Visions of the Future: The 2010s- Here's to the Future

The closer we get to our present time in the study of history, the harder it is to see the meaning of the events we are studying. Hindsight is a wonderful gift, in that it enables us to put the pieces together, and figure out what really mattered- what really made an impact. This blog post is unique, in that I don’t know what people will still be talking about in twenty, ten, or even five years. The stories and ideas mentioned here are what I think have been impactful so far. What will be the defining characteristics of the 2010s? We still have half a decade to discover that.

Science Fiction:

Literature-

In 2010, Ian McDonald published The Dervish House, winner of the 2011 BSFA Award, as well as the 2011 John W. Campbell Award. It describes from various perspectives the aftermath of a bus bombing in Istanbul, Turkey.

The 2011 winner of the Hugo and Locus awards for best novella was Ted Chiang’s 2010 story, “The Lifecycle of Software Objects”, about a woman who raises an intelligence from simple AI to human-like consciousness.

The 2012 spoof Redshirts, by John Scalzi, won the 2013 Hugo and Locus Awards. It parodies Star Trek, (and similar science fiction shows), from the perspective of the “red shirts”- those expendable extras who never seem to make it back from away missions.

In 2011, Andy Weir published The Martian, which details the struggles of a stranded astronaut attempting to survive on Mars. The novel was adapted into a film in 2015.

Chinese author Liu Ci Xin wrote The Three Body Problem into 2008. It is an alternate history, in which aliens invade earth during China’s Cultural Revolution. It was translated into English in 2014, and won the Nebula Award for 2014, and the Hugo Award for 2015.

Television-

Continuum, a Canadian sci-fi show released in 2012, was about a group of future terrorists who travel to the present, and the police officer who was accidentally dragged along with them. It was created by Simon Barry, and starred Rachel Nichols as the displaced officer, Kiera Cameron.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe branched out into television in 2013 with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., starring  as a resurrected Agent Coulson. He and his team deal with the issues raised by superhumans and aliens, and must fight forces from outside the universe, and inside their own organization.

Film-

Christopher Nolan, known for his gritty, realistic style and mind-boggling plot twists, put out fan-favorite, Inception in 2010. It explores ideas of dreams and reality, and the thin line between them.

The culmination of the first phase of Marvel Cinematic Universe films took place in 2012 with The Avengers. The film saw an epic team-up between Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, as they learned to work together, and fought evil aliens led by Thor’s powerful and jealous younger brother, Loki.

The next year, J. J. Abrams released a sequel to his 2009 Star Trek reboot called Star Trek Into Darkness. It reintroduced feared villain Khan Noonien Singh, and had some parallels to the classic Star Trek film The Wrath of Khan.

A trend I have noticed over the past few years in film is what I would call “NASA sci-fi”- films portraying humans in the near future exploring space in ways that stay true to what we know can currently be done.

2013’s Gravity was the story of an American astronaut struggling to survive after being disconnected from the space station she worked on.

In 2014, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar showed a group of astronauts attempting to find a solution to an ecological crisis in the not-too-distant future using ideas that are presently being studied by quantum physicists.

The Martian, by Andy Weir, was adapted in 2015, and seems to have a similar modern realism to that of Gravity and Interstellar.

Also, the rights to the Star Wars movies were sold to Disney studios, who hired J.J. Abrams to direct the first film in a new trilogy, The Force Awakens, released in 2015. You probably already knew that.

Thank you so much for sticking with me through this trek through history. I hope you’ve enjoyed it, and been enlightened or inspired in some way. I have personally learned so much through writing this series, and am looking forward to posting about some of my more specific insights in the future. The next post will be some of my recommendations for experiencing the highlights of sci-fi history. After that, I’ll briefly cover the first six Star Wars movies, and give my spoiler-free review of The Force Awakens. Then, I will finally get to work on blogging through all the episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series for the 50th anniversary of the show.

Thanks again!

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Staring at the Sun

Hey all! I wrote this post as a reflection on a book I read for school called Conformed to His Image, by Kenneth Boa. It’s a great read, and it taught me a lot. I recommend it! These are a few of the things I learned…

     I’ve been told my whole life not to stare at the sun, but I still do. I don’t literally stare at the sun, of course. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to see. I do, however, perform the mental equivalent of staring at the sun when my puny, human brain tries to wrap itself around the concept of eternity. I hear the charge in Colossians 3 to “set your mind on things above”, and take it as a call to completely understand what my life will be like after death. In my current state, I can’t imagine anything without an end, so the thought of eternity can be blinding and paralyzing. The question remains, however. How do I “set my mind on things above”? Through the book Conformed to His Image, by Kenneth Boa, I learned that pursuing God is meaning enough for my life now, and throughout all of eternity.

