Chapter 16 Finale
(A Fictional Glimpse of the Future)
It is mid January 2052, and the snow is falling heavily in the vast plains of the mid west. It is several feet thick over the flat ground and drifting higher around the Smith’s home, that sits with five others, surrounded by a thick grove of trees, now leafless in the cold wind of winter. Here in the wide open spaces of the great plains, John Smith manages the community's enormous farm together with his wife Mary and their two sons John and David . The other five families provide the man power for the farms and make up their tiny community .
They have all experience this weather in the past and know that the snowstorm will almost completely isolate them until it melts in the spring and except for the use of their snowmobile, when absolutely necessary and the weather permits, they will be physically cut off from any neighbors. But they are used to this, it happens every year, the families are well provided with all the supplies they will need for the winter and they give each other company and mutual support.
Their small group of people is considered in the government jargon to be a "Food Provider" (FP) and an "Isolated Living" (IL) community These two ratings guarantee that the little group now has a ration of alcohol that allows them, when the weather permits, to drive their small van into the nearest town, 28 miles away, once or twice a week. Their snowmobile is provided so that if the snowfall is not too heavy, and if an emergency arises they can still get to the Town. They have a completely self-contained power supply from a large windmill and an array of solar panels that produces enough electricity to power their refrigerators, lighting and communication equipment. Corn stoves, fueled from the dross of the harvest provide for cooking and heating their very well insulated, carefully designed, fuel-efficient houses.
Each family has a computer and TV room that is their window on the world and provides news and entertainment via interactive TV, as well as the education of their children. In the case of a medical emergency that cannot be handled via the computer or the small health center in the Town, the state helicopter service will take them to the central hospital in the City that provides every possible facility. The little community is almost completely self contained and in many respects their life style is a throw back to the 1800's. Horses provide most of the day to day power needed to run the farm and are highly valued. Their manure helps fertilize the crops although the artificial fertilizers are sorely missed and the yield is nowhere near that of some of the years before the "Stop". It is hoped that as more and more horses are used on the farms, they will help to close this gap in the food production. They have cows that provide milk, butter and cheese and chickens in the barn keep them supplied with eggs.
Their main link with the rest of the world is the fiber optic line that lies buried four feet underground alongside the gravel road leading to the Town. There it joins up with lines from other isolated farmers and is linked to the main system joining all the homes to the central computers in the City 180 miles away. In earlier days the connection was via satellite, but the expenditure of the fuel and other materials needed to place new systems in orbit was unacceptable and the fiber optic network gradually became the standard method of providing communication. On the farm each family has its own telephone, Internet and TV programming from the incoming transmission line.
The local Town has only a few hundred inhabitants, and has been developed to provide the basic services for all the small communities that dot the open plains. Here there is a general store carrying almost every item that could be required, even if not in the variety available in the City. There are tradesmen such as a carpenter, a mason and a blacksmith. There is a beauty salon that also doubles as a pharmacy and coffee shop. An electrician is available to come out and fix any failed power supply, and the two doctors and a dentist who operate the tiny medical center are also always available for consultation via the Internet.
"The Professor" as he is known, also lives in the Town and is responsible for the education of all the children up to the high school grade. He or 0ne of his assistants are in contact daily with every child between the ages of 4 and 18 in his area via the Internet. He is personally available to each one every day during the six hours of lessons that are transmitted from his office, he answers questions and guides their learning. After some hotly contested debate, especially from the teachers unions, the results of this form of tuition were tested over a few years and were found to equal, and in many cases exceed those of the more traditional education. It also avoided the use of valuable fuel to transport the students each week to a central residential school. It was believed that the fact that this form of tuition involved the parents much more than "going to school" each day accounted for its success.
The Town also has its own power supply from four large windmills and several solar farms. This system was eventually found to be much more reliable than the long power lines that had previously crossed over the plains and after the initial installation the fuel and maintenance costs are almost zero. One of the most important services provided by the Town is the rail link to the City. Twice a day in each direction the silver streamlined trains streak across the plains, making the 180 miles to and from the City in less than two hours.
