[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:07.45,0:00:10.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Would you like to know \Nwhat's in our future?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:10.22,0:00:14.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What's going to happen tomorrow,\Nnext year, or even a millennium from now?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.72,0:00:16.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, you're not alone.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.28,0:00:20.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Everyone from governments to militaries\Nto industry leaders do, as well,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:20.62,0:00:23.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they all employ people\Ncalled futurists
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.28,0:00:26.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who attempt to forecast the future.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.16,0:00:29.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some are able to do this\Nwith surprising accuracy.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.12,0:00:30.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the middle of the 20th century,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:30.79,0:00:33.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a think tank known as\Nthe RAND Corporation
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.40,0:00:36.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,consulted dozens of scientists\Nand futurists
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.46,0:00:38.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who together forecast \Nmany of the technologies
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.94,0:00:41.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we take for granted today,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:41.14,0:00:42.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,including artificial organs,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.58,0:00:44.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the use of birth control pills,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.53,0:00:49.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and libraries able to look up\Nresearch material for the reader.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.33,0:00:52.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One way futurists arrive\Nat their predictions
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.29,0:00:55.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is by analyzing movements and trends\Nin society,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.96,0:00:59.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and charting the paths they are likely\Nto follow into the future
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.60,0:01:01.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with varying degrees of probability.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.85,0:01:06.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Their work informs the decisions\Nof policymakers and world leaders,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.52,0:01:09.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,enabling them to weigh \Noptions for the future
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.32,0:01:13.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that otherwise could not have \Nbeen imagined in such depth or detail.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.76,0:01:18.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course, there are obvious limits to how\Ncertain anyone can be about the future.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.50,0:01:21.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are always unimaginable \Ndiscoveries that arise
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.13,0:01:24.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which would make no sense\Nto anyone in the present.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.80,0:01:25.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Imagine, for example,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.83,0:01:30.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,transporting a physicist \Nfrom the middle of the 19th century
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.43,0:01:33.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into the 21st.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.14,0:01:37.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You explain to him that a strange material\Nexists, Uranium 235,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.77,0:01:42.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that of its own accord can produce enough\Nenergy to power an entire city,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.22,0:01:45.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or destroy it one fell swoop.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.46,0:01:48.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"How can such energy come from nowhere?"\Nhe would demand to know.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.91,0:01:51.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"That's not science, that's magic."
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.06,0:01:53.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And for all intents and purposes,\Nhe would be right.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.100,0:01:55.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His 19th century grasp of science
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.73,0:02:00.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,includes no knowledge of radioactivity\Nor nuclear physics.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.02,0:02:04.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In his day, no forecast of the future\Ncould have predicted X-rays,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:04.11,0:02:05.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or the atom bomb,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.58,0:02:07.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,let alone the theory of relativity
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.42,0:02:09.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or quantum mechanics.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.50,0:02:11.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As Arthur C. Clarke has said,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.04,0:02:15.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Any sufficiently advanced technology\Nis indistinguishable from magic."
Dialogue: 0,0:02:15.75,0:02:19.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How can we prepare, then, for a future\Nthat will be as magical to us
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.84,0:02:23.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as our present would appear to someone\Nfrom the 19th century?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.67,0:02:27.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We may think our modern technology\Nand advanced data analysis techniques
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.70,0:02:31.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,might allow us to predict the future\Nwith much more accuracy
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.17,0:02:33.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than our 19th century counterpart,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.49,0:02:34.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and rightly so.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.97,0:02:38.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,However, it's also true that our \Ntechnological progress
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.06,0:02:43.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has brought with it new increasingly \Ncomplex and unpredictable challenges.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:43.38,0:02:47.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The stakes for future generations to\Nbe able to imagine the unimaginable
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.49,0:02:49.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are higher than ever before.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.68,0:02:51.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the question remains:
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.35,0:02:53.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how do we do that?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:53.09,0:02:56.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One promising answer has actually been\Nwith us since the 19th century
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.80,0:02:58.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the Industrial Revolution
Dialogue: 0,0:02:58.76,0:03:01.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that laid the foundation \Nfor our modern world.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.52,0:03:04.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,During this time of explosive development\Nand invention,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.33,0:03:08.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a new form of literature, science fiction,\Nalso emerged.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.99,0:03:12.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Inspired by the innovations of the day,\NJules Verne, H.G. Wells,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.92,0:03:16.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and other prolific thinkers explored\Nfantastic scenarios,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.78,0:03:19.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,depicting new frontiers of human endeavor.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.55,0:03:22.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And throughout the 20th century\Nand into the 21st,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.42,0:03:26.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,storytellers have continued to share their\Nvisions of the future
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.21,0:03:31.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and correctly predicted many aspects\Nof the world we inhabit decades later.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.34,0:03:32.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In "Brave New World,"
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.80,0:03:37.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Aldous Huxley foretold \Nthe use of antidepressants in 1932,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.22,0:03:40.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,long before such medication \Nbecame popular.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.31,0:03:45.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1953, Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451,"\Nforecast earbuds,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.97,0:03:48.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"thimble radios," in his words.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.29,0:03:50.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in "2001: A Space Odyssey,"
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.100,0:03:58.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Arthur C. Clarke described a portable,\Nflat-screen news pad in 1968.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.08,0:04:01.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In works that often combine entertainment\Nand social commentary,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.52,0:04:05.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we are invited to suspend our disbelief\Nand consider the consequences
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.42,0:04:10.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of radical shifts in familiar \Nand deeply engrained institutions.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.63,0:04:11.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In this sense,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:11.50,0:04:15.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the best science fiction fulfills \Nthe words of philosopher Michel Foucault,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:15.88,0:04:20.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"I'm no prophet. My job is making windows\Nwhere there were once walls."
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.87,0:04:25.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Free from the constraints of the present\Nand our assumptions of what's impossible,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.70,0:04:30.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,science fiction serves as a useful tool\Nfor thinking outside of the box.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:30.47,0:04:32.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Many futurists recognize this,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:32.33,0:04:36.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and some are beginning to employ\Nscience fictions writers in their teams.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.45,0:04:40.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just recently, a project called iKnow\Nproposed scenarios
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.76,0:04:43.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that look much \Nlike science fiction stories.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:43.46,0:04:45.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They include the discovery of\Nan alien civilization,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.94,0:04:50.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,development of a way for humans\Nand animals to communicate flawlessly,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.35,0:04:52.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and radical life extension.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:52.92,0:04:55.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, what does the future hold?
Dialogue: 0,0:04:55.12,0:04:57.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course, we can't know for certain,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:57.21,0:05:00.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but science fiction \Nshows us many possibilities.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:00.81,0:05:02.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ultimately, it is our responsibility
Dialogue: 0,0:05:02.78,0:05:06.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to determine which \Nwe will work towards making a reality.