future
Exploring the future of science today, while looking back on the achievements from yesterday. Science fiction is science future.
Deadland
I spat the acrid taste of Deadland dust and sour sweat from my mouth. Pausing, I wound my torn muslin scarf over my nose and mouth. Deadland dust was finer than silt, finding its way into crevices you didn’t know you had...until you did. It was the burn that let you know that you and the dust no longer had secrets from each other. And if you didn’t hurry, you would soon have no secrets at all.
By Amanda Dudek5 years ago in Futurism
The Heirloom
Every family has an heirloom- not the traditional type that is passed down from eldest to eldest or mother to daughter- but to the most worthy of the next generation. It was supposed to make for a more career-oriented, successful society. And it did.... but unfortunately, successful careers don’t make for conscientious living or content people. The heated competition burned everything in its path. Those deemed unworthy were left scorched by the wayside, most depressed and in despair- and steralized. The successful were not left unscathed, though- the ever elusive goal of ‘successful enough’ frozen into their minds.
By Naomi Slavish5 years ago in Futurism
For Safety
Smoke curling through the pale orange sky over the distant hill indicated to Helena that morning was on the horizon. The fires provided warmth for the remnants of that small village whose people hunted for rats or squirrels, cooking them over crude stone pits and metal grates. In the distance, Helena had become a scavenger as well, digging through the heaps of destruction that occurred when one world state clashed with the other years ago. The war yielded no winners, only broken people, pawns struggling to survive.
By Barb Dukeman5 years ago in Futurism
All is calm
This record is for you. The software will transcribe my short voice clips. If you’re reading it, you’re a scofflaw like me. Scofflaws have to stick together. We’ve all been taught how things work and how lucky we are. In the Before Time there were conflicts of all kinds: between people, between groups, and between countries. Then came the Peacemakers. They took over everything, made a new order, a social compact, though it’s never been clear to me who agreed to it. No more war, and they’re working their way down to the individual level by testing. At age ten I was flagged as having too high an Emotional Quotient. Emotions are discouraged, so at age sixteen I was prevented from reproducing and discouraged from fraternizing, a kind of eugenics to weed out people like me who feel too much. When I go out, I have to wear a chain with an F so that normal folks know to avoid me. No point in corrupting their unemotional lives, I guess. They check on me once a month at a kind of program. We get homework in making apologies and extra courses in logic. Actually, turns out I’m no good at apologies, but I’m fairly good at logic, and that’s useful. I have to look co-operative or they’ll flag me as a scofflaw and I don’t want that. I’ve been an idiot, but I’m not stupid.
By Paul A. Merkley5 years ago in Futurism
Agatha
She stared at the dirty, rusted locket in her hands with a yearning. The heart-shaped contraption must have been a product of the long-ago days, a time when her grandfather’s grandfather may have walked the earth with freedom—nothing so beautiful had been created since those times—but how it had survived so long in this plot of land, hidden from all who would seek to destroy it, she did not know. The rust was too thick to allow her to open it, but the name “Agatha” was carved onto its surface. Without a name herself, only the designation Human 6294639W2, she decided that Agatha was a lovely name.
By Will Conway5 years ago in Futurism
The End
THE END June 22, 2063 Brad is starting to complain about the journey. He says he’s worried about the harvest, but I know it’s his wife. She found out she was pregnant right before we left. She’s only the second woman to become pregnant since everything ended. I’ve tried reassuring him, but he just gave me that Brad look and kept walking. I just hope he doesn’t keep complaining the rest of this trip. We’ve got another eight days before we can turn around for our month long trek back home.
By Raya McFadden5 years ago in Futurism
Dear Diary: A Tale of an Advance Post-Apocalyptic Dystopia
Dear Diary, Today I finally found some paper. This is so amazing, it has been so long since I could write anything down. So far, everything has been typing on a computer or saying it out loud, using the microphone or head piece. I know, I know, you are probably thinking, why is she writing on a piece of paper when she has a computer. But you don’t know what it is like today. Everything is on a computer, what you need to do for the day, your schoolwork, your class, even your relationships.