At the station stand the four enormous grain elevators where the lumbering harvest machines unload their cargo of corn each year as they pass from farm to farm. Once a week throughout the year a long grain train fills up its trucks from the elevators and slowly disappears across the plain to the City. Initially the town also offered a cinema and a small night club and dance hall for the local people who came into the Town for the necessities of life. However they began to die out as each family acquired their home theatres and large 3D screen TV, complete with stereo sound. They were finally killed completely when the interactive TV was introduced.
John’s oldest son David has satisfactorily completed his final year of home education and is slated to begin his university course in two weeks time. He has already completed several hours of interviews and at the beginning of the new university year starts working over the Internet on his communications degree with his personal tutor in the City. His second year will be spent in practical work as a resident at the university campus, then back home for another year, returning to the City for his final year of practical work. When he completes the program he will have to decide whether he goes into research or manufacturing in one of the Cities, or returns to the more isolated communities as a maintenance specialist. At the moment although he has only visited the City once, the hustle bustle of the City has a certain glamour for him, but like most of the country students he will probably eventually move back to the quieter background.
One of the older girls in their little community has successfully passed her Masters in art and is already teaching this subject to the neighboring students over the interactive Internet. She had intended moving to the City, but fell in love and married one of the young men in the small farming community. He wants to continue to work on the thousands of acres of farmland, so his wife will continue her teaching program while improving her standard of knowledge by working for a higher degree. If successful they may opt to spend a year in one of the educational centers before settling down on the farm.
John Smith had been up very early this particular morning to make one of his rare visits to the City. He had been asked to attend a farm-planning meeting and was walking slowly in the early morning sunshine from the main train station to the Farm Center in the City. Here he would meet with the farm co-coordinators to discuss and agree the crops to be planted in the spring. While in the City he also wanted to order a new milking machine for their small dairy. The City still showed the continuing demolition and recycling of the old community that had been started two years after the "Stop". The work was proceeding as the population dropped to its final level, which was planned to be achieved in the next five years. By this time all excess building would have been demolished and cleared away. With the lack of personal transport many of the outlying suburbs had been the first to be quickly abandoned, and as the remaining fuel was made available for the wrecking machines, the ground was totally cleared, the materials recycled and many of the suburbs had now returned to farmland.
In the city center most of the skyscrapers and high rises had now been completely removed and the few that remained were being dismantled and recycled. Power was now far too precious to be used on elevators and escalators and they had been completely banned except where required for the disabled. All new buildings were limited in height to three stories above ground and two stories below ground level. They were now very carefully designed to make the most of the natural light, heat and ventilation, and their power usage was remarkably small, many not even using their full entitlement.. In the housing area, each unit had been built around a minimum of 50 acres of public park, with trees and grass, providing space to walk, playing areas for the children and sports for the grown ups. All roofs were now covered with bushes and other vegetation, primarily to provide thermal insulation but this also gave the city a rural appearance and everywhere in the City the skyline silhouetted growing trees.
The center of the City contained the offices, banks, and similar services as well as the legal and administrative offices. Beyond this inner group of buildings but separated by a half mile circle of open land, encircled the shops, the museums, theatres, hospitals and educational facilities. Then beyond another green ring came the housing and finally the outer ring containing the factories, and the warehouses. It was the proud boast of the City’s designers that any spot within the city boundaries could be reached via the subway system within less than a ten minute ride and it was also claimed to be possible to walk to the nearest subway station, from anywhere in the City within fifteen minutes. The trains were totally automated and ran every few minutes most of the 24 hours.
