I write this as I return to our SCI FI offices at 30 Rock in NYC from a getaway vacation in Indonesia. For those of you unfamiliar with Indonesia, it is an archipelago of over 17,000 islands with a population of more than 200 million, scattered over a land area of some 2.02 million square kilometers. I spent two weeks in Bali which is so picturesque that you could be fooled into thinking it was a painted backdrop: rice paddies trip down hillsides like giant steps, volcanoes soar through the clouds, the forests are lush and tropical, and the beaches are lapped by the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.
But the truth is that Bali is far from free of serious criminal activity. Yes, the people are incredibly friendly and the place is stunning. But there have been two terrorist attacks on tourists there in the last few years. Two suicide bomb attacks targeting tourists at popular beach resorts in 2003 and 2005 by a Muslim terrorist group called Jeemaah Islamiyah (with probable links to Al Quaeda) have killed over 200 tourists and locals.
So, although I had a fantastic time, terrorism is always in the back of your mind. Even while on an idyllic getaway, it is easy to let pessimism creep back in.
And now, as I sit here looking forward to my morning catch-up at the SCI FI offices, I am first hit with the morning newspapers. Headlines jump out from war and nuclear testing to environmental degradation and climate change to AIDS and pandemics to poverty and worsening income inequalities. The need for optimistic visions of the future has never been greater.
As a genre, sci-fi has always stepped up to this challenge. From Jules Verne and Frank Herbert to Star Trek and The Lord of The Rings, science fiction literature, television and film have informed, influenced and inspired generations with dreams of bright and exciting futures. We’ve all been fascinated by the phenomenon of what was once sci-fi becoming reality. The “Star Trek” communicator isn’t all that different than today’s cellphones. And what about space travel, robots assisting in heart surgery, the internet and the new Kindle? So sci-fi and SCI FI Channel will continue to do its part in championing an optimistic outlook of the future, empowering individuals to meet the challenges ahead and inspiring unique solutions to global dilemmas and challenges.
But it doesn’t take a company or a government to save the world (though, admittedly, it helps). People—individual people—are making a better future right now, and we’ve got a passel of the best. Brilliant minds from art to science, entertainment to government to technology and points in between are writing for SCI FI’s new online blog, howyoucansavetheworld.com. SCI FI has called upon each contributor to share his or her unique perspective on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. The blog will draw upon their distinct and visionary reflections — voices that represent the choices that we as a society will be making to help shape our own future choices.
Howyoucansavetheworld.com will serve as a platform for some amazing ideas from the frontiers of innovation and will, hopefully, help set forth some first steps in helping solve some of the challenges we face today. Check back here often, catch up on some unique visions of tomorrow, and then go forward to bring your own visions to life.
Read on and join the conversation.
Dave Howe
President
SCI FI Channel
By SCI Fan at 3:34 AM ON 06/20/08
Marvelous post. The essence of the best science fiction is always the hope brought by innovations in technology and in understanding ourselves.
By Jared at 1:41 AM ON 08/01/08
Great post. The scenery I'm sure is as picture perfect as the way you've described.
In envisioning the iniquities of the Jemaah Islamiyay confining it's credits to religious based targets coinciding with the F.D.I.(Front to Defend Islam) and their raids on bars, massage parlours, karaoke lounges & gambling dens in Jakarta, it's kind of a bassackwards solvency program.
However, the Nahdlatul Ulama & The Mihammadiyah with a proposed combined 63 million members, do condemn these attacks while consulting government support against radical Islamic militants, and that should at least provide some sense of transparency for the continuing vacay attractiveness of Bali & Indonesia.
In extension reaching down the barrel a bit, Ba'asyir is traced back to the Komando Jihad in 1978 well before bin-Laden's uprising almost 20 years later, and since Jemaah Islamiyay, ie;(Ba'asyir) is traced linked to Al-Quaeda, it really does paint a bigger trade route picture than what we are all led to believe.
As for the SCI FI part of this conversation, there has to be some very ancient connection to these radicals insisting they have the freedom to do what they will while not willing the allowance of any other freedoms than a bran-washing kamakazi solution awaiting for IMAM the conqeurer. From the way these people talk, IMAM is supposed to be the Gengis Khan hero of these militant cowards.
So there's the canvas, a little paint, and alot of background effective for the affectas.
Ousty...
By fordchange at 7:52 PM ON 08/03/08
If we keep thinking that people in power,or millioniers, or Big companies are going to save the Planet, them we are dowm.
This is an idea that can save billions of trees from been cut. If we use Digital Disc to do our Publishing,then amaount of information will be 50 times or more, in space, multilanguages, with Internet, cheaper, without the need for a computer.
Here is another one I have a design for a construction system that is 20 times stronger that any of the usual, and It does not need any good to build a house that can be done in half a time.
I'm a nobody will anyone press attention to me? not I'm not a millionaire, them there is no hot to save this Planet.
If you really want to do something, start looking in people like me.
Rolando Fabars
By anonymous at 1:09 AM ON 08/18/08
I personally can barely read or join any forums due to having become irradiated by computer fluoresence which is ionizing. The so-called "experts" claim that LCDs are radiation free, but as usual, that too is bunk.
As for how to save the world? I think alot of the school massacres and contemporary terrorism are due to people having become hyper and nerved up from the proliferation of high-tech irradiating products ESPECIALLY fluoresence, but also cellphones, and other EMFs.
By Yours Truly at 6:43 AM ON 08/25/08
I don't really have any great ideas. Only thang I can come up with at the moment is this : be nice to those around you. Your immediate family members, your colleagues at work. Even the guy who clears the garbage in your neighborhood.
Human affection is something VERY LACKIN' in these megacities where we live in these days.
Everyone too caught up with earning their keep & their own petty issues.
The "anythin' goes" sorta attitude is the easiest way to start conflicts. Maybe those highschool shootings are a result of those kids feelin' alienated from the rest?
We have seen the enemy & it is US.