Ideas - The Dimensional Door
| Thesis |  |
 |
|
The
previously invisible was made visible. To put this idea into
perspective, the telephone has been around for less than 150 years.
What was it that brought us to discover that we could project our voices
across vast distances? Humans began to fly in the 1870s with the
Montgolfier brothers’ balloon followed by the first ‘heavier than air’
flight by the Wright brothers in 1903. In the 1890s, the wireless
was another strange inspiration that mobile telephone users do not even
think twice about today, never mind high definition multi-channel satellite
services. In less than 200 years of human evolution, all of these
impossible ideas have become commonplace.
Gravity: what is this force that we have only superficially harvested for hydroelectric power generation? In what other way could this puzzling force be harnessed? How could it be related to magnetism and time? Could this all be explained by the fifth or another dimension? These are very big questions that physicists have been studying for a number of centuries. Ideas about dimensional travel have been around for a long time. H.G. Wells published, The Time Machine, in 1895. Instantaneous travel is explored further in stories such as Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 book, A Wrinkle in Time, or the way the witches and wizards in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, first printed in 1997, are able to travel from one fireplace to another. The film, Stargate, released by MGM in 1994, also contributes to the canon of teleportation stories not to mention Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek from the 1960s. Nonetheless, the question remains how to adapt these ‘fantasies’ into a real world application? It is important to take into account a number of additional considerations relating to this development. Benefits The Dimensional Door could be a very low cost, environmentally positive, fast form of transportation. It is a response to the human desire for global communication, travel and understanding without the carbon hangover related to other forms of transportation. It presents a way for people to regularly commute to work, visit friends and family as well as explore the rest of the planet. Not only would this innovation allow us to travel all over the Earth, but it also opens the possibilities to explore outer space. Imagine a moon or Mars colony where at the end of your work day, you can return to the convenience of fresh air on earth! Visits and repairs to space stations would also be simple. This would revolutionise the way we think of travel in all of its aspects. Imagine the new look of city streets returning to their pre World War II car-free ambiances. Think of how much quieter, safer and cleaner our cities would be. Minor distances would be walked, biked, bladed or skated and we could even shop at our favourite Tuscan farmers’ market before heading home to prepare supper. How would the face of our cities and uses for them evolve with this technology? Would we all flee to the countryside? With over 50% of the Earth’s human population (80% in Canada) living in urban environments, could we all fit in the countryside? The city would still offer many social and environmental advantages that a Dimensional Door would not change. We could potentially harness the heat of the desserts to warm our Nordic homes in the winter whilst we air condition our buildings in the summer with Antarctic winds. Would this heat displacement completely disrupt our planet’s equilibrium or is it preferable to the excessive fossil fuel and nuclear energy already used to achieve the same effects? Nonetheless, most of our energy solution is still related to efficiency, reduction and moderation. Problems As environmentally friendly this new method of transportation could prove to be, there would be many consequences. Firstly, airlines and passenger rail services would eventually fold putting many people out of work. The automobile industry would have a much more limited clientele and again result in a major structural shift in employment. People would be able to access all corners of the planet which will include illegal migrant workers, masses of refugee claimants, transport of illegal contraband, spread of isolated diseases and other forms of problems. This changes all of the calculations related to public security and national defence. It could also spawn a power struggle for ultimate control over the invention. Governance Similarly with Open Source Software this discovery could be shared and improved as a democratic form of human liberation making it readily accessible to all people. The consequences are nonetheless important to examine. With respect to the benefits and problems already discussed, there is the question of control. How much control? Should the technology be regulated? By whom? How would it be used? How could control lead to profiteering and exploitation? As much as public and national security is concerned, there is also the question of quality control to avoid accidents and errors. With the ability to travel instantaneously anywhere on the planet, the Dimensional Door would completely reinvent our relationships across the globe. The richest, poorest, most beautiful and most parched regions of the planet would be equally accessible. Humanitarian interventions would be greatly helped, but mass population flows could also result in new forms of disequilibrium and inequities. In these cases, a form of regulation and governance would impose itself. The telecommunications industry serves as an example of efforts and technologies that record, trace, forward and analyse communications. The Dimensional Door goes beyond the human voice to the entire body and could prove to be as threatening as emancipating. The question remains over where control
would range between a single dominance and a global consensus. Would
a body such as the United Nations be given the responsibility to administer
regulation of the Dimensional Door or would a particular set of economic
or national interests be able to impose their will over the uses of the
technology?
|