Sunday, September 30, 2012
Visions of the Future
The world has always been captivated on visions of what the future held -- visions of towering cities and bold new inventions that will change one's life in a second. While reading through The Wonderful Future That Never Was by Gregory Benford, I got a taste of what society imagined our world would look like in a short amount of time. One "invention" that particularly caught my attention was the idea of the super-super-super skyscraper. It was imagined that these skyscrapers would love "climates of their own", with its own heating, lighting, and ventilating machinery. Interior wooden finishings and furniture would be unnecessary, and they would tower over 100 stories high, or 1000 feet. While some of these predictions were far off, I was struck by how society envisioned futures that were convenient for everyone -- that is, new technologies were developed in order to make life easy, with relatively no hardship. This showed me that the world was concerned with what made our lives more easy. Often, this is what was seen in the future, rather than some flashy gadget for entertainment.
Towering skyscrapers seemed to be an indication of an advanced, civilized society, and that is the reason they were in most scenarios regarding the future. Though most still had furniture, their far-off imaginings showed how people longed for buildings that would serve an efficient, functional purpose. Not only could skyscrapers show off the grandeur that society had become, but they could also serve our world in a valuable way, but having its own "climate" that could be regulated at the whim of the people. No longer would people fall victim to the travesties of Mother Nature -- just step inside for work and all was well. Presently, we have developed beyond what our past could imagine -- we have buildings taller than a 1000 feet. In fact, the tallest stands in Dubai, at almost a mile and a half long. We have gone beyond what we could have imagined so long ago, and it shows that our imaginations, and our abilities, know no bounds.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Skyscrapers are certainly one of the more successful predictions that the Benford book contained, but they were often wrong about the structure. They thought maybe there would be buildings with top floors that were larger than most of the floors below it. If you look at the Burj Khalifa, it tapers massively before reaching the top. Most of the structure is toward the bottom of the building.
ReplyDeleteSkyscrapers definitely are fascinating, and it is fascinating to see what kinds of ideas they were born from. I am not sure what they were thinking about furniture not being necessary but obviously, we see the outcome of that (we still need furniture). Office buildings are indeed climate control, but I am not sure that that is what they had originally intended as being "climate controlled" (via thermostats). Anyway, big cities with their skyscrapers have always seemed to be a statement of "look at me", "I'm different". You know when you have come upon an important city when you see skyscrapers! As you said, it is like an indication of an advanced, civilized society. I wonder if that plays into the modern/post modern notion that we need to be "literate", and move away from our past as an oral and ritualistic society.
ReplyDelete