Skip to main content

40 Years in the Future Final Project


The History of the Earth: Chapter 5
Beatrix Blaire and the Imagination Revolution
By Caitlin Pupich; 3D prints, paper, cloth, wood, lights
Rewind to the early twenty first century. Competition*, the basis of the old economy,  drives powerful product development, wild innovation, and an obsession with marketing, advertising, and material goods.  Suddenly, waiting in line for the next big thing is not just an idea, it’s a culture. In the old world, tech companies struggled to stand out; with such rapid innovation it was hard to reign supreme when new ideas were emerging every day.  Companies began outsteping the law to pull ahead. They started researching new elements, materials, and chemicals to create technology that outperformed anything we could ever imagine; but, innocent consumer interest in technology grew into destructive greed. The companies scavenged any way possible, no matter the consequences, to expand their tech, while consumers* dropped everything to buy it. Eventually, with a combination of consumer obsession and the illegal company activity, the economy collapsed, destroying all reaches of the Earth.
          Following the collapse of the world economy and the dangerous research that tech companies had been conducting, everything fell to chaos. Governments became obsolete and people began living in what they called Clans, naming this fifteen year period of time the Clan Resurrection. Recognizing the destruction of extreme competition, the Clans began to work together to build a single society that could survive under the opposite ideas of the world that had destroyed them. Each Clan elected a leader that was sent to the Great Council, where the New World was created.
          The Great Council agreed adopt a religious view on the trend that had been rising in the Old World, a trend then known as Minimalism.  For an individual in the New World, his or her ideas and actions were constantly checked by comparing them to this Minimalistic view.
          For production, each product category was assigned one company, with competition becoming not only frowned upon, but illegal.  The Great Council agreed that humans would take their interest away from material needs and focus on living healthy and productive lives. They created a grand book of rules to uphold these values titled Less. This vowed to make lives easier. This led to the creation of Vita, the company that provides nutritional pills to replace food (the character’s bottle is in the center of the table). Destiny became the only computer company.  Amelia created a cleaning robot (in the center of the back of the room) that was standard in all homes. One company creates all furniture. All furniture is simple and white to reduce the need for choices. You may recognize many of these company names as they are still our leading brands today.
          Unfortunately, this plan backfired immediately. With simplified lives, people grew bored. Crime climbed exponentially, and it seemed this society had lost hope. One person, Beatrix Blaire, noticed another trend; an increase in graffiti, in writing and storytelling. Blaire noticed an increase in creativity*. She found her way to the Great Council and proposed that this society needed a purpose. She proposed that this society needed art*. Her words were the beginning of what we now know as the Imagination Revolution.
          From there, the government began emphasizing the importance of art. They created competitions and awards that people quickly latched onto in their boredom. Most jobs were transformed into storytelling through writing, art, video, and sound.  
          This small scene in front of you depicts the everyday life of an individual during the Imagination Revolution. The white furniture became a canvas for the creative minds of this generation. This character, a writer, spent the majority of her times finding new ways to expand the constraints of imagination.  Outside the window a beautiful world of lights and art that many contributed to. While this was a peaceful and beautiful time, we know that it harbored issues. Although a good citizen, this individual held an illegal cat, since housing wild animals was deemed unproductive, dangerous and, therefore, illegal during the Great Council. She obtained this cat from one of the many underground crime groups that were forming against the One Power created during the Council.  These crime groups eventually rose up to cause the end of the peaceful era of the Imagination Revolution.
What does this mean in today’s society?
          Art and creativity were the tools that lead to these dangerous crime groups. By eradicating the cultivation of creativity and the dangerous expansion of imagination, we have created a safer and happier world today. We search the failure of yesterday to make a more stable tomorrow. The New One Power functions as a historian, and researcher, an innovator, and a traditionalist to run the world just for you.

*Key Terms: Defined on Page 984
The History of the Earth: Created and Distributed by the New One Power Press



Comments