CONSCIENCE AND COMMON SENSE Far Reaching Changes in the Near Future Shoumen Palit Austin Datta Those who have decorated my life Rebecca Jane Austin-Datta Emma Louise Dahlia Palit Austin-Datta Christian Palit Austin-Datta with their joyous presence, loving embrace and the beautiful sound of silence. CONTENTS 0. INTRODUCTION • FACTS ABOUT FICTION I. CONVERSATION • POLITICAL FICTION II. IMAGINATION • BUSINESS FICTION III. APPLICATION • SCIENCE FICTION IV. REJUVENATION • LITERARY FICTION INTRODUCTION ¤ Facts about Fiction Does fate design our destiny? It is widely accepted that we may shape our destiny by the paths, actions and thoughts we choose to follow. If we choose to follow fiction, then, what is fiction today may be transformed to reality, tomorrow. Hence, fiction need not conform to facts. It is the other way around. By immersing fiction in our consciousness, we may trigger facts which may mimic fiction. My intent is to contribute to this immersion concept. Therefore, should I write with a target audience in mind? I think I may have a target of one. One who will disrupt global geo-politics. Once I resolved this dilemma, I started writing this fiction. It was simply a matter of conjuring ideas based on my artificial intelligence and precipitating what remained in solution after my artificial intelligence collided with my natural stupidity. Is this natural stupidity a vice or a virtue? My friend Martin Schwartz wrote an essay claiming the virtues of relative stupidity. Even if I can count on stupidity as my excuse and escape hatch, I still wonder, what if my plots are pedestrian, hackneyed, uncultivated or laissez-faire? Before publishing this work of fiction many who knew me may have only occasionally wondered if I were foolish but with this publication I will have removed all doubts. My fiction, in part, was inspired by real people who seem to relinquish their dreams or lacked confidence to pursue their wishes or got depressed from carrying the weight of the cloud created by their own self-doubt. It seems to be the most common way visionaries give up their ideas because they think they do not have the power to transform their vision into reality. Because, I am not a visionary, I thought I should capture what may have been, however, fictional. If my drivel fails to discourage you and if you persevere, then, you may find a few ideas and suggestions in these fictional essays to spark some non-fictional questions. A few may seem impossible at present but not improbable in the future. It may resonate with the concept of an elevator to space suggested by the Russian engineer Yuri Artsutanov in the 1960s and immortalized by Arthur C. Clarke in his 1979 novel, The Fountains of Paradise . In 2006, Bradley Edwards and Robert Cassanova of NASA told CNN “It is a very credible idea. There is nothing wrong with the physics. With enough funding, it is possible to construct a space elevator in about 20 years." Ideas in this book, which must be categorized as fiction, may trigger changes, if enabled or transformed to reality, in the near future. I have attempted to catalyze convergence of vision, albeit limited by my own imagination. The purpose behind digressing from reality to write a fiction is a personal inability to present evidence based reality in a logical nexus with an adequate sense of the future. Because I am short on facts and neither well educated in the past nor the details of the present, I took refuge in fiction to satisfy my penchant to predict the progress one may anticipate in the future. I am so full of noise that even the exceptionally astute Nate Silver could not extract enough signals to construct my inner Nostradamus. Thus, I have ventured solo to descend to fiction in order to spin my yarn about leaving behind a better society than the one in which we were born. I wish to sound erudite but I may have failed throughout my essays. It remains true that the progress of science, society and civilization may not be defined by or confined to developments in any one field. Before we can hope to boil the ocean we must start, first, by gently warming it. My fictional thoughts or ideas in these essays are a fraction or sliver of the spectrum of factors that must co-evolve to shape the future. I have left all the room for real pioneers to contribute their imagination, inventions and innovation to enrich the collective global experience. I have touched on very few levers for socio-economic growth and principles of propriety aimed to inculcate an ethos imbued with a pervasive sense of dignity. Despite my known shortcomings and a plethora of faults still unknown to me, I have tried to paint my fiction with a sense of positive pragmatism to create an economically resplendent future through the management of an imperfect trinity of complementary services. Complementarity may be a tripod represented by education, health and energy. The trinity of these programs may be executed within a parallel framework of ethical transactions and empower economic freedom of women. The latter is paramount and quintessential as a measure to attempt to bridge the global equity gap. In 2013, the wealthiest 300 individuals in the world possessed financial assets equivalent to the wealth of 3 billion (3,000,000,000) of the poorest individuals who are not fictional, but live lives which are made of real flesh and blood but surreal in its fragility, mortality and morbidity. In four chapters, I discuss [1] political fiction [2] business fiction [3] science fiction and [4] literary fiction. Taking fictional licenses without permission, I have strived to create a collage of the art of the possible. Two fictional dialogues about politics and enterprise weaves a fictional future of national leadership or government and fictional scenarios about emerging business. Topics include education, healthcare, the energy crisis and the social fabric of our evolving lifestyle technologies. I have borrowed ideas, names and places. I use quotes, phrases and comments without acknowledgement. I justify my action using the rationale that if I copied from one source then it is plagiarism but since my mimicry includes a multitude of sources, I have elevated my plight and now I am free to call it research . My choice of examples and individuals were guided by the need to generate some familiarity in order to illustrate the context. I hope the readers can Googlize the names and instances, stretch their vision and recognize the imagery just enough to re-imagine the possibilities or changes which we are likely to encounter on our journey to the future. These associations offer clues. I do not have any answers but more important, I do not know even a fraction of the right questions. The few solutions I have proposed may be incorrect or dead wrong. I cannot speak with “ dead certainties” and the future does not entail us to be right, all the time. Therefore, I have dared to punctuate my mindless drivel with occasional dreary ideas, some old and a few new but their arrangement can use a feng shui expert. Perhaps we can try to verify them through implementation and admit errors, if we cannot measure the impact of our work on the tangible standard of living, equity of access to global public goods and find remedies for remediable injustices. My intent in chapter one was to bridge the probable with the possible, trigger a few new questions, re-view the big picture with different eyes, re-explore connections and re- connect the tapestry of civilization with our sense of propriety using dignity and equity as the social glue in this political fiction. CONVERSATION between two US Presidents takes place on 20 January 2041, on the eve of the inauguration of the 50 th President of the United States. The exchange highlights the catalysts for socio-economic entrepreneurship, promoting social businesses and policies, strengthening our moral fiber but without compromising our innocence or diminishing our vibrancy, zest and pursuit of happiness. The technically minded business (chapter 2) fiction in IMAGINATION may generate revenue and job growth through ethical globalization. Chapter 3 is an APPLICATION central to our debate on the environment based on global energy supply and demand. The proposal is nothing more than a third rate science fiction. It may fly in the face of conventional wisdom. It is not business as usual. Hence, the use of science fiction to explain what may be possible. What we may think we have at hand to improve our environment is not an “one size fits all” solution but it could shine the light on billions in the world, despite its fictional status. I acknowledge the gaps in my knowledge and remain cognizant of the skepticism but few can disregard the rationale to create a fictional proof of concept . It is about the road not taken. The return on investment in APPLICATION may be limited. Investors may succumb to the fear of failure. Fear of failure is a plague on the road to progress. It has driven our leaders to compromise and yield to pressures from special interest groups which are clearly not in the interest of the society, in general. Media seeks to immortalize one who retrieves the engine of Apollo 11 from the depths of the ocean to serve as a museum attraction and a token of vanity. But, investment in APPLICATION may offer billions of people an affordable, simple and sustainable means to manufacture and consume energy. It may help us to improve our economy, the environment and may lift many boats, not just one iconic engine.