The streets of course were for pedestrians only, and they had already been completely cleared of snow. Except for an occasional emergency vehicle that screamed by with lights blazing and horns roaring there was no sound louder than the chatter of conversation and the tapping of shoes on the pavement. Deliveries to the inner city were carried out after 9pm via the underground roads and the rail system and as John walked from the subway station there was no traffic noise of any kind. The use of electricity for advertising purposes had been completely banned and the City at night lacked the bright lights and flashing neon signs, but the streets were lit until midnight. The absence of traffic and the many open spaces contributed to a very different way of life than the history books and old movies told of the past. Even in the center of the City a park or open space was never more than a few minutes walk away.
The meeting with the farm co-coordinator went well and John was out of the Farm building within two hours, plans all complete and agreed and he quickly took the subway train to one of the outer ring stations, and walked ten minutes to the Agricultural Manufacturing Company. The company representative was waiting for him in the foyer and he was quickly ushered into a rather luxurious conference room, where the manufacturing engineer soon had him logged into all the companies that designed milking machines. John had initially decided to buy another machine of the same make as his twenty year old model that had proved to be very reliable, but looked at all the others as they came up in 3D on the screen. He found it difficult to make a decision as the technology had changed dramatically in the intervening years but finally settled on the same manufacturer as before and the contract was quickly signed and sealed via John’s smart identity card. John showed his recycling certificate that indicated his farm had returned nearly 20 tons of scrap metals, and the screen indicated that all raw materials to manufacture the machine were available on site. The salesman pushed the Start button and down in the factory below the computer controlled machines began work. The display showed that manufacturing would be completed in six hours and the salesman promised that the machine would be on the midday goods train the next day.
They shook hands in the lobby and John fastened his coat against the cold wind and scattered snow showers and quickly walked back to the station. He got off at the Central Circle and with plenty of time to spare wandered into the underground two mile shopping road that circled around under the center of the City. The stream, the trees and the small waterfalls made this a popular indoor spot to walk or just sit around especially in very hot or cold weather. John and his wife usually came into the City on business once or twice a year, and always stopped to just to look over the latest fashions that were not to be found in the Town Store, although with everything available on the internet, their visits were becoming less and less frequent.
Way back just after the "Stop" when such frivolities were not available, John had come to the City on business and had happened to see a delivery of lingerie being made to one of the new stores that had just opened up and he immediately bought his wife some pretty underwear. It had now become a joke between them that this was part of every business trip. John always felt somewhat embarrassed when he walked into the shop, but the assistant merely smiled and helped him make his selection. Soon a red satin nightdress was folded up in tissue in a cardboard box all wrapped in colored paper and string. John slipped it into his brief case, continued walking to the next subway stop and took the train to the main Station.
He had time for a cup of coffee at the restaurant, which left only a few minutes to wait for his train. He soon settled back in the reclining seat as it quietly pulled out of the station and relaxed as the rumble of the wheels quickly faded as the train reached cruising speed, lifted up onto its magnetic suspension and hissed across the snow covered fields. He watched the moonlit landscape streak by and then closed his eyes and remembered the hours spent with his parents in their car driving to and from the city, passing by the many small farms and tiny villages. Most of them had been abandoned when the gasoline prices went above $10 a gallon, and a few years after the "Stop" most of them were dismantled and returned to farmland. He remembered the panic among the farms and the riots in the years before the "Stop", when the cost of gasoline continued to rise each month and the electricity supply to their farm shut down for hours on end. All over the world the shortages were building up and the excuses became routine. There was a lack of refining capacity, political instability in some of the oil producing countries was holding up deliveries, some of the oil producers were deliberately holding back on producing more oil and so on. Some of the experts were explaining that the supply was being depleted, but were constantly being decried by others who claimed there was plenty of oil in the world. No matter which opinion was believed, it was perfectly clear that the country and the world could not continue to operate in this way as this was very close to chaos. The cost of fuel now impacted everything and food prices began to be out of the range of many people's income. Food centers were set up and for many families they now provided their sole source of food. Riots began to be routine in many of the major cities.
