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Title: The End of the World (or The Future is What We Make It)
Author: Paul Wieland, 256-539-8976
Speech given: December 21, 1999
Have you seen the new Arnold Schwarzenegger movie titled "The End of Days?" That's a rather
ominous-sounding title, but suitable for a movie that is a Bible-inspired story of the anti-Christ.
Maybe it's due to the coming millenium change, or maybe it's just human nature, but people like
to predict the future, and fanciful tales like "The End of Days" make exciting and popular
entertainment. In contrast to predictions of the end of the world, other people predict wonderful
futures filled with technological marvels. For example, Alvin Toffler's "The Third Wave" is
about the potential promise of the future.
What will the world be like in, say, B hundred years? Predicting the future is always a risky
business, but sometimes predictions of the future are accurate: Michael Faraday was a British
physicist in the early-1800's who developed the first electric generator and devised the principles
upon which the generators and motors used today are designed. When he spoke to the British
parliament about electricity, he said that he did not yet know what use it would be, but
"someday, gentlemen, you will raise taxes on it!" He was correct!
One class that I took in college was titled "Futuristics." To consider what the future may be like,
we first looked at what people in the past had predicted about our time. In the early 1900's,
cities were crowded, roads were often in poor condition, and transportation was very limited.
One prescient person (who's name I do not recall) envisioned a city with high-rise buildings and
elevated superhighways, looking much like the interstate highways now winding through many
American cities. A sketch he made looks very modern, except that all the cars on the
superhighway are Model-T Fords! The Model-T Ford had been produced essentially unchanged
for over 10 years and he did not envision that the styles of cars would ever change! His crystal
ball was cloudy.
When considering what the world may be like in 100 years, I think of my grandmother. That
may seem to be an odd association, but my grandmother was born in 1889 and lived 91 years.
You may have a parent or grandparent or great-grandparent who lived during that time period.
In 1889, the main means of transportation were horse and buggy, steam trains, and steamships.
There were certainly no computers or cell phones, though telephones had been invented and
were becoming more common. There were a few automobiles for the very wealthy, but no
airplanes at all. Phonographs and light bulbs and photography were new inventions, but there
were no movies or radios or TVs or VCRs. In 1889, the Statue of Liberty was a new attraction in
New York harbor, the germ theory of disease transmission was newly developed by Louis
Pasteur who first used pasteurization to preserve foods, and ice boxes were used in homes to
preserve food. Polio and tuberculosis were dreaded diseases with no effective treatments.
Women were not allowed to vote.
Within my grandmothers lifetime there were enormous technological advances: radio, radar,
X-ray machines, airplanes, penicillin, transistors, computers, refrigerators, nuclear bombs,
rockets to launch satellites and people into space, people walked on the moon! An event that was
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"ocrText": "Title: The End of the World (or The Future is What We Make It)\nAuthor: Paul Wieland, 256-539-8976\nSpeech given: December 21, 1999\nHave you seen the new Arnold Schwarzenegger movie titled \"The End of Days?\" That's a rather\nominous-sounding title, but suitable for a movie that is a Bible-inspired story of the anti-Christ.\nMaybe it's due to the coming millenium change, or maybe it's just human nature, but people like\nto predict the future, and fanciful tales like \"The End of Days\" make exciting and popular\nentertainment. In contrast to predictions of the end of the world, other people predict wonderful\nfutures filled with technological marvels. For example, Alvin Toffler's \"The Third Wave\" is\nabout the potential promise of the future.\nWhat will the world be like in, say, B hundred years? Predicting the future is always a risky\nbusiness, but sometimes predictions of the future are accurate: Michael Faraday was a British\nphysicist in the early-1800's who developed the first electric generator and devised the principles\nupon which the generators and motors used today are designed. When he spoke to the British\nparliament about electricity, he said that he did not yet know what use it would be, but\n\"someday, gentlemen, you will raise taxes on it!\" He was correct!\nOne class that I took in college was titled \"Futuristics.\" To consider what the future may be like,\nwe first looked at what people in the past had predicted about our time. In the early 1900's,\ncities were crowded, roads were often in poor condition, and transportation was very limited.\nOne prescient person (who's name I do not recall) envisioned a city with high-rise buildings and\nelevated superhighways, looking much like the interstate highways now winding through many\nAmerican cities. A sketch he made looks very modern, except that all the cars on the\nsuperhighway are Model-T Fords! The Model-T Ford had been produced essentially unchanged\nfor over 10 years and he did not envision that the styles of cars would ever change! His crystal\nball was cloudy.\nWhen considering what the world may be like in 100 years, I think of my grandmother. That\nmay seem to be an odd association, but my grandmother was born in 1889 and lived 91 years.\nYou may have a parent or grandparent or great-grandparent who lived during that time period.\nIn 1889, the main means of transportation were horse and buggy, steam trains, and steamships.\nThere were certainly no computers or cell phones, though telephones had been invented and\nwere becoming more common. There were a few automobiles for the very wealthy, but no\nairplanes at all. Phonographs and light bulbs and photography were new inventions, but there\nwere no movies or radios or TVs or VCRs. In 1889, the Statue of Liberty was a new attraction in\nNew York harbor, the germ theory of disease transmission was newly developed by Louis\nPasteur who first used pasteurization to preserve foods, and ice boxes were used in homes to\npreserve food. Polio and tuberculosis were dreaded diseases with no effective treatments.\nWomen were not allowed to vote.\nWithin my grandmothers lifetime there were enormous technological advances: radio, radar,\nX-ray machines, airplanes, penicillin, transistors, computers, refrigerators, nuclear bombs,\nrockets to launch satellites and people into space, people walked on the moon! An event that was"
}