Things change, of course. I'm not such a strong believer in the idea of progress, however. New ideas and new conditions seem to lead us back to the same unresolved questions about our existence.
The 23rd century: "the future". The science fiction future is a little hypothetical world where we can play out an examination of what we believe the big problems are now, and ask how successful we might be at resolving them. Where would we end up?
Now that we've reached the end of capitalism, or at least we can see it coming, should we hang onto it or should we press on with another system? What would that system be and what circumstances would be required to make the transition possible? Capitalism and oligarchy have produced a problematic invasion of commerce into cathartic activities, i.e. religion and art. Meaningless, self-destructive behaviour? How do we move on? Technology? What if we had a technology that allowed a human to change the world in whatever way he or she desired... If I was hungry, I would wish food into existence, or better: I would desire the feeling of satisfaction and a state of perfect health? Anything could be willed into existence. There would be no material needs unmet. If such a state existed in the world, capitalism would vanish. What would human behaviour be like then? The most powerful force in the universe would be imagination. Those with great imagination would become a powerful elite and human efforts would be focused on techniques to improve imagination?