He very clearly remembered the day, now known as "The Stop", when the government finally publicly conceded that the supply of power to the country as a whole was unable to meet the demand and that no immediate replacement source of energy was available. The very next day all gasoline and oil deliveries were halted. He remembered the panic, with people lining up for hours to fill their cars and the fighting that broke out at many gas stations when the supply was finished. He remembered standing on the sidewalk in the town with his parents watching the the rioting and the plundering of some of the stores until the National Guard arrived in the Town. Then followed a long period of hunger and utter misery. When there was sufficient electricity, the TV programs were full of the horror stories of some people starving now that they could no longer drive to the store for their food, even when it was available, and the delivery trucks that were abandoned by the hundreds at the roadside, their loads rotting as they ran out of fuel. The military was given the last of the gasoline supplies from the national reserve and quickly began emergency deliveries. The President and the government resigned "en bloc" when it was disclosed that almost everyone in power had known for several years that the oil supplies were coming to an end but had done nothing for fear of loosing votes. In fact many people had publicly condemned those who forecast the fuel shortage as trouble makers trying to cause discontent when there was plenty of fuel available. A well known and admired scientist took up the Presidency on a temporary basis and he immediately set up a science council to determine the straight facts. Their report was published within two weeks and included the following four main items.
The replaceable energy resources could not sustain the present population.
The population would have to be reduced until sustainable levels were reached.
The remaining oil supplies were only to be used for emergencies and implementing renewable resources.
Food supplies would have to be rationed until the population fell to the planned level.
After all of the problems of the previous year with the rocketing gasoline prices, the riots and the almost daily blackouts, the country took a deep breath. The people read the report and seemed to say, "Well, at last now that we know the truth, we can move ahead and make new lives for ourselves". Elections were held and a totally new government elected with the prime task of developing a new way of life for the people embodying what came to be know as "the four truths".
John remembered sadly the next very difficult years, the weeks of hunger, of living off what they could grow in their garden, an intermittent electricity supply and, an almost complete breakdown of communications. It was as if they had been separated from the rest of the world and returned to the way of life of the early settlers. Then came the slow climb back to some semblance of normality and a small amount of alcohol fuel was eventually made available to those living in the countryside, as the total population of the country began to decline. Finally they could make one trip a week to the Town, and a year later their independent power supply system was installed. John remembered the first of the high-speed trains that made it possible to visit the City and get back in one day. The major advance was the installation of the fiber optic line that really brought all the people together. In many respects they were closer now than in the old days. Every morning with a touch of a button he chatted to his parents who were living in Florida and they could see and talk to each other as if they were in the same room. To visit them however, now that all flying had been halted for lack of fuel, took over three days even by high-speed train.
He noticed the train begin to slow and knew it was approaching the Town. It passed over the bridge that had in the past crossed the highway that had been torn up two years after The Stop, and returned to farmland. He looked out at the still visible path of the road in the moon light, and remembered clearly as a boy, laying in his bed at night listening to the constant rumble of the huge trucks that had roared past night and day. The train sighed to a halt and now as he walked along the platform, the only sounds were his boots crunching in the newly fallen snow and the loud hiss as the train picked up speed and rocketed forward to the next Town another 140 miles further along the line.
He waved to the Station Master who was preparing to close the station until the first train was due the next morning. He quickly found and started his snowmobile, and with the headlights blazing quickly made his way along the road. The snow was now quite deep but the track was marked clearly with tall stakes every hundred yards. The night was still and cold and beautiful in the quiet moonlight, but he was tired and glad to roar over the last small hill and see the light that was welcoming him home shining over his garage. He quickly parked the snowmobile shut the garage door, kicked off his snow covered boots and switched off the lights. His wife was waiting for him at the open door to their kitchen with a hot mug of coffee and they quickly settled down in their family center to watch the last TV news bulletin of the day.
The bad news came first and showed the terrible massacres that had been taking place between two adjoining Middle East countries. They had both totally refused to abide by the international Population Reduction Protocol (PRP); one stating that it contravened the laws of their religion, because their holy book demanded that every family must have many children. The other then stated that they were not prepared to control their population in case they were eventually overwhelmed by illegal immigrants from their neighbor. Meantime both were trying to save their hopelessly overburdened countries by helping their people to illegally cross the borders in their thousands into their neighboring countries.
