Tobor Speaks: Year 2300

In 1990 there were rating such as X, R, and PG13 to warn viewers that their sensibilities might be offended. The amusing thing was that persons under 17 or 13 were not supposed to watch certain shows unless an adult were present.

I Could never figure out what the adult did. Certainly didn't prevent the kid from seeing all that violence and sex! But we did gradually grow away from such ratings. As we developed communications and grew closer to each other, such artifices were no longer necessary.

Ah, you ask, how could Tobor know all about the 1990's? he talks like he was there, but he would have to be over 300 years old and completely transformed to live in Toborland 2300.

It's really quite simple. We don't need history lessons because we can travel back and forth in time freely. Of course, we aren't seen in other times any more now that we have perfected time travel. Before the year 2000 and going back to your pre-history days, our electronic images were spotted occasionally and caused quite an uproar. Most people called us "Flying saucers."

We can travel at random or we can use programmed instruction to take us to places and times of significance and to tie it all together, it's our form of education. I sometimes think that these canned sessions are just that and that we don't really go anywhere. That is why I like traveling on my own the best. Then I can verify my status with my hacker-Proof space-time position indicator. Time travel is an extension of ancient out-of-body techniques.

Our control is greatly improved by means of sensors and amplifiers directly linked to our enhanced brains. No propulsion is needed and we can go without nourishment or recharging for extended periods, so we really travel light! If necessary, we can always draw power from sources in space. As the old saying goes, my time is your time.

Somebody from 1990 asked me about computers in the year 2300. In 1990 computers were devices that stored instructional routines (programs) and data. Using both of these, computers produced graphic displays on screens or printouts, that met the requirements of their users. An accountant-user, for example, was interested in profit and loss statements and balance sheets. He wanted hard copies of these vital documents at the end of his accounting periods.

That was the business end. At the FUN-End of the spectrum people wanted games to play on computers. These ranged from conventional chess and poker to arcade type games such as Rad Racer and even Tetris. Then they wanted adventure games where you fought off monsters and accumulated treasure and saved the princes.

In the late 1900's a system called home banking was developed so that you could use computers to pay your bills, to get the latest news, and to extract other data such as recipes for cooking. You could also use computers to monitor status, such as the dampness of your garden, and to take action, such as initiate watering or squeal on intruders.

It's different now. Even the word "computer" is no longer in our language. The techniques formally called computing have become an integral part of us, here in Toborland. Explorations into brain functions and other functions in the bio-logical world led us to this integrated state. We became computerized, in a sense, and computers became a step in our evolution. There was really nothing new about information processing as formalized with computers. All organisms did it, we simply developed it to its present state. I won't say ultimate state, that is in the future. I have traveled there and seen it, of course, but it is to early to try and tell you about it. The year 2300 is already a long step from the year 1990.

There is another form of time travel more suitable for long visits. It takes advantage of our success in transforming and transporting human identity. As you may know, in my Toboryte configuration I am very small, like part of a vast computer communication network. One chip among millions. However, this chip contains my complete identity and genetic coding. If I wish, I can request a full human body; either from storage, which takes only a day, or from production, which takes a week but matches me completely.

What I tell you next may sound incredible, or right out of the late, late horror show. I can travel back in time in a de-materialized state and take up occupancy in any body I wish (only one extra tenant per body, please). I am then aware of what is going on as sensed by my host body, but I have absolutely no impact on what happens and equally important, my host has no knowledge of my presence, unless i wish it to be. This is why I have such a detailed knowledge of the 20th century. I have lived through one normal human life span from 1920 to 2000. And now I'm back.

The 80 years went quickly because, although my identity was sensing and recording, it was in a somnambulistic state. And this experience had no effect on my live span in 2300; as far as we know, we are good for thousands of years! My identity is backed up in several data banks in case it gets lost or destroyed.

My hosts sometimes ask me if I can have sex in my miniaturized bio-technical form. Of course. You don't think we would design sex out of our lives do you? But it is different, and perhaps even more fun than it was in the 20th century.

