I am going to release a series of images imagining a SolarPunk world in the year 3033. This is the first. I hope y’all like (cross-fingers).
Thank you u/20caotico for the artwork!!!
In this world, violence was minimal & poverty was nonexistent. This advancement, in my view, would elevate every individual to at least the third tier of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. From my perspective, there are numerous challenges that both individuals and society as a whole must confront before we each reach the pinnacle of self-actualization.
I don’t think we need violence or a world ending catastrophe to tell an engaging story. IMO, some of our largest, hardest, most interesting battles are the ones within.
Below is the background:
It was the year 3033 and the world was a very different place from what it had been just a handful of centuries earlier. Gone were the days of poverty, starvation, and clean water shortages. Violence was minimal, as people had learned to resolve their conflicts peacefully.
In this future, energy was no longer solely sourced from the sun. Instead, it was taken from all environmentally positive sources.
As an advanced society, there were many different technological advancements. Some of what I will focus on is Neurotransmitter Control and Virtual Teleportation.
Neurotransmitter Control:
The ability to release specific neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, at will. Rather than relying on external drugs to alter their mood, people could simply choose to release these chemicals themselves. But this was a hard technique to master and people still relied on external neurotransmitter alteration (drugs) for assistance.
The ethical dilemmas were weighty. How much dominion over one's mind was just? Could perpetual happiness ever be a worthy pursuit, or did it merely evade the reasons for sadness?
Virtual Teleportation: The ability to fully immerse oneself into a completely new location (external) as well as one’s memories (inner).
Inner Virtual Teleportation
This was a wonderful tool for reliving happy memories, but it also had the potential to be abused. Some people found themselves immersing themselves in the past so much that they neglected the present. They became disconnected from their daily lives and relationships, choosing instead to live in a virtual world of their own creation.
External Virtual Teleportation
In the vast expanse of communication, friends mingled across solar systems, interacting with them just like they were in the same physical room.
The debate raged on - was physicality a requisite for genuine kinship? Could virtual closeness ever match the resonance of face-to-face encounters?
Popular political tenants within the human solar systems were:
1. Individual freedom: The maximum amount of individual freedom and autonomy possible, while also recognizing the need for social and economic equality. This means that people should be able to make their own choices about how to live their lives, as long as those choices do not harm others.
2. Economic equality: A more equal distribution of wealth and resources is necessary in order to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to pursue their own interests and goals. This could involve supporting policies like progressive taxation and social welfare programs.
3. Democracy: Emphasize the importance of direct democracy and participatory decision-making, as opposed to representative democracy. This means that people should have a direct say in the decisions that affect their lives, rather than solely relying on elected representatives to make those decisions for them.
