Future Shock

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Future Shock

“Man has a limited biological capacity for change, & when

overwhelmed by it, they descend into future shock.”

--Alvin Toffler

Hard to believe it’s already 2216, & earth has become a plethora

of domed citadels. Climate change was real, & now only technology

allows us to cling to its surface. The seas have risen, land masses

have shrunk. Nations have withered. We have given in to what used

to be considered a dystopian vision, where great corporate conglom--

erates, no longer puppet masters, have stepped out of the shadows & 

have become Ruling Republics.

My family lives on the west coast in MICRO-APPLE, covering the 

western portion of Old America. The oil & natural gas barons have

taken over the heartland in BP-STANDARD. The east coast has

become the bastion of Military/Industrial complexes, called LIBERTY.

There is no President, no governors, just CEOs. What’s left of the

ancient government is made up of supervisors & sycophants who

wear black jumpsuits blazoned with patches from corporate sponsors.

I’m a climate engineer on my way back to Mars, where 50 million souls

toil in vast mines & farms, or are engaged in atmospheric change. It now 

rains on the red planet. We grow crops within the sprinkle of domed 

communities. A half dozen seas are filling up & spreading. We understand 

that our tiny galaxy, the Milky Way, is but a dust particle in a universe of 200

billion other galaxies. Beyond Mars, little Ceres has limited potential for

colonization; so it’s a way station, like all the moons have become. Jupiter

now has a 1,000 space stations orbiting it, & exploration of Saturn is on

the horizon. We have sent probes into the far reaches of the cosmos, but

sadly the data does not determine other life forms.

Man’s footprints now are

on planets once thought to be

unreachable; praise Allah.

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over on dVerse Poets Pub