Other nearby countries had immediately been forced to close their frontiers as their food supplies began to be threatened by the growing populations of their two neighbors and masses of hungry people tried to cross the borders in search of food. Finally the two countries turned their military might on each other and nothing could prevent the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of helpless people. After the gruesome pictures were shown on the screen, the reporter said that order had finally been restored and new leaders had taken control in both countries. They had agreed to work to the PRP and asked for assistance from the rest of the world. Unfortunately, although it was now possible to transmit pictures, sound and ideas immediately from any place on the globe, it would take two or three months to get adequate food supplies to the area by wind ships and rail. The lesson was not lost on the rest of the world and one or two nations that were having second thoughts on reducing their population quickly confirmed their full participation in the PRP.
After the usual news of the significant figures of population reduction in the USA, the really good news came last. An exploration party had found a small new oil field in Alaska. It would provide more than enough fuel to enable the government to complete the remodeling of the cities, which would now be finished at least five years earlier than had been expected. With the latest population figures now meeting their targets, planning for the future could really begin and already most towns and cities were meeting their part of the overall plans for fuel consumption, land use, and pollution control.
John yawned and clicked off the TV, then passed his package to his wife with a kiss on her cheek, "I remembered," he said. She kissed him back and laughed as she said "I knew you wouldn’t forget, but you’ll have to wait for the summer before I can model it for you". This was a joke between them as the bedrooms were not well heated and flannel underwear was the order of the day. She held the nightdress against herself; "It’s lovely" she said and kissed him once again as they made their way to the bedroom.
John checked the printer tray before going to bed and was delighted to find an e-mail from the Farm Bureau stating that he would be receiving a manure processor that he could operate whenever his power supply was producing a full output. It would take all the horse and cow manure and process it into dry pellets that could be easily spread using a horse drawn spreader. He would have the good news to tell the other men first thing in the morning, forking the manure out of the barns into the carts and spreading it over the fields had become one of the most hated and back breaking jobs on the farm.
The next morning the newspaper was waiting on the printer tray as he walked by to breakfast. The fighting in the Middle East had finally stopped but the middle page showed a large colored picture of the carnage. On a brighter note there was a picture of the maiden voyage of the first passenger transatlantic "Wind Ship" to sail from Southampton in England to New York. The enormous vessel had been named the Queen Mary IV and looked strangely clumsy with its huge pivoting four bladed windmills fore and aft, but the paper reported that it had taken only 11 hours more than the famous Cunard Queens to cross the Atlantic. Having few natural resources, Great Britain was using its vast maritime engineering experience to produce a service that could be exchanged for food. It was planned to build at least ten of these vessels using recycled steel and the remaining oil from their North Sea platforms to set up a daily transatlantic service. Finally there was also an e-mail from the university asking David and his father to join an orientation meeting that was to be held at 10.30 that morning.
David was slightly nervous as they both sat in front of the large screen and he adjusted the cameras to bring them both into view. They introduced themselves to the hundred or so other students and parents, and in return visited some of the participants that they knew. The head of the university then took the podium and after welcoming everyone explained the purpose of this session.
"In a few weeks we will all be helping you to succeed in your chosen field of communications. This involves all of us working together, students, parents, as well as your tutors and professors here at your university. We are living in an age of turmoil and change and I want to orient you to all that has occurred and is occurring in our world. There has been so much incorrect and exaggerated information put out about the happenings of the past decades that I want you all to understand where the university stands in these matters".
The picture of the professor faded and was replaced by a shot of the main street of the City with the accompanying noise of the masses of cars and trucks that were clogging the highway. "This is what our City streets looked and sounded like 40 years ago," said the professor as the picture turned back to him standing at the podium. "So much has happened and I want you all to understand how and why the changes occurred, why they were necessary and where they will eventually lead us". He paused and sipped a glass of water.
