The Distant Future

Adorno, Juan Nepomuceno. '"The Distant Future" ("El remoto porvenir"). Chapter in Armonía del universo: Sobre los principios de la armonía física y mattemática (1862). Andrea Bell, translator. In Cosmos Latinos, pp. 23 (introduction by translator/editors)-35.

From the editors/translator's introduction:

Influenced by the work of Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier — particularly with regard to social reform and the concept of utopia — [Juan Nepomuceno] Adorno believed that many social, economic, political, and ethical problems could be eradicated through the vigorous application of progressive technology in fulfillment of divine providence. [... ¶] In the course of Armonía, Adorno describes many of the technological innovations he believes await humanity, marvels such as an instant global communications network, unlimited steam, electric, magnetic, and thermal energy at our beck and call, airports, and even genetic engineering. Adorno called [... this] type of writing [...] intuitive poetry [...]. The modern reader, however, struck by the perceptiveness and mechanistic imagination of Armonía, would recognize it as an early example of the technological utopia and an indisputable precursor or [...] science fiction. (p. 23)

Note also communication with people on other planets of our solar system "by means of telegraphic signals." Somewhat chilling, though is that on our Earth, "All the arts and crafts have been recast as one: mechanics. That is the creation of man [...]; and you, O Earth! serve as platform for his massive levers, you are the inextinguishable beacon of his helioscopic, calorific, and electromagnetic devices, and are the wellspring of the infinite forces available to him, your Provident lord" (p. 30). And on Earth, "Transportation and the telegraph, which reach the most remote corners, make all the Earth as one shared city [...]" (p. 31). Cf. and contrast Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, with "the Galactic capital of Trantor as a kind of planet-wide city," quite literally.

RDE, finishing, 30Aug20