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Inventions that were ahead of their time will help us to grasp whether or not we're really able to stay on the planet we're making. Speculative fiction fans know which you can create a complete world out of just a handful of objects. A lightsaber can start to describe an entire galaxy far, far away; a handheld communicator, phaser, and pill can depict a star-trekking utopia; a black monolith can stand in for a complete alien civilization. World-building isn’t about creating imaginary worlds from scratch - accounting for their each element - but hinting at them by highlighting mere sides that symbolize a coherent actuality beneath them. If that actuality is convincing, then the world is inhabitable by the imagination and its stories are endearing to the heart. Creating objects in the true world is nearly precisely the same; that’s why invention is a danger. Once we create one thing new - actually, categorically, conceptually new - we place a wager on the balance of help it could have on the planet during which it emerges and the ability it should remake that world. |