"Let us first of all look at the world as it was several years before the "Stop". Business was booming, transport was almost entirely powered by the internal combustion engine using gasoline or other oil products as the fuels. Personal transport was available to almost everyone and the population of the world was steadily growing. Now the driving force for all of this was one of man’s basest characteristics, --- greed ---" He paused and there was a distinct murmur from the audience. "The man who could make the most money, was generally the most respected, and enjoyed the highest standard of living. Today, when we try to reward every individual according to his value to society, you may find this a difficult concept to accept" He looked around at the images of his audience. "In many of our historical records this is described as a very unjust, cruel and even immoral time of our society, and derided by many of our present day sociologists. In fact it was a system that worked extremely well for several decades and vastly improved the society of that era".
A list came up beside his face on the screen.
An economy based on a growing demand.
A finite quantity of materials to fill that demand.
"He pointed to the words on the screen. "These two factors made this society possible, but they also both contributed to its downfall.
The capitalistic competitive economy as we describe it, relied on an increasing demand to fuel its wealth and its growth. Without growth the competitive aspect of the system was not truly effective, but this growth was readily available from the increasing world population and the steadily improving standard of living. However for competition to work it also requires a limitless supply of all the necessary resources. Unfortunately the oil supply as we well know was a very finite resource and as it became reduced, the suppliers were able to control the supply and hence the price. They effectively now controlled the world economy as almost all traffic in goods and people and much of the world’s electrical power and the chemical industry were dependent on a reliable supply of oil.
There were many signs that the resources of the world were unable to support the continuously growing population; pollution, lack of water in some places and so on. The first practical effects however were most clearly visible in the early part of this century as gasoline prices steadily rose until many people could no longer afford to use their motor cars. As the cost of fuel rose so did the cost of electricity and therefore the cost of living. The politicians of that day accused the power companies of overcharging; some demanded tighter government control and so on. Finally the truth could no longer be hidden and the people were told of the coming end of the oil supply. The initial riots and public concerns were quickly followed by the "Stop" legislation, in an attempt to control the remaining fuel. This action completely changed our way of life." He paused and looked at the screen, "Any questions so far?" he asked, and immediately four question marks appeared at the bottom of the screen. The speaker touched one and the picture of a young lady with bright blue eyes and a blond ponytail came up in the bottom right hand corner.
"I’m Claire Polland" she introduced herself, "And I just want to know how the authorities of that time could be so stupid as to base their entire society on a resource that they knew was limited and eventually bound to be totally depleted?"
The speaker laughed briefly. "Well it’s not that difficult to do" he said, "We had seen this happen several times in the past; forests being cut down, land turned into dust bowls, mines stripped of their ores. In all these cases however there was a replacement of some kind, and the overall way of life was not materially changed. As a people we had become used to nature or science providing another resource whenever we depleted what we were using." He paused for another sip of water. "In addition, for many years the exploration companies continued to find more new sources of oil and indeed until a few years before the "Stop" more oil was being discovered each year then was being used. This gave the impression that the supply of oil was limitless. However the growing demand for oil and oil products, especially from the enormous populations of some of the developing countries, combined with the sudden lack of new discoveries, quickly demonstrated just how close the world was to totally consuming the available supplies". He paused and took another sip of water.
"Your question however is an excellent one and is fundamental to this entire orientation session. There were three basic reasons why they did nothing. He put up another list on the screen.
Nature had always provided another source, and would do so again.
Science and technology would find an alternative source of energy.
Reducing the population was unpopular and would wreck the economy.
