{"id":113,"date":"2023-08-29T19:45:03","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T19:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/?p=113"},"modified":"2023-09-26T15:53:24","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T19:53:24","slug":"needed-and-wanted-in-the-22nd-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cedarville.edu\/stem\/2023\/08\/29\/needed-and-wanted-in-the-22nd-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Needed and Wanted in the 22nd Century"},"content":{"rendered":"

Needed and Wanted in the 22nd Century<\/strong><\/p>\n

S. M. Gollmer<\/p>\n

As I look to the future, it is easy to slip into a malaise.\u00a0 The news cycle is filled with stories of violence, environmental degradation, disease, and existential threats.\u00a0 Many of these issues are traced back to a rapidly changing society due to scientific advancement and technological growth.\u00a0 Some opine for the good old days when humanity lived a simple life.\u00a0 Whether they were hunter\/gatherers or subsistence dirt farmers, the pace of life was slower, less demanding, and certainly better than what we have today.<\/p>\n

However, these nostalgic flights of fancy are disconnected from the reality of how hard the \u201cgood life\u201d really was.\u00a0 Looking back merely a millennium I can imagine a life of farming with no herbicides or pesticides.\u00a0 Use of the heavy plough to overturn sod was a marked improvement for farming, but required crop rotation to prevent wearing out the soil.\u00a0 Injuries were cleansed with soap and treated with various poultices.\u00a0 If an infection got out of hand, amputation was an option.\u00a0 When dealing with disease, insect plagues, drought, flooding, fires, etc., the community had limited resources from which to help others.\u00a0 All in all, life expectancy was 33 years, which was an improvement from the previous millennium.<\/p>\n

Why bring up the past as I look to the future?\u00a0 It reminds me how fortunate I am to live in the present.\u00a0 Every generation has its challenges and ours increasingly so.\u00a0 However, we need to look beyond the turmoil of change to a future with purpose and hope.\u00a0 This future will include an accelerating implementation of technology and in turn a reconfiguration of how humanity finds itself useful.<\/p>\n

The purpose of this series is to explore the theme, \u201cNeeded and Wanted in the 22nd<\/sup> Century.\u201d\u00a0 If this statement is true, then we have a role to serve and a place to belong in the next century.\u00a0 Although I am an optimist, this future will be painful and stretch us.\u00a0 It requires that we become the most of who we can be, not a lesser shadow eclipsed by the machination of our imaginations.\u00a0 I am hopeful for the future because I believe we are needed and wanted in the 22nd<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Le Regime des princes, 1279 (Retrieved from https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Medieval-farming.jpg on August 29, 2023)<\/p>\n

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