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

the pale blue sky, to see without words, to feel in silence. They anchor several days north of Andros Island to absorb this more fully. Swimming, fishing, nude sun bathing—their days have a different fullness. They have no contact with the outside world, and there are few other boats or humans to be seen.

After a few days they haul the anchor and head west across the Great Bahama Bank. This large underwater desert is seldom more than ten feet deep. The water is crystal clear. Although there are few fish, the surprise and delight of watching the countless starfish add additional threads to their rich tapestry of experience. Soon they pass the jagged rocks of Gun Key and head west across the Gulf Stream. Their southeast breeze holds firm, and ten hours later, tanned and exhilarated, they arrive in Miami.

On his way to the South Florida terminal, Scott notices someone waving for help in a park near the road. He instructs the car to pull over to the side. He notifies Corcen of his location and that he is going to the rescue. The person waving for assistance takes him to a man whose leg has been crushed by a large fallen branch. They are unable to budge it. Scott runs back to his car and tells Corcen. Corcen immediately gives this emergency information to several people in the vicinity. Within minutes six people lift the branch and release the injured man. They carefully carry him to a car which speeds him to the nearest cybernated hospital.

This instant helpfulness is an important ingredient in the new society. In former times people often felt, it’s someone else’s job, “I don’t even know him, he might sue me, why get involved.” Such reactions may have been appropriate in competitive, legalistic, money-motivated societies. In the twenty-first century people welcome the opportunity to assist others. Is there a more human way to spend time? Everyone is more secure when he feels that everyone else in the world genuinely welcomes the opportunity to be of assistance. Normally, people need so little help in this cybernated world of abundance that this open-hearted feeling towards others never results in one’s being overburdened.

This generous willingness to pitch in and help extends beyond simple emergency situations. Each person identifies with the whole of society. If someone notices that some equipment needs repairs, he does what he can to fix it or reports it to Corcen. People treat all objects with the care and consideration that individuals previously gave only their own possessions. These individuals who have “everything” are able to give generously of themselves. Only in this century have all men and women so fully identified themselves with everyone and everything in the world.

The Great Circle Express

The simplest way to get to India is to board one of the around-the-world express crafts that has been continuously circling the globe without landing for many decades. They travel at a steady speed of 5,000 miles per hour. When this craft is approximately one thousand miles away, Scott takes off in a shuttle craft that accelerates to 5,000 miles per hour. When the nuclear-powered, circumnavigating craft is above South Florida, Scott’s airship locks onto the larger craft just long enough for Scott and other passengers to get aboard. Departing passengers enter the shuttle craft, which then disengages and returns to the South Florida terminal a few minutes later.

The flight to India takes a little over two hours. From his vantage point high in the sky, Scott enjoys the planned geometry of the world below—the vast waterways that have eliminated forever the tragedy of floods, the cybernated farm belts with their thin gleaming tracks, the dynamic cities that are focal points of a technology harnessed to serve all of mankind. As Scott watches the cities of India, he is impressed by how often the circular plan has been used. He sees a multi-story apartment ring about a mile in diameter under construction. Cybernated building machinery is fabricating 5,000 apartments a day with a construction staff of only thirty-five people.

The cities of the previous century have been leveled except for several that have been kept for anthropologists and historians. These museum cities are protected by a large, transparent, geodesic dome and are air conditioned. Similar protection is given selected ruins of previous cultures.

As Scott nears Calcutta, the shuttle craft ahead streaks upward for its rendezvous. It locks onto the larger space vehicle over Calcutta where a brief exchange of passengers takes place. Scott boards the smaller craft and within minutes alights at the Calcutta airport. There are no porters, for passengers have no baggage. There are no customs agents since international divisions have been meaningless for many decades. Scott confers with a local cybernator about apartment availabilities while he waits for his cybernated auto.

In Calcutta, Scott chooses an apartment with nine other men and women companions. He could have a private apartment but he is in the mood for group living. He gives instructions to the cybernator in the apartment to pick up his system of preferences from Corcen. Thus, within the limits of the preferences of his companions in the apartment, Scott will continue to feel perfectly at home.

Circular Cities

Many of the colorful cities in the twenty-first century are laid out in the circular pattern Scott observed from the air. The central hub of the city has a nuclear generator that produces all of the power needed to operate the millions of invisible electronic servants that silently free the people to live fulfilling, creative lives. The central core of each city also contains a master computer that cybernetically watches over the city as a whole. It is connected to every room in the entire city and also Corcen. This master cybernator, operating as the city hall of former times, works automatically and normally has no humans in attendance.

The research laboratories are located in the first ring of buildings that encircle the power and computer core. Hospital facilities adjoin the medical research area. These