The present is magical!
To illustrate, Imagine that you traveled back in time 500 years to the year 1517, and tried to explain to someone back then what life was like now.
* Fresh, inexpensive exotic fruits and vegetables from all over the globe are available in nearby markets daily.
* Physicians have greatly reduced the pains of childbirth, surgery, and dentistry.
* Clean, abundant hot and cold water are available at the press of a lever.
* Clean water is so abundant in many places, streams of it run through every house, and it's commonly used to carry nightsoil away.
* In many places, you can change the temperature of your house at the press of a button.
* Many farmers now own giant clockwork beasts that can farm the same amount of land as 500 farmers in 1517.
* Clockwork birds transport people around the world in few hours.
* Giant Chinese rockets--the size of cathedral spires--have transported men to the moon and back.
* Clockwork carriages carry people as fast as birds can fly to their destination.
* Those clockwork carriages roll along a vast network of roads--all as smooth as river stone--that connect most of the world's cities.
* Smallpox has been completed eradicated. Many other diseases are now rare in much of the world, including the black plague, measles, mumps, tuberculosis, typhus, leprosy, cholera, and dyptheria
* Clockwork golems can best any human at a game of chess, go, and many other games.
* Tiny golems that fit in the palm of your hand can translate from any language to any other language.
* People carry magic mirrors, in which you can talk to almost anyone, anywhere in the world at any time for free or a few pennies.
* People carry magic books, which allow them to read almost every book, newspaper, or pamphlet that has ever been written.
* People carry tiny, magic orchestras that allow people to listen any song that has ever been written, whenever they want.
* People carry tiny, magic theaters that allow them to watch any play that has ever been performed.
* Clockwork painters can make a life-like painting of any scene in an instant.
* These magic mirrors/books/orchestras/theaters/painters all fit into the same device, which is about the size and weight of a deck of cards.
* The newest magical devices can make you feel as if you're in a waking dream.
* We could, if we wanted, make a child that is an exact copy of you in appearance.
* The organs of the dead are routinely transplanted into the living.
* Many scientists think that aging and death can be greatly delayed, and wealthy are beginning to pour money into such research.
* Wealthy men and women compete to build spaceships to lower the cost of taking humanity back to the moon and beyond.
Not everything is roses, however.
* Despite these riches, many people are so unhappy they commit suicide.
* Food is so abundant that most of the population is fat, and suffers from diseases as a result of being too fat.
* We're about to create golems who can best humans at any endeavor. Many fear that these golems will drive humans to extinction.
* Many people still believe that threatening other people with violence (beatings, imprisonment, death) is a good way to get what they want. Such people dominate the political discourse and government.
* Despite widespread access to information, much of the public remains deeply ignorant and irrational about most issues. Government decisions reflect this.
* We've developed weapons that can vaporize a city the size of London or Rome in an instant. One of our knottiest problems is how to prevent crazy people from setting off one of these weapons.
To illustrate, Imagine that you traveled back in time 500 years to the year 1517, and tried to explain to someone back then what life was like now.
* Fresh, inexpensive exotic fruits and vegetables from all over the globe are available in nearby markets daily.
* Physicians have greatly reduced the pains of childbirth, surgery, and dentistry.
* Clean, abundant hot and cold water are available at the press of a lever.
* Clean water is so abundant in many places, streams of it run through every house, and it's commonly used to carry nightsoil away.
* In many places, you can change the temperature of your house at the press of a button.
* Many farmers now own giant clockwork beasts that can farm the same amount of land as 500 farmers in 1517.
* Clockwork birds transport people around the world in few hours.
* Giant Chinese rockets--the size of cathedral spires--have transported men to the moon and back.
* Clockwork carriages carry people as fast as birds can fly to their destination.
* Those clockwork carriages roll along a vast network of roads--all as smooth as river stone--that connect most of the world's cities.
* Smallpox has been completed eradicated. Many other diseases are now rare in much of the world, including the black plague, measles, mumps, tuberculosis, typhus, leprosy, cholera, and dyptheria
* Clockwork golems can best any human at a game of chess, go, and many other games.
* Tiny golems that fit in the palm of your hand can translate from any language to any other language.
* People carry magic mirrors, in which you can talk to almost anyone, anywhere in the world at any time for free or a few pennies.
* People carry magic books, which allow them to read almost every book, newspaper, or pamphlet that has ever been written.
* People carry tiny, magic orchestras that allow people to listen any song that has ever been written, whenever they want.
* People carry tiny, magic theaters that allow them to watch any play that has ever been performed.
* Clockwork painters can make a life-like painting of any scene in an instant.
* These magic mirrors/books/orchestras/theaters/painters all fit into the same device, which is about the size and weight of a deck of cards.
* The newest magical devices can make you feel as if you're in a waking dream.
* We could, if we wanted, make a child that is an exact copy of you in appearance.
* The organs of the dead are routinely transplanted into the living.
* Many scientists think that aging and death can be greatly delayed, and wealthy are beginning to pour money into such research.
* Wealthy men and women compete to build spaceships to lower the cost of taking humanity back to the moon and beyond.
Not everything is roses, however.
* Despite these riches, many people are so unhappy they commit suicide.
* Food is so abundant that most of the population is fat, and suffers from diseases as a result of being too fat.
* We're about to create golems who can best humans at any endeavor. Many fear that these golems will drive humans to extinction.
* Many people still believe that threatening other people with violence (beatings, imprisonment, death) is a good way to get what they want. Such people dominate the political discourse and government.
* Despite widespread access to information, much of the public remains deeply ignorant and irrational about most issues. Government decisions reflect this.
* We've developed weapons that can vaporize a city the size of London or Rome in an instant. One of our knottiest problems is how to prevent crazy people from setting off one of these weapons.