Futuristic Detroit -- 150 Years From Now!

On January 31, 2017 our Batavia Rotary Club hosted three eighth grade students and their mentor teacher from Batavia Middle School who gave a most thought-provoking presentation about what Detroit might look and be like 150 years from now.  This was part of gifted language and arts program at the school. The futuristic project is called "de la Mothe" which was the first name for Detroit which was founded by Frenchman Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac.

These students just returned from state competition for similar projects and came in second of 19 schools.

A lot of imaginative thought went into the solar-powered city of 700,000 with real world application. Tracks on the road provide cars with solar energy. The city produces so much energy that it will sell excess power to neighbors.

The city was relying heavily on SCIENCE as the basis of its existence. It relies on civil, mechanical and aerospace engineers to make this a place of virtual reality and happiness.

The city has beautiful theme parks. There are domed areas that allow all climates including winter to be experienced year-round. The people in this new civilization were presumably happy as crime is reduced y 90% through increased security and prevention.

As I was taking in this presentation about a future world with amazing changes in life-style and technology, questions arose abotu whethter there going to be enough changes in the nature of man to really create a better society? Human civilization has had a rocky historical road because the human heart has not changed. Nations still fight one another as we reach much more dangerous and probable levels possible human extinction. Will we ever have a de la Mothe designed only by science?

Part of my work is to speak of a futuristic society that contains a vital feature for survival: an engineered and improved heart in mankind. This is vital for survival. There is a future for civilization, but one based on a changed heart and nature.

On April 19, 1951 General Douglas MacArthur said the following in a speech to the joint session of Congress:

"Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods through the ages have been attempted to devise an international process to prevent or settle disputes between nations. From the very start workable methods were found in so far as individual citizens were concerned, but the mechanics of an instrumentality of larger international scope have never been successful. Military alliances, balances of power, Leagues of Nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be 'by way of the crucible of war. The utter destructiveness of war now blocks out, this alternative. We have had our last chance. If we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature and all the material and cultural developments of the past 2000 years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh."

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