the future isn’t what it used to be

What does it mean when every decision a person or creature makes in the present weighs into the ever-changing unfolding of the future? I invite you to sit for while and ponder that thought. I want you to literally stop reading this blog, sit peacefully, and explore any possibility that brings to mind for a few minutes. Read on when you’re done.

How did it go? Did it make you scared? Excited? Confused? All of the above?

That kind of thinking can suddenly feel like a giant weight has been placed on your shoulders… like, by that statement, you are carrying the fate of humanity on your shoulders. Or maybe not, maybe it’s on somebody else’s shoulders – a madman, somewhere out in Bangladesh whose sole hobby is to capture and taxidermy small rodents and put them on display in construction worker costumes. You don’t know!… or maybe its on all of our shoulders. Then all of the sudden, the thought can be kind of inspiring, eh?

The thought that everybody alive today holds an equal share in how the next hundred or so years will play out for the coming generations of people, and those people will have a part in humanity’s future, and so will their children, and so on. Well, if that’s the case, why not be a bit progressive? We should probably help the people of the future, our children, by inventing new technologies, researching better medicine, exploring and conserving nature, actively observing space, and reflecting on what it means to exist for tomorrow to give them a head start if for nothing else.

That line of thinking is what’s been transformed into a recent movement called transhumanism. If you’re too lazy to open another tab, as defined by Wikipedia, transhumanism is an international and intellectual movement that aims to transform the human condition by developing and creating widely available technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities. Basically, it aims to make good things better things in terms of being human.

But that’s what I mean by the title of this blog. In the present act of ever striving for a more perfect future, of ceaselessly developing upon the technologies, philosophies, and practices of current human culture, so to will the collective prospective future of humanity and the earth change along with it. The future is never what it used to be.

Just watch this: [youtube id=”FN57u7-x75w” width=”” height=”” wmode=”transparent” showinfo=”1″ autohide=”0″ quality=”auto]

Jason Silva is a media artist, futurist, philosopher, keynote speaker and TV personality, as described by his website. He also has a YouTube channel called Shots of Awe in which he gives his views on subjects such as love, drugs, technology, and creativity. I personally thoroughly enjoy what he has to say about most subjects, I would like to invite you to explore his channel further and see what you find.

This is not necessarily an observational piece, nor should it be taken as commentary. What I aim to do with this blog is to inspire you to go out and change something – anything; with the vision of making next year’s tomorrow a brighter one (don’t worry, that wasn’t a typo). Plant a tree, recycle a bottle, teach a child how to draw or paint, show a senior citizen something about technology they didn’t already know, give a dollar or two to a research project’s fund, google something you’ve been curious about and then talk to people about what you find. Start changing the future.