I have no idea

Every now and then, the planets align themselves, and I have an epiphany. That is a two dollar word that has many meanings, but for the purpose of this article, let's define it to mean a revelation or insight.

It is not a coincidence that I am using a word like this. It has everything to do with the message I am trying to develop for this article. It has to do in particular with the changes I am seeing in our civilization, and the general puzzlement these adaptations cause me to experience.

Several different thoughts and ideas led me to this article. The first of these is language loss. All over the world, the vocabulary of the different languages is in decline. This is a documented phenomena, and the long term effects are uncertain.

There are many reasons why we are loosing language, but to me it seems obvious that technology is at the root of this evolution. We live in a different world, with different communication needs and methods of communication.

Language was at the very heart of the matter, at the beginning of civilization. The use of words, and the ability to save and transfer them to others gives humans true communication capability.

We trace our very long journey of knowledge by these very methods. Original man had the story teller. This person saved the collective stories and knowledge of his people verbatim.

The next great leap forward was the written word. As we began to save our languages, we added more and more words to the list. It was not uncommon for people to write several letters or notes each day to send to friends and family. They used these much as the "texters" of today with their cell phones.

Unlike the people who wrote notes and letters, the texter of today does everything possible to restrict the size and content of the language they text on the phone. After all, they are after content, not prose.

We also live in a world that is increasingly audio-visual. I can still remember when the idea came out several decades ago, that we would have telephones that would also have a picture screen. Back then, most of us wondered if that would ever happen. It is old news now, and happens millions of times each day.

The need for words is decreasing in direct proportion to the increase in the different technologies. Here is just one example. Many of the e-mails I receive have a three letter postscript (LOL). I have never been sure what this means. Is it for "lots of laughs" or "lots of love?" Thanks for the thought, but I still prefer the real words themselves.

There are other bewildering new inventions, that are almost beyond my ability to understand. A new movie and a new television show, perhaps best demonstrate these new creative innovations. The movie is titled "Avatar." The television show is called "Caprica."

Both of these venues deal with futuristic concepts. Mostly they deal with the idea that we can create new life forms in some way. I would like to think that this is impossible, but when I see what has changed in the span of my lifetime, that would be a foolish belief on my part.

I have not seen "Avatar" as yet. What I have learned so far about the movie is this. In the future, there is a planet that is being exploited through mining by the people of another planet. There is one problem, the people that are doing the mining cannot breathe the atmosphere on "Avitar."

Their answer is to create what are referred to as genetically engineered bodies, and then somehow put their minds into these artificial beings. More than that I cannot tell you until you or I see the movie.

What is important here is the fact that what man dreams, he usually ultimately creates. Genetics is advancing at a breakneck pace in our world of today. Just check with any local farmer, and he can tell you about genetic engineering.

The television show "Caprica" offers another science fiction venue that looks at a possible future invention. The new creations in this series are, "virtual reality" and artificial intelligence."

I watched the pilot for this new show, and am still trying to digest what I saw. The basis of the plot is this. The daughters of two men are killed in a futuristic terror attack. They find out that the one of the girls had created her own image in a virtual reality program.

This program was so sophisticated that the men could actually talk to and even hold their daughters in a virtual reality setting. This was not enough for one of the fathers who was a scientist.

He decided that he could develop a robot type of being that could have the virtual daughter implanted within it. Thus, he would be able to see his daughter in the real world.

Science fiction, sure, but is it the future? The answer scares me. Again, I go to history. People once thought the sun rotated around the earth, and we punished scientists who did not agree.

Just forty years ago, the television series Star Trek showed us things like cell phones, MRI machines, and many other unbelievable futuristic inventions. Guess what, these are now common.

Like the title of this article. I have no certainty of what the future holds for mankind. Most of what happens will be academic for me, I won't live to see most of it anyway.

I never was sure what the "Tower of Babel" really was. Perhaps these new inventions that give mankind the ability to create life forms is the same thing. The future holds so much promise, but also so much danger. I just have no IDEA!