Are we headed for dystopia?

[PlutonianEmpire]

Simple question, really. Yes or no: Are we headed towards dystopia, like (but not exclusive to) the ones oft depicted in Hollywood nowadays? (This question deliberately assumes we're not quite there yet. )

Optional question to answer: Is a dystopian future a like-it-or-not inevitable, inescapable part of our future we are doomed to suffer from no matter what we do?

My answer: Yes to both.

 

[Crezth]

You seem rather chipper for someone anticipating the Ministry of Love.

 

[Grisu]

if we are, where's my soma?

 

[JohnRM]

No to both. Why would you think so?

 

[AlpsStranger]

I think most real scenarios like this are very unstable. Things like the U.S.S.R. and North Korea are temporary blights, not maintainable states of affairs.

 

[bugwar]

Of course we are. And have been doing so for millennia. Just ask any pundit.

Good news doesn't sell well.

Doom, gloom and despair are the foundations of profitable news businesses.

 

[History_Buff]

To a hollywood/literary dystopia? No.

To a future with lower standards of living than we currently enjoy? Probably.

Is this inevitable? Certainly not.

 

[Borachio]

Steven Pinker says violence is on the decline.

Life expectancy on the rise.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

I am confident I would slot right into some kind of Mad Max role, dispensing justice and having adventures, so I'm not too worried.

 

[Gatsby]

Simple question, really. Yes or no: Are we headed towards dystopia, like (but not exclusive to) the ones oft depicted in Hollywood nowadays? (This question deliberately assumes we're not quite there yet. )

Optional question to answer: Is a dystopian future a like-it-or-not inevitable, inescapable part of our future we are doomed to suffer from no matter what we do?

My answer: Yes to both.

Fox News, the Kardashians, Snookie, global financial crises, terrorism, Facebook, the Patriot Act, peak oil....I thought we were already in a dystopia!

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to ask if we are heading away from dystopia. Overall I think the evidence suggests we are not.

 

[Leoreth]

Optional question to answer: Is a dystopian future a like-it-or-not inevitable, inescapable part of our future we are doomed to suffer from no matter what we do?

Heat death of the universe sounds pretty dystopian if you ask me.

 

[Borachio]

Spoilered to save some members' data allowance.

Spoiler :

Link to video.


Link to video.

 

[_random_]

Nah, we should be all right.

 

[Borachio]

Up to a point, eh?

 

[GoodSarmatian]

You seem rather chipper for someone anticipating the Ministry of Love.

if we are, where's my soma?

Wrong dystopia. We're moving towards the cyberpunk kind. The USA with it's privatised prisons, mercenary armies and increasingly corrupt government is already half-way there.

 

[Grisu]

Syndicate, then?

Hand me Persuadertron

 

[hobbsyoyo]

A big no from me. On one particular dystopian future, I'll explain why I don't think it won't happen:


I find the depiction of AI in popular culture extremely childish. The scenario basically goes: people invent AI, people enslave robots, then:

This scenario is roughly equivalent to the crusaders having nuclear weapons in an alternate timeline. Absurd, you say? Crusaders didn't have all the other techs required to build nukes, you say?

Exactly. The path to AI isn't linear or one track. The world isn't a civ game where you can beeline to a specific tech and ignore the rest. By the time we (probably) develop AI, we will also more than likely be extensively bio-engineering ourselves or directly interfacing with computers, blurring the line between what is human and what is AI.

Similarly, our culture will be growing and adapting. Just as the Crusaders would've nuked most of the ME because that's how they rolled, of course we would enslave robots if given that tech right now. But today, thankfully, we don't nuke every country that crosses us. Hopefully, our cultural, societal, economic and political systems and institutions will have grown up to the point that we could rationally handle AI when it comes.

That being said, the current nightmare depictions of our coming AI overlords actually does help our culture adapt. We're thinking about the problem before we even have it. It's effing amazing to be human.
(sorry for the repost, but this particular post of mine existed before this thread. This is where it belongs)

 

[Murky]

I think given all the recent books, movies, tv shows on future dystopias it's something that people are both afraid of and fascinated by at the same time. It seems like there this line between a good reset of the system; where it's eventually rebuilt into something better, and a totally bleak outlook where humans will probably go extinct.

One example is the Star Trek universe. Prior to developing warp drive it looked like they suffered some sort of collapse of civilization. Later, everything was rebuilt to be about as good as it gets.

Another example is the The Road (book and movie) where there is a total environmental breakdown. Nothing grows anymore and all the animals are dead. People literally eat other. The future looks bleak and there's not really much hope for humanity.

Then you have more of a middle-ground where civilization collapses but humanity survives and goes back to living like people did before there was modern technology. The new show Revolution is like this.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Do you think calamity and collapse are prerequisites for growth?

 

[Murky]

It depends on a lot of factors. Collapse didn't seem to do much for the Mayan people. They do still exist, but sadly most of their culture and history was lost.

I think for something better to come out of calamity you have to have this core group of people who are determined to make it happen.