Thinking about the future

Normally, the iReporter feature on CNN.com fails to garner my interest, but how could I be expected to turn away from the phrase, "Next giant leap for mankind?"

In honor of the upcoming anniversary of John F. Kennedy issuing his Moon challenge, CNN asked iReporters to send in their visions of the future.  The number of entries now stands at five pages.  Here are a few that I enjoyed:

-Modular rovers for the surface of the Moon or Mars that can link together with one another and create habitats for colonists.

-Tissue and organ regeneration in a lab.  Bye bye transplant list.

-Nano-fabricators that can generate...anything.

-One million more organic farms.

-Land/water biodomes.

-Texas secedes from the U.S.  Oddly enough, I'm ok with that.

There were no restrictions on how feasible the proposition should be and of course there were a number of smart-ass entries, but by enlarge I find this project to a very good thing.  This is prompting people to give thought to the future, to consider where we are now and how things could go or should be different.  I was especially heartened to see a number of children's drawings among the entries.  Not only does it get them thinking about the world but we adults may even be able to learn from such unfettered imagination and consider ideas that we would otherwise toss out in seconds for being "unrealistic."  

We need to think about the future.  "For the future is where you and I will be spending a great deal of time."

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