THE FUTURE OF OUR FUTURE

January 19th, 2022

It’s not uncommon to think back to some earlier part of life and wish that somehow, we could impart all that we know now, curious as to how much different - and presumably better - life would turn out.

How much stranger to think of some future time when we wish the same thing about our current moment. What might our futures selves wish we knew now to steer our lives in better directions. Perhaps the pieces of the puzzle are already before us, and it’s merely an incident of perspective, a narrowing due to focus that obligates better directions from our current view?

It’s one thing to look back and simply wish we could give a past self a winning combination of lottery numbers. It’s quite another thing to wish a past self could simply see how the pieces of the puzzle at the time could fit together in better ways. In retrospect, everything is obvious, so given the pieces we have today, what will look obvious when looking back in five years or ten?  What combination of facts and circumstances is piling up against destiny that seems invisible now?

A favorite line in this realm is when someone says “not in my lifetime!”, when pertaining to some prediction about the future, be it self driving cars or some machine that can speak in a manner more loving than anyone we’ve ever known.

And yet time has a funny way of flying by, and the future so many imagine to be a part of time beyond their own life may get here far sooner than many expect.  Forces and technologies compound like invisible puzzle pieces, clicking into place far faster than we might imagine a present set of circumstances capable of evolving.

Planning for the future might require imagining it arriving far sooner than expected.