Wednesday, 18th of August, 2004

Bruce Sterling, veteran cyberpunk and futurist, gave the keynote (I think) address at computer graphics nerdfest SIGGRAPH a few days ago, and the guys at BoingBoing have just put the entire text online: “When Blobjects Rule The Earth” (or, as I like to think of it, “The Spimes are Coming! Quick, Find a Spime-Wrangler!”)

Not only is Sterling an absolutely sterling word-wrangler, he really knows what he’s talking about. The link is strongly recommended for cautionary-yet-inspiring (and dare I say visionary) futurism… I quote:

It’s possible to live in a cleaner way. We live in debris and detritus because of our ignorance. That ignorance is no longer technically necessary. Those who know, know. Instead, our problem is becoming obscurantism, which is a deliberate hiding of the facts by vested interests who know they are injuring us. Such acts of evil must be combated. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Wanting to know, wanting to do it, that’s half the struggle right there. Our capacities are tremendous. Eventually, it is within our technical ability to create factories that clean the air as they work, cars that give off drinkable water, industry that creates parks instead of dumps, or even monitoring systems that allow nature to thrive in our cities, neighborhoods, lawns and homes. An industry that is not just “sustainable,” but enhances the world. The natural world should be better for our efforts and our ingenuity. It’s not too much to ask.

You and I will never live to see a future world with those advanced characteristics. The people who will be living in it will pretty much take it for granted, anyway. But that is a worthy vision for today’s technologists: because that is wise governance for a digitally conquered world. That is is not tyranny. That is legitimacy.

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