Sci-fi Wi-Fi and Utopia

Margaret Atwood once said: “More than one commentator has mentioned that science fiction as a form is where theological narrative went after Paradise Lost, and this is undoubtedly true..... Understanding the imagination is no longer a pastime, but a necessity; because increasingly, if we can imagine it, we'll be able to do it”

And this is why I want to defend videogames. Science fiction films are now huge at the box office as entertainment, but videogames are demonised as triggers for serial killers, when they could instead play a vital role.

Our world is embracing technology faster than you can say Wi-Fi. Statistics (those old chestnuts) suggest that by 2049 a 1,000 dollar computer will exceed the thinking capacity of the human race. The amount of new technological information is currently doubling every two years and will double every two hours by 2010. And that’s not far away.

Videogames are programmed simulations of life. Some even come close to affecting real life on a large scale – look at Second Life, and its list of pioneering firsts, like the recently announced link-up with Google Earth, or it’s first real-world millionaire as a result of her virtual-world business. This is the training ground where we will plan our future, and that future is racing fast towards us. We are talking research and development for the human race.

Writers, game designers and the entertainment industry already accept that all of their artforms are valid, crucial development even, but so far the mass media has lagged behind. Get with the program! Bizarrely, the United States may have a real part to play in saving the human race. Nintendo spent more money on R&D last year than the federal government spent on education. Perhaps we have to look at education in a different sense. I am not advocating that we let children become numbed with handheld game machines. But I am arguing that science-fiction has become science fact, and unless this generation of parents learns to welcome technology then we will be left in the hands of our children, who can already make global decisions at the flick of a mouse. Banking, policing and healthcare are joining hands globally through the internet. Travel is moving into the galactic sphere, since we can already traverse the globe in less than a day. These changes are just the forerunners of what will come, quicker than the final Harry Potter film. Unless we understand that we can explore our future choices now, using entertainment media like movies, novels or online gaming, we risk leaving the shape of things to come to a handful of media moguls, with the financial savvy to see the future before we do.

We can discuss and disseminate the conclusions that we draw instantly, democratically and globally through the blog world. So let’s get our best and brightest brains on the case, so that what we’re racing towards is the human race finally realising its potential.