Top Five Friday: Benefits of a Sci-Fi Future

I may have confessed this here before, but I have a secret love for Sci-fi.Authors like Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut are some of my favorite. The reason I like Sc-fi is because it is a genre that uses the future to make social commentary on the present. Instead of looking to history to learn from mistakes, it projects a future history to make light of current mistakes. Obviously, most good sci-fi does not have good things to say about the future, or the present for that matter. Regardless, there are a few things that happen in Sci-fi that would really be great if they came true. So, to take a break from the serious theological posts this blog usually have, I thought it would be fun to explore the top five benefits of a sci-fi future.1. Matching Jumpsuits - The days of spending exorbitant amounts of money on the newest fashions will be gone. We will have a closet filled with three or four of the same matching jumpsuit and not have to worry about what to wear. I wish this were true right now. They will be form-fitting and probably have some cool logo on the shoulder or the lapel. There can be a few distinctions for men and women jumpsuits, but overall, they will all be the same and the ridiculous world of fashion and judgment will come to a close.2. Teleportation - I would love to be in Germany right now, or maybe Buenos Aires, but I really don't want to have to fly there. Teleportation makes sense on so many levels. It could bring families together, enhance education, and improve pollutants caused by transportation. There will be no more rush hour, just billions of particalized humans floating through the nanosphere on their way to a new and exciting destination. I see nothing but positives.3. Alien Friends - Sometimes it doesn't matter how many interesting friends I have, I still get bored with them because they are all humans! The human experience is diverse, but it's not that diverse. I want friends who can show me a way of living, a perspective on existence, and super powers not yet fathomed by humans. Aliens fit the bill perfectly. Of course, with friendly aliens we will always run the risk of unfriendly aliens, but that's a risk I think we all should be willing to take to have an exciting social life. For example, Chewbacca. I rest my case.4. A Cure For Suffering - Even though it will probably mean sacrificing petty things like human emotions, freedom, and independent thought, there will be a cure for suffering. It might come in the form of a pill, a totalitarian state with constant surveillance, or an overstimulation of man's pleasure center, but at least mankind won't have to suffer. We can wake up, go to work or school, eat meals, come home, and go to sleep without being troubled by most of the common things that make us human. We may be robots, but at least we won't get our feelings hurt.5. Time Travel - Time travel is the coolest thing imaginable. I don't know why we haven't invented this yet. Let's get on this.