I wonder

Wondering what the future might be like if we could see civilizations on other planets.

I wonder what futuristic civilizations are like.

I wonder if there are wars and terrorist wholesale killings based on ideological differences in these civilizations. I wonder if at some point in their history they scorched their planet and decimated every other living species. I wonder if people have moved underground.

I wonder if the death penalty for violent criminals still exists or if that has been deemed uncivilized. I wonder if the abortion of innocent unborn children is also practiced. I wonder if the irony has been lost upon them.

I wonder if there are elected governments and if corruption is the order of the day. Is poverty also its by-product or is there truly justice for all? I wonder if there are politicians and election campaigns as well as protests and mass demonstrations. I wonder if, like on Earth, the most vociferous protests are also delivered by the least informed and least educated members of society. I wonder if they believe in that ages-old adage, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt."

I wonder if societies are classless - no rich, no poor, no strong, no weak, no privileged, no disenfranchised. Are the people happy or do they long for class struggle? I wonder, are all men equal or are some more equal than others? How much does it cost to be more equal?

I wonder, do governments have a big brother unit eavesdropping on people's private conversations thus eliminating all forms of freedom of expression, personal opinion and public dissent? I wonder, does freedom exist at all or is it just an illusion? But more important, how is freedom defined? Does it mean the same as it does here on Earth or is freedom for them the absence of poverty, crime, homelessness, sickness and illiteracy?

I wonder if romance exists. I wonder if people still say "I love you" or, if like on Earth, it is considered dirty and to be avoided at all costs. No one says I love you anymore on Earth. Sex is the new romance and love a useless emotion. I wonder if people still have emotions.

I wonder if people have cosmetic enhancing surgery, pose nude for pictures and then act surprised and feign embarrassment when the images are uploaded and distributed for everyone to see. And when asked why they did it, respond with "because it empowers me". I wonder what it is that posing nude empowers them to do. Maybe careers are started this way and the more promiscuous and sluttier the person, the more he or she is to be admired.

I wonder if there are family units, if the concept of male-female relationships and traditional procreation is still recognized. Maybe because of all the sex and pornography invading their daily lives, there has been a sensory overload and sex as we know it has been abolished altogether. Maybe, because of incessant cosmetic surgeries and the confusion it was creating, advanced genetic manipulation determined it was easier to do away with genitals and sexual distinction. All STDs have finally been eradicated and sex is considered to be prehistoric and basically extinct.

I wonder, if people are sexless and they all look alike, how do they tell each other apart? Do they also tattoo and pierce themselves as a sign of protest and individualism? I do hope they realize that that butterfly tattoo on their back looks good now while they're young but will probably look like a bat when their skin gets old, saggy and wrinkly. Maybe, by that time, all they have to do is pull their hair up from the top of their head to stretch out their wrinkles. Maybe their biggest problem is figuring out how to keep their hair up.

I wonder, maybe people who want an offspring just go to an IVF (in-vitro fertilization) supermarket and choose a test tube baby the way we choose our food products, by reading the nutritional specs on the label. Baby labels probably provide not only gender and race but career path, annual income and life expectancy.

I wonder if physical activities such as sport and exercise still take place or do people just plug their brains to a computer and download the latest physical activity app? Maybe the matrix is real.

I wonder if time travel is possible on this futuristic world. I would like someone from that planet to travel back to our present time here on Earth to let us know that we are headed down the wrong path; that we will likely end up as mindless, emotionless, nondescript automatons. I hope he tells us we still have time to change.

I wonder.














and if children respect their parents, or does the state take over and indoctrinate the young to conform and adhere to the social model they've created?

I wonder if love exists. or if sex has become a clinical activity.