Recently I have found myself more and more interested in futurism.
What's futurism? Well, I'm sure you can go look up a really great definition on dictionary.com, but to me it is the philosophy of, discussion of, writing about and hypothesizing on where society is headed. Everything, from social interaction to architecture (facebook and floating cities), can be included in this topic. I read articles from an array of sources, physicists, economists, writers, marketing gurus, on where things can be, or might be headed.
Why?
I'm glad you asked. A couple years ago (more than a couple actually), when I pulled my head out of the idealistic, self-absorbed, cloud of youth, I realized things had changed. I got a cell phone, I connected to people through social media, I made music digitally. I realized that many of things that I had read about in sci-fi novels, or watched on episodes of Star Trek were beginning to happen in every day life.
We seemed so close to jet packs.
When I was in elementary school I wanted to be an archaeologist. By the time I was in middle school I no longer wanted to be one. I felt as though everything from the old world had been discovered.
I was looking backwards, not forwards.
Now I look forwards and see new products and technology, and I see the beginnings of next years discoveries. Over my lifetime, Moore's law has become so proven, that news cycles last in hours rather than days or weeks. A topic is only new until the next time we hit the refresh button.
I can be as guilty of this as anyone because I read news stories, and articles at all times of day. Sometimes, (like while I'm writing this) I get so burned out on new information my brain simply can't process anything for awhile. Luckily life has enough mundane tasks to keep me busy until my batteries are recharged and my senses are ready for the new hypermedia once again.
And sometimes, I become so focused on the future, that I forget to engage in the present. When imagining what we will someday be able to do, I forget about what I can do today.
Where I'm really trying to go with this, is so simple, I could have said it in a couple sentences. I can do research on writing projects for 8 hours, and be too tired to actually apply it to anything in my day. I can read about how to fix my car all day, until there is no daylight left to go out and actually fix it. It's like some strange sort of procrastination.
Which I am also, wonderful at.
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