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If you like this blog, be sure to explore my SubStack ChartingPossibilities, where I post thoughts on science, philosophy, and culture, plus excerpts from my many published books, my YouTube channel WayOutDan, where I post weird stories from my life, my science fiction series ChampionOfTheCosmos, and my xenobiology field guide FloraAndFaunaOfTheUniverse. You can support me by buying my books, or tipping me at BuyMeACoffee.

What does the future hold? The answer depends on how far in the future we are talking. Policies that are good in the short run might be bad in the long run, but not so bad in the longest run. I have reason to believe that the problems of today will be dwarfed by the joys of tomorrow and that all things will be redeemed.

Part of this mindset comes from my experiences with depression, anxiety, and self-control. I was rescued from my own mental traps by God himself in such a way that I was made to understand that all minds must necessarily undergo the same process. Reasoning further, I figured out that society as a whole (being a sum of minds) must be evolving in the same way. At some point, the failures of our collective idols will remove our faith in them and leave us dependent on God alone for guidance. Thus, things are getting better, even if by some measures it can temporarily look like things are getting superficially worse in some ways or in some geographical areas.

Part of this mindset comes from faith. It would be impossible for me to go forward if I actually believed there was no reason to do so. In order to participate in the economy, I must at least believe in the possibility that my dollar earned will still have worth five minutes from now when I want to spend it. In order to pray for an ailing friend, I must at least believe in the possibility that God will heal them. Society is nothing but the sum of the lives of all of us, so believing in personal good is tied to believing in world good. The moment I allow myself to think the world is going to collapse into permanent chaos is the moment I lose any reason whatsoever to invest in my employer, family, church, or myself.

Many Christians believe that the world is getting worse and worse and will completely collapse before Jesus returns to rescue his people from it, building a “new” Earth for them elsewhere. I have very different ideas. I believe Jesus is returning, but since he lives “in us” and tends to operate through what we interpret as natural forces anyways, the most likely scenario by far is that the world is redeemed gradually in such a way that it looks from the outside like we did it ourselves without God.

The Bible itself supports this idea. The Red Sea didn’t simply part, but was blown away by winds. King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a stone made without human hands that would cover the whole Earth. This is said to be the Kingdom of God that we learn later in the New Testament is “among us.” We also hear from Jesus himself that the prophecies of Isaiah have come true “before our very eyes.” We hear that the Kingdom of God is like a tiny amount of yeast that fills every part of the dough, almost as if it one day grows and influences everything. We hear that the “gates of Hell will not prevail,” suggesting that the forces of sin are in retreat, and that it is God taking over the world, not Satan. The subtle hints are everywhere throughout the Bible and I suspect that the “new Earth” might really refer to the continually renewed Earth of the future.

History also supports me. With the exception of the height of the Black Death, the human population has risen every single year in the past two millennia. We now have rudimentary space travel. We could spread out and be God’s tool in creating a “new Heaven” as well. Crunching the numbers, this scenario is actually more likely than not.

This is what gives me purpose and drives me to write fiction and non-fiction. I want to point the way to the future, educating people on possibilities they might not have considered, inspiring hope and driving creativity. Evangelism is not just inviting people to escape Hell, it’s inviting them to join a never-ending celebration of the endless improvement in God’s expanding Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is coming whether you are ready for it or not. In fact, it’s already here.

Please leave a comment!

If you like this blog, be sure to explore my SubStack ChartingPossibilities, where I post more thoughts on science, philosophy, and culture, plus excerpts from my many published books, my YouTube channel WayOutDan, where I post weird stories from my life, my science fiction series ChampionOfTheCosmos, and my xenobiology field guide FloraAndFaunaOfTheUniverse. You can support me by buying my books, or tipping me at BuyMeACoffee.

Being creative doesn’t just mean sitting around waiting for inspiration. There are methods one can use to shorten the leap from what is to what could be.

Map The Possibility-Space:

Plants are generally immobile and fixed to the substrate, while animals are generally mobile and free. What about organisms immobile and free (like tumbleweeds)? What about organisms mobile and fixed (like barnacles and flytraps)? Use your imagination to make new combinations.

Solids hold their shape and their internal parts do not flow. Liquids have no regular, repeating patterns. What about materials that move in some dimensions but not others (like liquid crystals)? What else can you come up with?

Use Constraints:

Constraints of Classification: If you have already decided your world has mammals but no insects, and you want to add an animal with horizontal jaws, think of all the ways those jaws could be homologous to mammalian structures. Could they be modified forelimbs? What other, similar animals could fill that clade?

Constraints of Evolution: If you have already decided that all life on your world evolved from bony fish, what structures or behaviors might your spider-analogues retain to make them less like Earth spiders?

Constraints of Environment: If the seas of your world are highly acidic, what adaptations will your animals and plants need to survive? What if there is no water? What if it is very cold?

Consider Your Starting Point:

Life on Earth is assumed to have begun as aquatic and microscopic. What if it didn’t? How would it have to be different? What new possibilities does that raise?

Have you been assigned to improve on another’s advertisement ideas but don’t know where to begin? Maybe you can easier create your own ideas from scratch and then modify them until they fit the parameters given.

Doodle:

Just make up your drawings as you go. I like to start with a random line, ask myself what it kind of looks like, and make another line to fit that idea. Sometimes I find it starts to look like something else and I pivot. Sometimes I challenge myself by skipping the obvious answer that comes to me first and looking for another. Sure, it looks like a set of jaws, but what if they were limbs or ears? Maybe it’s not an animal, but actually a spaceship. Maybe it’s both. Doodling can also mean playing with clay or Tinkertoys.

Change The Context:

One thing that helps me think of interesting biological systems is to read about interesting physics or technology and then ask how life could use the same process. For example, could a brain store its memory on a spinning disk covered with tiny magnets? Could a cell store its genetic information in a sequence of pits and bumps? Scientific American Magazine is a great source of inspiration.

You Are What You Consume:

Want to be a great artist? Look at other art. Want to be a great writer? Read. Let others inspire you. Take the best parts and drop the parts you don’t like, creating a new synthesis. Over time, you will find your own unique style.

Keep Records:

Most importantly, when you do get an idea, write it down. Keep a notebook everywhere you go. Writers don’t necessarily have more ideas than everyone else; they just remember them so they can be recombined and used later. The longer one does this, the better they get at recognizing a good idea when it comes along.

Please comment!

If you like this blog, be sure to explore my SubStack ChartingPossibilities, where I post excerpts from my many published books, my YouTube channel WayOutDan, where I post weird stories from my life, my science fiction series ChampionOfTheCosmos, and my xenobiology field guide FloraAndFaunaOfTheUniverse. You can support me by buying my books, or tipping me at BuyMeACoffee.