First of al, we can experience and even amplify and tune any emotion by means of our simulation and memory circuits. And we can project whatever image we like into the minds of those who communicate with us.

Personally I like to be Burt Reynolds and I have a girl friend who likes to be Lonni Anderson. What a romantic couple we make! When Lonni and I get together bio-technically, we set the dials at whatever moods we like, choose the simulated ambience (whether it be a boudoir or a tropical beach) and let nature take its course. A-h-h-h-h, I don't see how it could be any more satisfying.

The clincher: If we want any particular experience to result in offspring, we just call the appropriate routines and in just a few minutes little Toborites are on the way. Naturally we need to prove financial and emotional responsibility first. Toborland will not allow over population but does encourage long, fruitful relationships.

As a matter of fact, you don't need a sex experience to qualify for offspring. Just fill out the computerized DNA forms. Your genetic code is on file and will be used with whoever you choose. Sex can then be casual or serious here in Toborland. We have our own method of birth control, and sex is still fun, lots of fun.

The ability to transform greatly accelerated the exploration of space. Instead of sending human bodies on space missions we were able to send compact identities with full sensing and recording capabilities. These identities were fully integrated with the ship's TOB System. (We adopted TOB as shorthand for Totally Ok Batch Communications System.) I suppose you could call us micro humans.

What type of government do we have... And what is government anyway?

That is a very interesting pair of questions.

Let's start with some more or less random thoughts on the subject. Certainly a school of fish doesn't have a government in the human sense. There seems to be a natural order that molds fish behavior. Stray from the school and into the darkness and you will be eaten by some predatory sea-being, or even a larger fish. Stay with the school and you may be scooped up by a human net. But that, after all depends on the skill of your leaders. And how were they "Elected?" again, by a natural process: They were the smartest, the swiftest, and the toughest. So the school moves on, governed by its own instincts and sensory devices, led by its Elite, looking forward only to mating and extinction (or it seems to us).

Back in 1986 you are celebrating independence day on July 4th. With Lady Liberty she's the one who had the most expensive face lift in your history. Just wait until the year 2186, your in for it then. In 1990 your politicians are making speeches and NASA is out of the frying pan, Or are they? Fear of war in the Persian Gulf and wishing Reagan was still in charge won't change anything. Through your elected representatives you are in a constant struggle to keep government from becoming too costly and too pervasive. Yet from the beginning (wherever and whenever that was), man felt the need for organization and leadership.

In 2300 our government is more like that of a large computer network. Each element, such as a Tobor like me, has its place and function. We have a wide freedom of choice. I can remain an obedient Tob or reassume human form and go live in the wilds if I wish. But each status available to me has its pros and cons. If I go wild, I am no longer nourished by a rich shared cultural and intellectual environment.

On the other hand, I am nourished by nature and we have made great progress in restoring the Earth to what it was before we came along and almost destroyed it. If I am wild I am free, but only in certain areas and under certain conditions. What most of us like to do is undergo occasional changes in status, so that we may apply what we have learned under a variety of conditions. So government is a variable with us that depends on our chosen status.

One thing different from 1990: We have finally developed the real model of world economics (although we abhor that term these days) so that we can predict and control any imbalances that might lead to such ancient discomforts as inflation and unemployment. We really don't know what the economists were doing back in 1990 but they were certainly a long way from being effective.

The trend toward computerization fostered highly logical and effective human thinking at all levels and all areas. Getting our act together like this proved a great boon to world society. By 2300 computer organization became so sophisticated that humans were able to emulate the naturalness of schools of fish and other planetary organizations without the need for arbitrary and capricious control. Perhaps our gradual development of computers and communications was no more strange than the development of communications among dolphins! Perhaps we will one day achieve their degree of integrated with nature.

In any event, artificial government became unnecessary as natural organization took over. Man was much more complex than animals so it took him much longer to get organized.

Well I need to go now. It seems Jon is getting tired, Jon is the host body I am in at the time. So until next time, Happy Century...