Comparing the first Total Recall (the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic) with the new release starring Colin Farrel and Kate Beckinsale will be an interesting one from a technology point of view.
But there are Luddites in today's world, especially around issues like energy.
Most of these Luddites act on behalf of or are being manipulated by the vested interests in oil, gas and coal.
Typically they put down renewable energy as inefficient, too costly, not realizable.
These Luddites however are not acting out of concern for the equivalent of 19th Century textile artisans but to protect the interests of fossil fuel industries.
The progress of Science and Technology can be well sensed through recreational science fiction movies such as Total Recall.
In real life it is more astounding!
A 13 year old recently discovered a more efficient way to build solar panels, in the form of a solar tree!
There is something in the creative spirit of the human species – we cannot underestimate it.
The most extraordinary ideas are spawned.
There is no doubt that the Cosmos is ‘wondrous’ and ‘magical’. It is there for us to discover scientifically and in doing so our discoveries will also be 'wondrous' and 'magical'.
If we can conceive of cosmic models such as M String Theory with ‘tightly curled’ up dimensions it seems that the fossil fuel Luddites have great cause for concern - oil, gas and coal are not the ultimate solutions for the energy of a sustainable future.
If one of us could imagine traveling on the end of a beam of light (Einstein) and discover the laws of Special and General Relativity then oil, gas and coal seem crass, primordial.
If Einstein himself, despite his genius, turned out to be wrong, that ‘spooky action at a distance’ is indeed possible (Quantum Theory) then the oil, gas and coal lobbies belong metaphorically to the Age of Dinosaurs ... or earlier.
The first Total Recall was mind blowing, but today we can enjoy the story not so much because it seems beyond belief but because Science and Technology are moving forward so rapidly that it is believable.
If anyone has doubts about the viability of renewables they only need to look at the Chinese.
They produce more wind power than Eskom, South Africa, produces total energy!
Yes, they produce more wind power than the largest economy of Africa produces total power.
Right now, they are spurred on not because they want to see a Greener Planet but because they are surging towards the No 1 Spot as the world's largest economy.
Whilst the Western Oil, Gas and Coal Dinosaurs are petrifying, the Green Wind of China will blow across the Planet.
