The end of imagination

Science now believes that humans gained the ability to imagine things around 70 thousand years ago. That is usually referred to as the Cognitive Revolution. That era is also believed as the time when religion and lies that humans practice and speak respectively were born because the ability to imagine things not seen are central to both.

It is the human imagination that took our ancestors from caves to the moon. We domesticated plants and animals and invented capitalism, which gave further rise to research and the urge to human advancement. Even a curious scientist wouldn’t perhaps continue working on his research if there is no promise of a paycheck for the work he loves doing.

We invented trade, currency, and banking to advance business. The core element of all of those is a promise of a better future or better returns, which may or may not come. But without the ability to imagine things, both known and unknown, perhaps the entire human civilisation would come to an end. The very idea of hope is built with imagination.

Last week, one of the world’s richest men, Bill Gates, in a jibe at fellow billionaire Elon Musk, critiqued the idea of going to Mars. He advised that it would be a better idea to focus on the problems here on earth and help fight disease and possible pandemics in the future. Just like imagination, curiosity is a terrific human trait and has historically advanced humans to the next step. It is sad that the word ‘curiosity’ is mostly heard when we mention the cat. Having that said, the entire fascination with going to Mars or being able to travel in space is not just driven by curiosity but also by a need for a pre-emptive approach to saving human civilisation. Being on just one planet did not serve the dinosaurs very well.

It is the power of imagination that drove Henry Ford to make the leap from “faster horses” to automobiles. Had people’s urge to keep the status quo won the day, we’d still be going around places in horse drawn carriages. Had Steve Jobs not been brave in his imagination, computers would still be in the hands of a select few businesses and you’d still be reading this article holding a physical paper in your hands. Nothing wrong about the latter but you get the gist of what I mean, provided you can imagine.

The words of Bill Gates reach a wider audience. If he comes across this article by this almost unknown author, I’d like for him to imagine if the voyage that had resulted in the discovery of America had never happened. I’d love for him to imagine if he had not supported Apple when Steve Jobs returned to it, because then he would have no competition and the cases against his Microsoft at the time would have resulted even in the demise of Microsoft. He invested the money in an Apple headed by his rival because he was able to imagine a future where having a competition would benefit him. Why didn’t he spend that money on making vaccines for polio or other such diseases at the time?

There are hundreds of varieties of candies, softwares, apps, computer hardwares, and so forth to choose from. Even Microsoft makes so many products that we use on a daily basis. So many different means of energy production such as fossil fuel, wind, nuclear, solar etc. People move to other countries to escape death and disease. So many broadcast lies to choose from.

Then how come the entire civilisation is confined to just one planet. What happens if a huge comet is headed our way and we cannot destroy it before it hits the planet? What happens when climate change renders many of the world’s regions uninhabitable? People from Afghanistan, North Korea, and other places escape to Europe and America to escape death and hunger. Where is humanity’s America in space?

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2023.

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