Looking Forward by Kenneth Jr. (snow like ashes .txt) 📗

per cent of their mental capacity. Recent measures showed that the people of Scott and Hella’s world are using 18 per cent of their intellectual, artistic, and sensory capacity. No one knows at this time whether a higher percentage would result in more or less happiness. Further research is needed.

One of the older men in the group remarks that it is comforting to know that all things in their civilization are related to the needs and feelings of individual men and women. The method of science is used to measure the reactions of people. It is never used to force individuals to conform to any given, predetermined goals. Every program of improvement is carefully tested before it is adopted. Even after adoption it is still on probation forever. For nothing would be permitted to remain in succeeding centuries that would not contribute maximally to the happiness of the individuals who will be alive then. Man is the measure of all things, and the scientific method is the measurer.

“At last,” comments Hella, “we have a civilization where the entire range of human needs can be met. For the first time in man’s long history we can have complete diversity. It’s remarkable what happens when you let people be themselves and do what they want.”

“We certainly are fortunate,” says Scott, “that we can live in so many dimensions. Our ancestors felt proud if they were experts in one or two things. My great-grandfather was a nuclear physicist who developed mathematical games as a hobby. He was considered quite brilliant because of his achievements in these two areas. The average person today enjoys operating in over 100 different areas.”

“So many new fields are opening up. There is just not enough time.”

“Time is our only real enemy,” replies Scott with a frown. “Perhaps we’ll lick it some day.”

10. Designing the New Generation

After seven months in the Exumas, Scott receives a message from the Correlation Center that there is an opportunity at a medical laboratory in Calcutta, India. This laboratory specializes in designing and training the new generation—probably the most important function of the new society. Hella shares Scott’s excitement at this chance to participate.

The query from the Correlation Center—affectionately called Corcen—is completely optional. Corcen never tells people they have to do anything. It simply presents information on opportunities that are available or situations that need attention. Each individual makes his own decision regarding what he wants to do. One might draw a rough analogy with an invitation to join an athletic team of the previous century. An invitation to be on the football team was regarded as an opportunity. The coaches didn’t force players to join the team.

“In ancient Greece the Athenians were fond of saying that although other states might know how to make better products, only Athens knew how to make human beings,” Hella says seriously. “All any social system really makes, well or ill, is human beings. It will stand or fall on this.”

Hella prefers to remain in the Exumas longer, and she decides not to accompany Scott to India. By three dimensional color teleprojection, they can still “be together” as often and as long as they want. Since there is plenty of time, Scott asks his cybernator to arrange for a thirty-foot sailboat for cruising to Miami. He suggests that several companions would be desirable. Within two days Scott, another man, and two women leave the Exuma Islands in the sailboat. This boat has been designed to be non-cybernated. Scott and his companions have the novel feeling of being in an environment in which the routine flow of activities is not automatically structured. They find it quaint to open cans to get food, to navigate with a chart and compass, to fish with a hook and line, and even to pump the old-fashioned heads in the boat. A few days of this rather primitive living are delightful. It reminds Scott of what some people said of New York in the last century—“It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there,” These experiences give them a broader understanding of how the lives of their ancestors were consumed so largely by the mechanics of living that they often had little time for intellectual, aesthetic, or sensual development.

“I suppose if I spent most of my waking life coping with these mechanics of living,” Scott confides to one of the women, “I’d probably be too busy for much else.”

The only part of this sailboat that is different from its counterparts of a century ago is an automatic communicator that has been built into the forepeak of the boat. Scott and his companions are only dimly aware of its presence. It sends out a radio signal every ten seconds. This is picked up by an orbiting satellite and relayed to Corcen. No human keeps a record of their location—only Corcen. If the signal from the boat were ever to stop, an immediate attempt would be made to contact Scott through a built-in alarm. If this were to fail, some craft flying over the area with vertical capacity would be alerted by Corcen to give immediate assistance to the sailboat. All of this could be automatically programmed by Corcen. In a simple rescue situation, the only humans that would know about it would be those aboard the rescuing craft and those being rescued.

Lazily pushed by the prevailing southeast breezes, Scott’s sail-boat makes its way over the White Bank south of Nassau. As they arrive at the Tongue of the Ocean where the depth goes from about 15 feet to over 5,000 feet within a short distance, Scott thinks of requesting Corcen to furnish him with information on the research that has been conducted there. Then he remembers that there is no teleprojection screen aboard his small craft. In a way he is glad. It is nice to rely only on his own senses and his own experiences, to see the deep blue water, to observe keenly the panorama of shifting clouds against