Looking back from 3000 AD

by Marianne ANGERSBACH

"The future generations would live in peace and without martial conflicts.
Weapons of all sorts would have been abandoned. "

Not every human being can experience a millennium, a point in time from which one almost naturally looks a thousand years back and a thousand years ahead.

The flow of time is infinite. Today, the calendar used in most parts of the world dates from 2,000 years ago. This fact represents a triumph for European Christian culture.

A thousand years ago, in the Middle Ages, life in Europe was dominated by irrationality, the repressive power of the Catholic Church, plagues and the Crusades. Plundering hordes whipped away cultures. Life expectancy was half what it is today. Instead of electric light or heating, people used fireplaces, torches and candlelight. Armored knights on horses fought with swords.

Let's think about a thousand years ahead. In the future, how would the world look like?

Generations after us in the year 3000, how would the population of a future culture perceive us ?

Probably they would think about us what we think of the Middle Ages: the Dark Age.

I want to be optimistic and assume that by that time, there will not have been an Apocalypse. In this case, the human race of the year 3000 would probably be quite advanced compared to us. This future world would have solved most of the problems we still face today.

The future generations would live in peace and without martial conflicts. Weapons of all sorts would have been abandoned. In the year 3000 one could look back on a history of negotiation among countries followed by treaties that led to reduced production of defense equipment. Countries could then use tax money to invest in environment-friendly technology.

Colonialism, hegemony, exploitation and suppression of peoples would not be desirable goals in a future culture.

Resources would be treated with care and shared justly among the citizens of the world. At the beginning of the third millenium people were well educated enough to make use of communication.

That made a big difference, since communication was fast and distance did not matter.

It had taken a couple of centuries to calm ignorant organizations and irrational beliefs. Ultimately everybody had to surrender to facts. Around 2000, the worldwide standard of education was already very high. Freedom movements at the end of the second millenium had helped to change perspective: Discrimination and suppression of groups of people had become immoral.

In the year 3000 espionage would not exist any more, since everybody could access information. Government decisions had to be made transparent to the public. New developments in technology would serve people's benefit and were no longer directed toward destruction.

By the end of the third millennium, nobody on earth would have to starve. There would be differences in living standards, but no misery. In the year 3000 there would be fewer people alive than today. People would own less things, but what they used and collected was of very fine quality.

Citizens of the future would live in houses technically designed to absorb energy directly from the environment and recycle it back.

Education would be good and available to everybody. Everybody would have work, and most people could work at home. Ninety percent of business communication could be done by using advanced computers. People would neither commute between home and office nor travel a lot. That would be very beneficial for the environment. Enormous amounts of resources could be saved. Without leaving the house, people would be able to tap into all kinds of information. Once in a while the employees of the future would meet their colleagues at conferences, held at beautiful places.

Nobody could doubt that the future generation's happiness was due to the huge diplomatic success that had led to a shift in investment. It gave the countries of the world a chance to invest their taxes in environmentally intelligent technology instead of in means of mass destruction.

E-mail : marianneinternational@yahoo.com

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