Future, Joe Persch

Future

By Joe Persch

Time. The fourth dimension. When you look at it from a linear perspective, it is composed of three parts: the past, the present, and the future. As three dimensional beings, we experience time in slices called moments. Each moment we experience comes with choices. These choices are usually simple: sleep an extra five minutes, go take a walk, catch a pokemon, write something for Affinity CoLab, etc.

If these moments were limited to our own existence and touched no other lives, they would be simple and unassuming choices. Even the larger ones. But the thing is, every choice we make impacts those around us. Even a simple choice can have far reaching consequences. If you decide to turn left at a stop sign instead of turning right, everything in the near future is set on a path by that simple decision. But that path isn’t set just by your decision. It’s also intersecting other decisions that have been made to put others on that same path. All decisions along the same path lead to future events.

So as a dimension, time can not be linear. Time is an amalgamation of choices and consequences, all coming together to create the future experiences we have. While it might seem that some of those choices are not far reaching, even the simple ones as exampled above reach far into the future. Every choice you make leads you to where you are right now. No matter how small the choice is or whether you remember making it, they’ve all come together to bring you to this point right now.

The future is always uncertain because, as I’ve stated, we live as three dimensional beings passing through the fourth dimension. The way we experience time is the way a 2 dimensional being would experience the third dimension: In thin slices as if looking at a piece of paper. There would be no depth to what they see, just slices of it as they passed.

The problem with trying to predict what can happen in the future is that all these choices create so many variables that no one can possibly take all of them into account. At least not without a fairly decent understanding of psychology and what causes people to think the way they do.

Even when we try to make the best decisions possible, it’s not always possible to see the consequences as the variables can end up being too many to count. It’s why people fear change. Change makes the future even more uncertain for them. Especially if they’re comfortable. For those not comfortable, change can bring hope, but also makes them wonder if things will get better or worse, so they fear the change as well.

But without change, nothing can possibly improve. Stagnation is far worse than change. Stagnation leads to apathy. Apathy leads laziness. And laziness leads to fading from existence. So, I urge everyone to get out there. Make a change. Do something you haven’t done before. The future is uncertain, but the more people out there making a decision and changing things, the more likely we are to move towards a better future.