I am the Future

...and so are you

I am watching TED from time to time and I like it a lot. I'm not watching a lot, nor very frequently, but I try to do it, constantly. Because there are ideas there that are worth knowing, and spreading (TM). And if you're not watching, you should.

And what I have learned is that, beyond the little lives of most of us, mine included, beyond us doing little stuff with our mobile phones that we're so proud of (and I am too), there is a world that is evolving at high pace, in research at least, in ideas at least, and every day, watching TED, and reading Slashdot, I learn that we are in the future, soo in the future (do you know that laser weapons are here? Do you know about all the new bacteria that can help us extract oil, and build stuff? Do you know that the LHC is working?).

But this is not the point of my post. The point is that there is a future, and that there are many things that are being built, and many other things that can be built. And many times I get the feeling that I am not doing that. That I am not part of that. And that's wrong. Cause I should be. And I am part of it, I'm just not acting that way, and that's bad..

Don't think that the future is built only by people that are influential, or rich, or really really smart. No. The future is something that emerges from the actions of every one of us. Just that, because we don't think about it, and our actions are not clearly directed to it, we can't see their relation with the future. And they don't help much, because we don't do it with the feeling that we are building the future (or building anything worthy for that matter), but with the feeling that we are wasting our lives and doing it so that we will have money to pay the rent and buy food.

But this is, from the point of view of future-building, very not organized. It's like the ants wouldn't all work and fight to get the nest built and organized, but would each wonder if they will have what to eat the next day. And nothing would emerge any more, and there would be no more nest, and there would be no more ants.

Don't forget that the future depends directly, even if in very small (but additive!) measure, on your actions. And on mine. And on everybody's, because the system is all the people that are out there and you don't know, but are just the same as you. And the future exists, and it is more or less bright, but it is definitely something worth fighting for.

Now, I am not asking you to join an NGO or to start thinking about the next idea that will change the world. I am not generally a great fan of NGO's for anything else but socialization (though i guess one may find it rewarding and inspiring to join one), and few of them are going to change the world in any direct way. And thinking about changing the world with one new idea is most likely going to fail, because you are with very little probability a genius. I'm not asking you to do anything 'special'. What I believe is that we should just be thinking about the future a little more. I think that we should think about the fact that we are part of its construction, and will be part of its existence. Not the future in 2100 when there will be flying cars and a very nice chick will save the world from absolute evil. I'm talking about the next year, or two years after, and ten years after. Little will change, but it will also change thanks to our little actions. But in order for it to change in a way that we like and want, we should start sharing our vision, and sharing the vision of others, and taking a position towards things that happen. Care. Do things that we do having in mind our future. The future, that we're all part of. So that our actions go towards a situation that is more than you paying the rent.

Because we are at a time of great challenge. Maybe most people don't see it, but we are in a great cultural crisis, and economy and resources are not in very good states either. And you should not be thinking so much about how you are going to pay your rent, because if you work hard enough you will be able to, you should look outside and think that we should be more united, and thinking about our future together, about what will become of us, and about what our culture is going to. Our futures not only as families, but as organizations, as countries, as a [globalized] planet. And our actions should be more coordinated. And lead to emergence. And lead to something well defined.

To a better future.