Little Green People; The Next Generation; Popularized Science Fiction Themes

BOOK RECOMMENDATION:

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy;
Themes, Works, and Wonders.
by Gary Westfahl.
ISBN: 0-313-32950-8
This book will help you expand your knowledge of the Science Fiction and Fantasy mediums. This encyclopedia consists of two parts. The first part (I & II) looks at the most popular themes in Science Fiction and puts them into historical and cultural context. The second part (III) contains entries on a selected list of classic novels, films, and television series and analyzes them according to their historical and cultural relevance. Overall, the Greenwood Encyclopedia shows how the themes of Science Fiction have developed over time through a variety of different formats, including short stories, novels, films, television series, comics, and computer games.
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Following the 1947 incident in Roswell, New Mexico allegedly involving a spacecraft from another world, Americans interest in stories about aliens expanded exponentially. These stories over the ensuing decades ranged from the Twilight Zone to Star Trek to the X-Files to the cartoon Futurama based entirely upon a futuristic world in the year 3000. Over the decades, science fiction has moved from the sidelines of American culture to the mainstream of American entertainment.

As far as books go, the science fiction thread of aliens on earth has been around for a longer period of time than it has been in the movies. In Orson Wells’ "The War of the Worlds", written in 1898, the aliens and the humans are at opposition to each other in their goals, so much so that when Wells’ story was broadcast over the radio in 1938, people became hysterical thinking that the world was actually being invaded by space aliens from the planet Mars.

Other science fiction themes, like "1984" by George Orwell and "Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton use conformity or cloning to help us imagine futuristic repercussions of the actions we take collectively as a society today.

Other stories like Dune, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Harry Potter, all try to get us to imagine another world inhabited by human beings where the characters think in a fundamentally different way than we do in mainstream society. In fact, with most of these stories, the audience has to make the shift in their thinking prior to viewing the films or reading the books in order to appreciate more of the nuances inherent in the characters’ interactions.

While many of these futuristic worlds and aliens portrayed in the movies and on television and in books come in creative and different forms, a common symbol has surfaced over time and has come to represent all of the possible interpretations given to aliens in general. That symbol is the elongated oval alien head, usually green in some way, shape, or form. This image has gone mainstream across the world and has come to represent the reality of science fiction in today’s world.

Of course, this book/blog is not about aliens or literature or movies for that matter, rather, it is a collection of ideas and news bound together by digital bits and transmitted through electrical wires onto computer screens. Its intention is to allow the reader to begin to see the futuristic sustainable society on the horizon more clearly.

Those of us that are able to see this futuristic society before it comes 'to a reality near you' have an opportunity to capitalize financially on our vision. We are not writing science fiction here. We are living in a world of science nonfiction, that is, science, innovation, and business have intertwined in such a way as to make some of the fictitious worlds of the past a reality today. Not only is it exciting to be a consumer in today’s world, but it is also exciting to be an investor. We have an opportunity to make money while we help bring a vision of the future to its fruition.

It only seems natural, then, that this futuristic society, powered by renewable and sustainable sources, is being brought into the mainstream by little green people of a different sort. Of course, I am speaking about the environmental movement. This movement has changed shapes and forms over the years, but one thing has remained constant; the color green has always stood for life.

While the ‘Environmentalist’ label has lost some of its luster over the years, the movement has not died. Contrary to the diagnosis by many people in the mainstream American consumerist society, people with environmental principles have not died; they have simply branched out into other fields like business, journalism, and politics.

They are beginning to tip the world in a new, more sustainable direction. They are beginning to capitalize on the global shift of public opinion, and they are organizing to influence public policy and, ultimately, are influencing the way we conduct business.

It is exciting to think about the state of the world in 2100 and its inhabitants after 100 years of environmental policy. It is even more exciting to be able to be a part of contributing to the formation of a more sustainable way of life. The best part, though, is that we can transition into this futuristic world, AND, with diligent analysis, we can generate wealth in our families.

Just as Orson Wells’ book has reverberated out over the past 100 years and influenced our lives in subtle, as well as tangible ways, so too will our actions today resound over the course of the next century. We have the opportunity today to be the little green people that take over the earth and change it to suit our own needs. There is no need for an alien invasion; the Next Generation Investor is already here and is infiltrating the business world. This truly is an exciting time to interact in all arenas of thought and discussions.