Last night I had a dream which seemed like a possible scenario for what things might be like in the future (or at least a plot for a science fiction book or movie that’s probably already been done). People no longer lived in individual houses with its own yard or driveway. The concept of suburbia as we know it today had long since passed. Instead, people lived in these large buildings, the inside of which resembled a shopping mall. Instead of several little stores, however, people each lived in individual units on several levels. Most basic amenities and necessities such as food, clothing, etc. could be obtained from stores contained within these large buildings, so driving to Wal-Mart was also thought to be a thing of the distant past. People still had cars, but the need to drive around was lessened considerably. Many goods and services were obtained electronically via the Internet (a concept that we all know has been tried but had a false start as far as being the standard instead of just an alternative). While it was never evident in the dream itself, upon thinking about it now it seemed that these changes in our daily living came about in order to use our space and our resources more conservatively.
The dream seemed really cool at the beginning, being somewhat Jetson-like, but later on became frightening. Apparently there was a time gap in this particular dream since a lot of details at this point were not present. The sun had burned itself out (it didn’t become a red giant and burn up the earth as science predicts). It was dark all the time and people were dying off. Everything was getting colder. Energy resources were dwindling rapidly due to greatly increased use of heating and lighting. Eventually there was no electricity, so there was no way to obtain supplies or other information and it was dark all the time. Somehow I was a lone survivor and I was trying desperately to find other people. My car still had gas and a working battery, but I could barely see where I was going or what I was doing trying to locate someone. Later on I was back at my “house” (a unit in the mall-like structure). My only light source was a cluster of green LEDs bunched together which I had probably obtained from the now useless electronics throughout my house. The last scene I remember was holding this makeshift flashlight of LEDs in my hand while going down a darkened hallway in my housing unit before it burned out and lost its power.
I woke up at this point feeling scared, wondering if such a scenario could exist at some time in my own lifetime (the sun burning out is highly unlikely, of course). If I were a science-fiction writer I could probably make a story out of this dream, but I’m willing to offer it to anyone out there who may wish to use it for a storyline.
Has anyone else ever had dreams like this about the future, good or bad?