"Let’s consider each of these items in turn" he said. "First, the exploration for new sources of oil was constantly finding small pockets and there was the hope that a large find would be made in some area not yet explored. This was constantly mentioned in spite of the forecast of the geologists that this would be extremely unlikely. New and novel forms of power were also being constantly tested with a great deal of publicity. There were solar powered cars, solar farms for generating electricity, hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles and windmills. However no one was prepared to estimate the population level that could be accommodated in this way, but the idea was rampant that "something" could be found that would take the place of oil. Finally, controlling the population was never even considered as an option, because it cut across many of the philosophies and religions that were rampant in those days and it was believed it would initiate violent opposition to whoever itiated such action. Based on these factors the government of those days preferred to ‘leave things alone and let them work themselves out’".
He touched the second question mark. "I’m Tom Hastings," said the young man with a short black beard, "What happens now and where do we fit in"?
"Well: said the professor, "You all know how the laws have changed. We have moved away from the competitive capitalistic form of society and now we attempt to reward each person according to their needs and their contribution to society as a whole. This is extremely difficult but appears to be the only practical system left to operate our society. We are slowly but surely reducing the population to a level that we can support with only our replaceable resources. The small remaining amounts of oil and gas are only used to power the machines to bring our civilization into that era. You have seen the remnants of the old city being broken down for recycling, and that will continue until there are only the facilities necessary to maintain our steady population. Of course changes will be made as our science and technology shows us new or more efficient ways to use our resources, but essentially we are looking at a very stable society. You," He waved his hand to embrace his audience, "Have a very important place in that society: if we are to go forward and develop a world where people can live together in peace and plenty, according to their individual desires, then it is you young people who have to carry the message to all countries. In the old days we could travel by land, sea and air to almost any place in the world quickly and whenever we wanted to go. That has now changed, travel is much slower, much more costly and time consuming. But we have made tremendous advances in the communications technology and today I can sit down and talk to almost anyone anywhere in the world. I can hear them, see them and they in turn can see and hear me. Soon we will be able to use our sense of touch. In many respects the world is much closer than it has ever been. Only this morning I attended a meeting in London, here I am talking to you all and tonight I am attending a lecture in Tokyo. This would have been impossible twenty years ago. This is your future, to keep the people talking together, to keep ideas, sensations and images flowing freely around the world."
He touched the next question mark. "My name is Charlie Jadd," said the young man with glasses and long black hair, and my question is, will we ever find another way to move people and goods through time and space"?
The professor smiled as he flipped the picture back to himself at the podium. "I can understand your wishes and your hopes" he said, "We are constantly seeing the fantastic movies on TV with marvelous machines that can move entire continents, or let us slip back to past centuries. They make fascinating stories, but there is no possibility that such systems are or ever will be developed. I’m afraid we are stuck with the realities of science".
He touched the last question mark and the head and shoulders of a dark haired girl filled the corner of the screen.
"Mary Slater" she said, "And I want to go back to an earlier question. You explained the reasons why the government of the day was reluctant to accept that the ending of the oil supply was imminent, and that I can understand, although I think they must have been incredibly stupid. What I cannot accept is how on earth they could believe that the world’s population could continue to grow indefinitely without eventually totally decimating our resources. I feel very angry that they had so little concern for us their children".
"Good question Mary" the professor commented, "And I can understand your anger. I am not too sure that I can give you a sensible answer, perhaps this is why we often call it, "The era of self-delusion". There was at the time an incredible belief that everything would work out just fine if only we left things alone. Nature would take care of everything. The only problem as we have seen is that nature’s way of handling these problems is by famine and starvation. This inevitably reduces the population to a level that can be sustained by our replaceable resources. But it is a cruel and violent method that brings untold misery."
There were no more questions and the professor continued to describe briefly the new laws regarding recycling and the use of non replaceable resources, and the ways that this impacted their future lives in society and industry. He ended with a welcome to them all and his best wishes for their stay at the university.
David switched off the interactive television receiver. "Was it really as bad as they say"? He asked his father. "Oh it was tough all right", John replied, "But right now we have to get the sled out and hook up the snowmobile ready to go to the station and pick up our new milking machine."
"How on earth could people be so stupid" the young man commented as they walked together out into the bright sunshine reflecting off the snow-covered fields.