I never had faith in the future, nor I do think about the
possibility of having children, because, how could I be so
irresponsible to bring someone into the world who come?
Poor child, there is nothing in the future worth living.
The system is broken, justice does not exist and the planet
is becoming more and more uninhabitable because of large
companies beyond our control.
However, lately I have been reading a lot about alternative
futures. I read a bunch of dystopian stories and cyberpunk
is also trend, all things that predict a future that no one
wants to live, but that are good for telling those stories
of rebels rebelling against the oppressive system and not
achieving anything in the end. Stories that suit these
multinationals so well! They make us believe that we have
individual power while they continue to have the greatest
power and we are getting used to the idea! But lately I am
discovering a more hidden genre, one that has no publicity
or great writers behind it, Solarpunk.
Solarpunk helps you think of futures outside of capitalism,
where everything works based on ecology without neglecting
technology, using it in balance. The best technology for
the environment you are in (There is an alternative!).
It's like retrogaming in a way, let me explain: current
videogames love to use the infinite resources of modern
computers so they don't have to program well. Their code is
horrible, they use assets without thinking and end up being
super heavy games that need an astronomical amount of
resources. They waste much more than they offer.
However, retrogaming uses limited resources, those consoles
have limits on colors, sprites on screen, music channels,
not to mention total space! The idea is to be able to make
the game you want to show the world within those limits,
even the same limits help with the design of the game and
help focus on which parts are important and which are not.
Current technology has the same problem as modern gaming.
They use resources as if they didn't matter. Look at the
amount of energy data centers need! There is nothing in the
history of mankind that wastes more fresh water than this
AI technology!
Pollution is getting out of hand because they think that
resources are unlimited and the planet is not an infinite
super PC, it is a retro console! This planet has to run all
the technologies and productions of the world at the same
time and not crash!
Going back to solarpunk, think of a world where everything
uses the smallest amount of resources for the planet, where
everything is sustainable by itself, where each technology
is applied to maximize results without neglecting resources
A slower world, without so many ubers, personal cars and
shipments around the globe in a week, but more efficient in
the use of resources.
And the truth is that such a future is completely possible.
For the price of a couple of iPhones you could already have
solar panels to power your home. Of course big corporations
don't like this, it's not something that suits them in the
least, their model of exploitation and infinite growth is
allergic to the idea of being intentional and doing things
out of necessity and not impulse. But I do think it's a
possible future and one that I would like to living in.
