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A lasting encounter When I was in the age of ten I read a series of books by the Swedish author George Johansson. The series was entitled Universums öde (The Fait of the Universe) and portrayed several parallel life-stories in a dystopic future, set in the 2080's. The books made an unprecedented impression on me; I remember that I read them over and over again and really fell into the plot. Until then I had always looked upon the future as something better, richer and funnier than the present. I remember, as a child, how my grandparents told me about scarce living conditions they had during their childhood. When I compared to the abundance of my own life there was no doubt: the modern project was thoroughly good (of course I didn't used that word). In the encounter with Johansson's books my entire perspective turned all around. I read about endless cities where humans lived their lives in social alienation and their desperate attempt to relieve their existential unrest with even more meaningless consumption. I read about a devastated biosphere, deadly radioactive radiation and oceans that had turned deep brown due to the furious fight over the last fossil fuels. I read about war, global nuclear deterrence and power politics. After that the future was dark. A bit later I discovered the utopian visions. It was definitely an antithesis of Johansson. The future once again became a prosperous place. Technology had liberated mankind from diseases, hardship and material scarcity. For me, these visions are almost inseparable from the series Star Trek in which humanity governs the cosmos, drinks Earl Grey and sets of for exciting exploratory missions. I remember how I entered into the part of captain Jean-Luc Picard and how deeply I was attracted by the manifesto of the series: "to boldly go where no man has gone before". As a grown up individual one rarely thinks about the grand perspectives. One is always to busy with bills to pay, employees to call and university credits to collect. One rarely or never contemplates about what the meaning may be behind Everything and where the world truly is underway. When one occasionally does think about these sort of questions then, at least for myself, it's always out of a personal existential perspective. But during this spring semester (of 2002) I got the opportunity to write a bachelor degree essay about virtually anything I wanted. So I picked up all these questions and found a chance to once again widen my horizons and ask myself where this journey will take us all. The essay The essay that is now completed is in much a return to the thoughts I first was confronted with when I read Johansson's books as a child. Of course, today, all the thoughts are dressed up in an academic language (with concepts like "the Enlightenment", "social entropy" and "sustainable development"). But still, the fundamental question remains the same: is humanity doomed to perish due to our impenitency, ridiculousness and cruelty? Or is in fact a human built Utopia within our reach? Obviously my humble essay cannot answer these questions. The only purpose with this essay is to discuss, scrutinize and put forth the huge (and consequently important) matters that mankind seems to face today as well as in the future. My own reading of philosophers like Georg Henrik von Wright, Oswald Spengler and Ludwig Wittgenstein has perhaps given me - what the first of these three called - "a twilight perspective". Yet I still bear with me a strong believe in mankind's ability. This believe is not the result of intellectual giants but of lay-back-watching and reading of science fiction. I must admit that the final essay is an outcome of both these traditions. Enough of introduction. Unfortunately the complete essay is not available in English due to its ... how should I put this ... rather limited potential circle of readers. But an abstract is available for download. I have also collected some relevant Internet links that might come in handy for the interested. You are always welcome to send me an email at rasmus@stampe.nu. Initiate datastream...
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