A future half-empty?

The 2013 film World War Z (starring Brad Pitt) depicts a future unraveled by a zombie plague. file photo

Our future, according to Hollywood, is not pretty. Take two movies that are currently showing for example: In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, humans battle with super-intelligent apes for world domination. In Divergent, survivors in a post-apocalyptic world are pigeonholed into five factions. Those who don’t fit in are hunted down and persecuted.

Both movies belong to the dystopian sci-fi genre. Dystopia is the antonym of utopia, which was coined by the English writer Thomas More. In his 1516 book Utopia, More described a fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean. A utopia is an ideal society with peace, equality, justice and prosperity.

But in dystopian fiction, the world is usually a bleak place ruled by a totalitarian government. Mistrust and fear permeates the whole of society. High-tech machines and tools are used to wage wars or suppress discontent citizens.

Just as bad news grabs more attention, many dystopian works are immensely successful. Movies such as The Hunger Games trilogy, Total Recall and World War Z are all box office successes worldwide.

But now a group of scholars and science fiction writers are saying: enough of the depressing stuff. They say negative visions of the future depicted in pop culture are limiting people’s abilities to dream of a better world.

US writer Neal Stephenson is one of the dissenters. A sci-fi writer himself, he sees the cynicism of the current dystopian sci-fi rut and calls for a more optimistic approach–fewer zombies and catastrophes, more creative inventions and solutions.

Bright, not bleak

In an interview with the BBC, Stephenson said he got this idea from president of Arizona State University (ASU) Michael Crow, who said at a conference on futurology that science fiction needed to supply ideas that scientists and engineers could actually implement.

Stephenson wasted no time to take action. In 2011, he partnered with ASU and started Project Hieroglyph to rally writers to inject new optimism into science fiction so as to inspire the next generation to build a better future.

The project brings writers and scientists together to learn from and influence each other. Renowned writers have been working with scientists to imagine technically-grounded science fiction stories depicting futures achievable within the next 50 years, the BBC reported. These stories, collected in a book entitled Hieroglyph, were just released last week.

Ed Finn, director of Project Hieroglyph, wrote in the Slate online magazine: “We are in desperate need of this sort of long view in contemporary culture, where we can barely see beyond the next Apple press conference.”

“What’s really exciting about Hieroglyph is the idea of bringing some constructive criticism to our notions of the future: not just pointing out problems but ponying up some possible solutions,” Finn said.

Hieroglyph writers’ visions of tomorrow

 Environmentalists fight to stop entrepreneurs from building the first extreme tourism hotel in Antarctica;

 People vie for citizenship on a near-zero-gravity moon of Mars, which has become a hub for innovation;

 Animal activists use drones to track elephant poachers;

 A crew crowdfunds a mission to the Moon to set up an autonomous 3-D printing robot to create new building materials;

 A 20-kilometer-tall tower spurs the US steel industry, sparks new methods of generating renewable energy.

What 's the Wrong kind of wealth

Tuhao, netizens’ favorite word to describe rich people with ill manners and poor values, has entered the Standard Dictionary of Modern Chinese during its latest revision. The word, according to the dictionary, now means “people who are rich in money but poor in moral awareness and correct values”. The definition reflects a serious social problem in China where many people have become rich but are still found wanting when it comes to moral and social values, says Qing Chuan in an article in Yangtse Evening News.

Tuhao literally translates as “local landlord”. The word took on a new meaning on the Internet over the past couple of years. Now it is used to make fun of the nouveaux riches in China who lack good taste, social and moral values.

Qing says the fact that tuhao has been included in the Standard Dictionary of Modern Chinese indicates a serious problem in Chinese society – the development of social and moral values has not been able to keep pace with economic growth.

Moral issues keep popping up with regular frequency in China because it transformed from a poor country to one of prosperity within a short time, says Qing.

After their material needs have been met, people need to find ways to cater to their spiritual needs. Therefore, Qing says, it is hoped that the popularity of the word tuhao will decline as more people start following moral and social codes again.

Give translators their due

The Chinese government should reform the remuneration standards and tax threshold for authors, as they have remained unchanged for 34 years, according to a report in the Oriental Morning Post.

The report says Chinese translator Sun Zhongxu, who was responsible for acclaimed translations of classics such as 1984, Animal Farm, and The Catcher in the Rye, committed suicide in Guangzhou on Aug 28. He was 41 years old and suffered from depression.

The tragedy has focused attention on the low and outdated ceilings concerning the earnings of writers and translators in China.

The translators are paid 80 yuan to translate 1,000 Chinese characters, and the income tax threshold has remained unchanged, at 800 yuan, for 34 years. It takes several months for a translator like Sun to translate a literary work of 200,000 words, earning about 14,000 yuan after tax.

The authorities responsible for publishing always complain that China does not have good translators, but not many people wish to take on such a demanding and unrewarding job.

The report says that this lack of good translators is preventing Chinese books from entering foreign markets. Additionally, professional Chinese translations from foreign languages are also rare today compared with a few decades ago.

Over the past 34 years, the policies concerning taxes of many industries have changed according to inflation and consumption levels. And the report says the authorities should increase the income tax threshold and the authors’ remuneration standards to allow writers and translators to live a decent life.