’s taken a kick in the backside, I hope it gets the message and cuts the crap out eventually.
I’m glad to say the hippie movement is no longer looked back upon with such pity and cynicism. That movement knew the message and lacked only the means. The new wave of pacifism is more rigid, we have seen what can be done to safeguard the world. Peacekeeper is no longer the name of an armed force killing foreign nationals, we are the new voice for peace in a less violent world. We march with strength of will and conviction, the world breathes a sigh of relief after so many long fought, pointless wars. Now we wander through broken borders once patrolled by armed guards. The shackles of the world have broken, now we roam freely. Who would not agree that the world is a better place than it was? I can now picnic in the ruins of a munitions factory in what was North Korea then walk through beauteous China down through either Vietnam or Laos to Cambodia possibly via Thailand. I love to visit the temples of Angkor built by the Khmer Empire from the 9th to 13th centuries. The self proclaimed ‘God King’ Jayaverman the 2nd may have been more than pompous but the architectural legacy of his empire, while sadly eroded by time and tourists, is certainly something to be proud of. As the Chinese diplomat Zhou Daugan observed in 1296, during the reign of Indraverman the 3rd, the city’s vibrant mixture of religion and art must have been truly invigorating. Though at the time the temples were paid for at least in part with the spoils of war they became the home of Buddhist monks after the city’s desertion following the destructive incursion of the Ayutthaya Empire. Perhaps the desertion helped preserve the fragile sandstone city but more likely it advanced the decay which was aided by natural reclamation. While I can enjoy the aesthetic beauty of the temples now left to nature I hope that fewer cities will be abandoned in similar circumstances from now on.
As the fire of war flickers and dies in the heart of man I hope the future will bring peace and prosperity to the world. With cooperation who knows what we will accomplish. I hope I live long enough to see some small fragmental result of our unleashed potential.
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