By Charlene Moorehead5 years ago in Futurism
Heart of The Bodhisattva
The subway snakes beneath the city. The lights inside flicker. The passengers become nervous. The power grid is straining to keep commerce rolling, the lights on, and air circulating throughout the metropolis. When the subway shuts down passengers are stranded for hours, as emergency power is diverted to the keep the A.I. grid online. They call it G.A.I.A. The Global Artificial Intelligence Actuator. It is massive system of super computers connected with global satellites that control and monitor every aspect of life. After the reoccurring pandemic and the climate collapse, the Global Elite created a new system to track and connect all people through wristwatch devices. Only essential workers are allowed out of their homes: only to go where they are contracted. This is “The New Normal” and there is nothing normal about it.
By Diane Albright5 years ago in Futurism
Dystopian future How it all began
“So does anybody really know what happened? We have heard the stories, the pandemic targeted at women but does anyone really know how and why? I mean, we have the science of it, the Numbers, the investigations but I still don’t think it makes sense completely. Who would have predicted that the human race would tickle to an end? There has been theories and predictions about the end of humanity. We all thought the end will come with a deadly virus like the pandemic that ravaged the earth in 2020 or with climate change or even a meteor shower like it did with the dinosaurs. But here we are, less than a million people in the whole world. The last generation of human was famously called Homefront because we believed they would be the last stand and find a cure or a solution to the barrenness of the world. That is your generation. I know most of you already know what happened but for the sake of the class, can someone refresh our memories?” Jade invited her students to join the discussion.
By Nneka Anieze5 years ago in Futurism
Are we approaching the end of the world ... why are we not afraid of it ?!
We are always thinking about the destruction of the world. We always approach it with an interest without fear of it. The rumor that the world is going to perish is spreading faster than fire. When the rumor spread that the world was going to end in 2012, we looked forward to that day without a drop of regret or fear.The main reason for such a state of mind is our firm belief that the world will not perish for now. Probably a factor as to why they're doing so poorly. Creation enjoys more destruction than our mind desires. That is why,We stare at any vehicle that has been involved in an accident for a long time. The videos of breaking expensive items from a height attract more viewers on YouTube. Well now why do you say so many explanations for destruction? Would you believe that in the past there were possibilities for the destruction of the world without us even knowing it, and still exist? Yes, the present development of mankind is always on the brink of the destruction of the world. It can happen anytime. But the question is when.In the past there was the possibility of the destruction of the world in some cases described as the next development of the human race. Some of those events are very chilling to us.The world celebrated the first man to walk on the moon. The name of the person who first set foot on the moon will never leave the minds of the people for a long time. But what if man went to the moon and destroyed the human race?. Before the first man went to the moon no one knew what was there. Before the launch of the spacecraft from NASA in the 1960s, the spacecraft had explored the possibilities.Before the spacecraft took off from Earth, they were thoroughly cleaned and carefully inspected for any germs. This is probably because of the precautionary measures taken against living things on the moon to prevent them from being infected by germs on Earth.Similarly, after humans return to Earth from the moon, they must be isolated on a ship for 15 days. The instructions were all told to let them in only after it was confirmed that no germs were traveling with them from the moon.But, after their spacecraft crashed into the sea, they were allowed directly without following the instructions considering their health and mental health. Fortunately no infectious germs traveled with them from the moon. If there had been, the capital of mankind would have changed.Going back a little further, we come to the time when the first nuclear weapons were tested. July 16, 1945 The day the world's first nuclear test took place. Mankind is now aware of the terrible consequences of nuclear weapons. Japan was a witness to that, but when it first tested a nuclear weapon, scientists were immediately apprehensive about what it would do to the Earth.Until then no one had seen in person how deadly the nuclear weapon would be. The heat emitted from a nuclear explosion can be very large, very far away.The reason for the scientists' fear is that if the heat emitted from it reacts in the atmosphere and burns up the entire atmosphere and destroys the earth.Until the day before the nuclear test, they were repeatedly testing the possibility of such a thing happening.The likelihood of such a reaction is very low. Less, but no one could say for sure that it would never happen. Fortunately nothing like that happened. A scientist who witnessed the first nuclear explosion shares his recollection that he thought at that moment that he had begun the destruction of mankind. The extinction of mankind in the 20th century was at a rate of 1/100. But it has grown at a rate of 1/6 since the beginning of the current 21st century.
By Zarinabanu Zarinabanu5 years ago in Futurism
