In imagining the future, we invent the future, either directly or indirectly. We do so when we share what we imagine with others who have the wherewithal to build those things we dream of. However, in the same way we can imagine a utopia, we can also imagine a dystopia. For my part, I don’t imagine utopias, but by the same token, I don’t imagine dystopias either. I imagine the worst kind of horror.
Circumstance can, on occasion, overwhelm the best of plans. And I find myself standing some distance from the safety of shore, with tidal waters rapidly inundating the sands, leaving me stranded by recent events. How so? In planning several up-coming stories and novels, I find myself framing those imagined worlds in the context of a future that is a natural progression of the one we now live in, a world not basking in the afterglow of any measurable remedial efforts by either politicians of society. And by imagining such things, fate is accelerating those agents of true change — the urges of mankind.
London, that new MMORPG all the cool kids are playing
For all those who think these turbulent times will eventually subside, I urge you to think again. What we’re seeing in London is an artefact of a degenerate second generation who have never really had to struggle or fight for something meaningful during the course of their lives. And right now, they think they’re playing a video game.
What we’re seeing are people who think they’re playing a MMORPG, which is an acronym for Massively Multiplayer On-line Role-Playing Game, just like World of Warcraft. And, in the same way, the rioters have almost nothing to lose, because society is so stupidly permissive and liberal, and endlessly aching to be like some well-adjusted Scandinavian nation we look longingly at across the cold waters of the North Sea, not realizing that such aspirations are quite pointless.
I am not a writer of fantasy, which would at least offer some excursion into escapism. Instead, perhaps this is a disclaimer, whereby you now know that much of what I write will be the most terrifying you will ever read, because society and the very fabric of the world is ripping at the seams, revealing the turbulent violence and venomous turmoil within. Why? Because there are too many people blinking and screaming into existence, and no one nation, no culture, society or individual is capable of controlling our number. That is the true horror science fiction story of our species.
