Futurism is My Passion

Blog by AJ on 18 May 2024

Thinking about the future is so encouraging. The possibilities are endless limited only by your imagination and maybe physics. Life can feel fasted-paced and short-sighted, but having long-term goals and a bigger picture to aim towards has helped me slow down and put my life into perspective. What do I want to see in the future and what can I do now to get towards that vision?

Whenever I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I only ever had one answer. I wanted to be princess. But upon learning that meant kissing a frog or marrying a prince, I quickly settled on doctor instead. Genetics seemed especially fascinating as I was hearing in the news that the first human genome project had been completed. CRISPR was also gaining a lot of attention and I knew this was what I wanted to be apart of in the future.

Though I was never accepted into medical school, I'm still very in love with genetics and medicine. I also enjoy staying in the know about the latest breakthroughs in medical research and genetics. The news of the approval for a CRISPR/Cas9 gene therapy treatment for sickle cell disease in December 2023 [1] brought me so much joy as someone with family members with sickle cell. The cure 10-year-old me was hoping for is starting to become reality.

Seeing these innovations come to fruition has been amazing, but makes to me wonder what more is to come. One of the silver linings from recent global health events was seeing the power of collaboration in the scientific community in full force. When we put my minds and efforts towards shared goals, we can achieve amazing things.

Not only is medicine blazing ahead, technology has been improving by leaps and bounds. For better or worse, technology and algorithms are now deeply engrained in every facet of our lives. This has meaningfully enhanced the quality of life for so many and brought a ton of convenience to others. Concessions are being made thought around privacy and safety that need to be closely monitored. Is this really how we want this technology to be used? What are going to be the long-term consequences if we keep down this path?

What is Futurism?

Futurism or futures studies uses trends in culture, ecology, and technology to predict possible, probable, and desirable future developments. We've been making predictions about the future since we've understood the concept of time. But now more than ever, we have the data, tools, and resources to make better predictions.

Futurism in Medicine

Life expectancy has been increasing and more children are surviving through infancy than in any other period of human history. These achievements have been due to the amazing work of modern medicine. But is 80, 90, or even a 100 year life expectancy the max? Why stop there or why even stop at all?

As our knowledge of our development and senescence increasing, will we be able to also reach functional immortality? What would be the consequences of a non-aging population? Stay tuned for my essay on the ethics of functional immortality coming soon!

It will be broken into 4 perspective: No one can have functional immortality, some of us can have functional immortality, everyone should have to the option to choose to have functional immortality, and everyone must have functional immortality. Let me know which perspective aligns best with your stance.

Futurism in Ecology

Climate change continues to rage on with no end in sight. How can we meaningfully eliminate petroleum use to secure a habitable planet and prosperous future? What does a post-plastic world look like? For those of us who still haven't given up, sharing the vision of a sustainable future is a must to gain support and widespread adoption.

Futurism in Sociology

The internet has brought us more ideas for places we all around the world. We're able to share our thoughts and experiences with anyone who has an internet connection. Why do we feel so lonely and disconnected when we're more connected as a people than we've ever been? Are the ways that we've organized our lives and our communities helping or hindering our growth?

Futurism in AI

AI, language models, and deep neural networks continue to advance. Their computing power and the amount of data they can process is incredible. These tools are makes significant waves in many areas, but how are we preparing communities for the changes that they bring? Are hardware and software matching each other's pace of innovation?

I know I've presented more questions than answers, but this is just the beginning of my journey into futurism. I'm very excited to learn more and start some projects that I can share with everyone. If you have ideas or want to share what you've learned, I'd love to connect on social media. Don't forget to bookmark this blog to never miss any new updates!

Thank you for reading my post! I would love to know your thoughts on this subject. Hit me up on Bluesky @aiwithaj.bsky.social or the socials below!

References:

1. Office of the Commissioner, FDA. 2023, December 8. FDA Approves First Gene Therapies to Treat Patients with Sickle Cell Disease. FDA News Release www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-gene-therapies-treat-patients-sickle-cell-disease