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The Future is a Fantasy: A 100YSS Presentation*

Shifting the boundaries between fantasy and reality.

The 100 Year Starship project is an DARPA-funded initiative with the goal of building a faster-than-light starship (just like James T. Kirk’s) by the year 2111. The 100YSS Symposium is a gathering of geeks who are trying to transform DARPA’s fantasy into a reality.

Abstract
Humans are unique as a species because, with the help of well-defined problematics, humans alone are capable of redefining reality. A problematic can be understood as an exceptionally-challenging intellectual objective (e.g., heavier-than-air flight, building the first atomic bomb, curing disease, landing humans on the moon, developing artificially-intelligent computers, constructing faster-than-light speed spacecraft, etc.) that requires knowledge-seekers to invent new facts and redefine reality in order to achieve the hoped-for objective. Although scientists prefer to think that scientific inquiry is constrained to an exploration of empirical facts, in truth, scientific progress is often instigated more effectively by the pursuit of a compelling problematic—in many cases, even by science fiction fantasies (Shatner, 2002)—rather than by an examination of established empirical facts (McGettigan, 2011). As such, science has proven to be the most effective means ever invented by humans to transform fantasies into reality.

The New Frontier
As a means of giving the US a psychological boost, in 1961 President John F. Kennedy embraced a manned-moon landing as the crowning achievement of his New Frontier goals. Interestingly, when Kennedy announced his plan for a successful lunar landing, his aspiration was more a product of science fiction than fact. As of 1961, the US scientific community lacked the technology—or even a workable plan—to send astronauts to the moon. But, brilliantly, JFK did not treat America’s lunar-mission “knowledge gap” as a deal-breaker, rather, Kennedy seized upon it as an historic opportunity.

JFK’s goal of sending astronauts to the moon by 1970 is an outstanding example of what I refer to as a “problematic.” A problematic is a far-flung goal that is largely based upon imaginative speculation, and that (critically!) inspires knowledge-seekers to invent facts and redefine reality in order to transform the dreamed of goal into a reality. There are numerous examples of problematic innovation that have had an enormous impact on the course of human events: heavier-than-air flight, the Manhattan Project, finding a cure for polio (and the ongoing search for AIDS vaccines), Alan Turing’s (and Marvin Minsky’s) advocacy of AI computing, Martin Cooper’s effort to invent a Star Trek communicator in the form of the cell phone, Aubrey de Grey’s pursuit of human immortality, David Ferruci’s goal of creating a talking computer (similar to Captain Kirk’s) and the IBM Watson project, etc.

The virtue of problematics is that they inspire humans to engage in “super-adaptable” innovation. Whereas other terrestrial creatures solve survival problems with their biology (i.e., Darwinian evolution), humans solve problems with their intellect. Thus, human “agents” can solve survival problems much more rapidly, and with greater specificity, than other creatures, however, this also means that humans have a penchant for creating new survival challenges at a faster pace and on a grander scale (e.g., overpopulation, pollution, global warming, nuclear Armageddon, etc.) than other terrestrial creatures. Fortunately, via the process of problematic innovation, humans have succeeded in “elevating their thinking” and, thus far, outpacing the survival challenges that we have generated.

I argue that humans will continue to enjoy success—and continue to outpace the crises that pose imminent threats to human survival—so long as humans remain committed to pursuing problematics. Once again, problematics enable super-adaptable human agents to elevate their thinking by developing solutions to far-fetched, seemingly impossible aspirations: cures for “incurable” illnesses, ending human mortality, creating artificially-intelligent computers, and not only shooting for the moon and planets, but building reality-redefining vessels that will enable humans to reach for the stars. History has shown that humans have got all the brains, wherewithal and fortitude to achieve the impossible. We can build a brighter future. All we need are visionary leaders who are prepared to lead the charge toward the Next Great Frontier.

So, why bother with space travel? Because, quite simply, the stars light the way to a brighter future. Space travel paved the way to Kennedy’s New Frontier in the 1960s. If the United States remains committed to accomplishing ever greater feats in the future, then we should look to the stars to light our way. Thus, space travel is not a distraction. Space travel represents the path to America’s—nay, humanity’s—next Great Frontier.

References
McGettigan, Timothy. Good Science: The Pursuit of Truth and the Evolution of Reality. Lanham, MD.: Lexington Books, 2011.

Shatner, William (with Chip Walter). I’m Working on That: A Trek From Science Fiction to Science Fact. New York: Pocket Books, 2002.

(*This is a brief summary of a presentation that I delivered at the 100 Year Starship Symposium in Houston, Texas on September, 13, 2012.)

Cite This Article

Timothy McGettigan (2012). The Future is a Fantasy: A 100YSS Presentation*. The Socjourn. [https://sociology.org/the-future-is-a-fantasy-a-100yss-presentation/]

Summer Snow

By: William T. Hathaway

SUMMER SNOW is a spiritual novel set now amidst the war on terrorism as an American warrior falls in love with a Sufi mystic and learns from her an alternative to the military mentality. As US Special Forces battle al-Qaeda, the escalating violence threatens their future together and the lives of thousands in her country. To save them, she shows him an ancient transcendental way to bring peace to the collective consciousness and prevent terrorism. But can they make it work in time? A story of love in the shadow of destruction, SUMMER SNOW blends passion, adventure, and mystic wisdom to convey its theme that higher consciousness is more effective than violence and that women may be more able than men to lead us there


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