When I was about 10 years old, Blue Peter buried a time capsule, that was to be opened in the year 2000. At the time I couldn’t imagine what being thirty-nine would be like.
Not knowing what to write today I was staring at the date, and I was suddenly struck by the incredible fact that it’s been 23 years since the millennium, since the time capsule was re-opened. I have read science fiction novels that were set round about now, and we still haven’t got rocket packs to take us to work. That I used to back up our computer at work, and the disk was about 40cms across and 10 cms deep and that now my phone fits in my pocket. Do you still marvel at the fact that you can take a call in the middle of a field?
I wondered about having a go at writing science fiction, but to get away with my lack of scientific knowledge I would have to write beyond the end of civilisation as we know it, beyond and out the other side. Or perhaps about another world altogether, where nothing is too far fetched if you allow your imagination free reign. It’s why I love Star Trek so much, because it is beyond the other side and humanity pulled itself together and made a go of it. I do wish/want/hope/pray that the next 23 years will bring some wonderful leaps in technology and science. That life for everyone would become a little simpler, and fairer all round, that we indeed come to our senses.
So that’s what I would put in my time capsule – world peace, a stable climate, a gas and oil free world, and everyone would have easy access to a good friend to talk to. It’s not asking too much, is it?
