WORDS Mark Tungate ILLUSTRATION Michaela Macalinao
When I was a kid,” said my best friend Jason, who writes about science and the environment, “I wanted to live in the future. Now I’m here, I’m not so sure.”
Jason and I both turned 50 recently, so there was an edge of nostalgia to our conversation. The fact that we were also drinking white wine on the rooftop of a hotel in Barcelona added to the digressive nature of our chat.
We agreed that, in some respects, our present resembled the science fiction we had read and watched in the past. Jason pointed out that many of the gadgets in the cartoon show The Jetsons now exist. OK, cars don’t fly, but they can pretty much drive themselves. We can watch TV on our watches and use our phones to access an infinite library. Through Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home we can talk to household devices.
The Jetsons were also able to print their food, something that 3D printers can presumably manage. Artificial Intelligence is here, and is growing so smart that Oren Etzioni, the chief executive of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, has proposed three rules to regulate it. They’re based on the sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics from 1942.
An AI system should be subject to human laws, so that it does not commit a crime.
It must clearly disclose that it is not human.
It cannot retain or disclose confidential information without “explicit approval from the source of that information.”
For the time being, our brushes with AI involve little more than exchanging text message with companies’ customer service departments, which have been replaced by chatbots. That’s one of the disappointing aspects of living in the future: often, something that should seem wonderful just feels banal.
Jason worries that “the internet of things” will go the same way. “Already your phone and your computer have been invaded by people who want to sell you stuff. Wait until your refrigerator tries to convince you to switch yoghurt brands.”
Our conversation was partly inspired by the release of the Blade Runner sequel, which is set in 2049. The original, of course, was set in 2019, and it got many things wrong. There were flying cars and “off-world colonies,” but nobody had a mobile phone. On the other hand, it predicted that climate change would ravage the planet, albeit rather more violently than we’ve seen so far.
The new film appears to adopt the stance that the original story did not take place in our future, but in an “alternate universe” that evolved in a different way to ours. There are a lot of alternate universes around at the moment. The science fiction writer William Gibson recently posited that our own present has become so bizarre that it is possibly being manipulated by time-travellers from the distant future, who play with alternate realities as if they’re video games. (See his book The Peripheral for details).
It’s true that certain aspects of the sci-fi present are patently unnerving. Crazed terrorists who want to create their own state. Despotic leaders who seem intent at hurling nuclear missiles at one another. Drones that can take pictures of us sunbathing. Data theft. Cronuts. “If this is a science fiction movie,” said Jason, “it’s a really bad one.”
A general dissatisfaction with the present pervades the hipster movement, with its tattoos and retro eyewear and vinyl records. Hipsters often have a hands on, sleeves-rolled, 20th century approach to life. As long as they can share it on Instagram.
Meanwhile, the advertising industry exists in a state of perpetual flux. While some older creatives may long wistfully for the uncomplicated days of print, radio and TV, others are gleefully tangling with social media, creative technology, apps, virtual reality, start-up culture and “goodvertising.” Many have told me that this is both the most nerve-wracking and the best ever time to work in advertising.
It has also created recruitment issues, as young people with new skills gravitate towards the industry. Pablo Walker, a Chilean who heads McCann Worldgroup Europe, pointed out that Europe’s restrictive employment laws – which make it more complex to hire and fire people – are in danger of damming this flow.
On the positive front, he observed that the situation in Latin America is far more flexible, giving the young talents who will fuel the future the chance to join established agencies and shine. In other words, more of the big ideas that we’ll be talking and writing about in the years to come will emerge from LATAM.
As we left our rooftop and wandered the streets of Barcelona, Jason reflected on the referendum that may end up divorcing Catalonia from the rest of Spain. Along with Brexit and Trump, it seemed to be another indication that people are drawing in on themselves, becoming less open to the world around them.
Another science fiction film from our youth, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. If you recall, the aliens in the film are not met with fear or violence, but with music and open arms. The movie is, in fact, a plea for tolerance. If only we could get some of that magic back, the present might feel more like the future we wanted to live in.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mark Tungate is a British journalist based in Paris. He is editorial director of the Epica Awards, the only global creative awards judged by the specialist press. Mark is the author of six books about branding and marketing, including the recent Branded Beauty: How Marketing Changed the Way We Look.
NOTE: This article is published in the September-October 2017 issue of adobo magazine.