  In 2003, the Hubble telescope photographed galaxies over 13 billion light years away. Some of these galaxies contained eight times as many stars as the Milky Way galaxy, defying current physical theories by their sheer size. God knows every one of the stars in those galaxies by name.  In 1968, Physicists discovered that the proton, one of the three particles that makes up the atom, is itself a composite particle. They observed an even smaller particle called a quark, which makes up both protons and neutrons.  In the scientific world, the quark was groundbreaking and revolutionary. God, however, knew about these incomprehensibly small particles since the beginning of time, when he spoke them into being. He transcends everything that we can see and that we know exists. Our God is one, but also three persons. From His character flow virtues like love, faithfulness, holiness and truth. Without Him, morality would have no foundation, and therefore, no substance. As Kenneth Boa reminds us, “Ultimate reality is not the cosmos, or a mysterious force, but an infinite and loving person” (pg 153). In short, God is wholly other. He is infinite. His understanding and knowledge literally have no end.

    Though we are not infinite, our souls are created to learn and seek after God. When He made humanity, He made us intellectual, emotional, and volitional, like Himself. We are meant to relate to Him on each of those levels. Only when we relate to Him are we truly whole on each of those levels. This is one of the most incredibly, ineffably beautiful things about God. This is one of those concepts that we will forever be learning about and trying to understand more fully. Boa defines this mystery well, “He [God] has designed to seek intimacy with the people on this puny planet, and has given them great dignity and destiny” (pg 29). Not only did God create us, He also knows us, and fulfills us. Ingrained in our nature is a longing for the truth. God- the God who created the smallest subatomic particle, and the largest supernova- offers that truth freely to whomever will seek Him. However, there is too much truth for us to learn in our short earthly lives. The learning must go on into eternity. As Tozer says, “There is simply not enough time to think, to become, to perform  what the constitution of our natures indicates we are capable of” (pg 62).

    The application of these facts to my everyday life encourages my soul, and quells my nagging doubts about living in a future without end. In my humanity, I am created to seek and worship God. As long as that is my focus, I will be satisfied not only in my earthly life, but in my entire life. “We will never be bored in heaven, because God’s greatness and knowledge are boundless; the surprises will never end, and the joy will ever increase”, says Boa (pg 161). When I learn about God, I am “setting my mind on things above”. I am investing in the thing that will continue to be the meaning and purpose for my life forever and ever.

    I am immensely encouraged by the idea that I don’t have to understand all of eternity right now- I have all of eternity to learn. I don’t need to stare at the sun; but I do need to live in the light of it. The glow of God’s everlasting plans should guide my every step. Right now, I can set myself on the never-ending path by using my limited capacity to seek God and pursue Him. Then, my life will be like that of the righteous person in Proverbs 4:18, which, “is like the shining sun that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day”.  I can’t look at the sun now. I need it to live, but my eyes cannot behold it. As I move from this ephemeral plane into the Perfect Day, I will be changed so that I can comprehend more and more. I’m not there now, but that’s ok. I’ve only just begun. As Boa once again quotes Tozer, “For now begins the glorious pursuit, the heart’s happy exploration of the infinite riches of the Godhead. That is where we begin, I say, but where we stop no man has yet discovered, for there is in the awful and mysterious depths of the Triune God neither limit nor end… To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love…justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart” (pgs 149-150).

Keep on glowing in the dark,

Elora

Utopia Reaches for Us (Part 2 of 2)

  

 So, the last Wednesday post left us in a pretty bleak place. Humanity is always looking for a perfect society that deep inside we know we were built for. In and of ourselves, however, we just can’t find it. There’s the recap of the bad news.

    Here’s the good news.  God, who authored the ultimate and only utopia, desired to restore us to that utopia. His own Son died for this rescue, and then came supernaturally back to life to complete it.

    You see, when we were striving vainly for a perfect world, and trying to be our own gods, the true God was reaching down to us to fulfill our need for utopia.

    When we allow Him to take hold of our lives, (however that happens to work. I don’t know. Please don’t debate Calvinism with me right now. Maybe later.), We are transferred from the broken tyranny of sin that we sold ourselves into at the fall.

“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,  in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14, NKJV).

    Christ brings us into His restored utopia. Someday, all of us who receive Him will dwell in the  sheer and unbounded perfection of that Kingdom for all eternity. Let me tell you a bit about it:

It will be perfect-

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."  Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful’” (Revelation 21:3-4).

    That’s right, perfect. All the problems and pain we’ve accumulated since we left Eden will be done away with .

It will fulfill us completely-

“ For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:3-4).

    It will satisfy all the desires we were originally created to have, and our true life will be revealed!

It  will be all of us-

“And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it” (Revelation 21:24).

    Members of every culture will be a part of this heavenly community-male and female. Our favorite humanist sci-fi authors so often long for this. What they don’t realize is that only in God can the best in every culture, and both genders, be brought together. He is the one who created them, after all.

It goes into eternity, and we are part of it right now-

“ For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).

    We really don’t belong to this messed up world anymore. We were rescued in a time-transcending rescue plan, remember, remember? So, now, we are aliens on earth- members of a truly perfect world trying to spread the truth to other humans. That is cool. In fact, I don’t think there’s anything that can make a geeky heart, (or any heart), happier.

    This all sounds like the ultimate utopia to me. God does it way better than we do. And by His grace, utopia reaches down to us.

Be encouraged! I'd love to hear any questions or comments (other than Calvinism debates), down in the comment section!
Keep on glowing in the dark,
Elora