If and Only If

Chapter 1 - Then

My name is Jeremy Smith. I am a mathematician and environmentalist. For the past century, our society has been improving exponentially.   

Especially in the past two decades.

Since the days of trains and automobiles, gasoline and power plants, segregation and discrimination, states and countries, warfare and disputes, we have excelled at improving, renovating, and progressing.

What I view as the biggest success is poverty. Poverty has basically been solved - yes, there will always be the poorer and richer, but now it is an incremental difference. An almost imperceptible difference. 
   
There wasn't a decision to 'fix' poverty; in fact, no one thought it would be possible. Poverty isn't a thing, it is just a state.
   
It started with food. The scientists developed quicker and more efficient ways of producing food. And our whole society is vegetarian now - I almost forgot that, but I guess it is important because the majority of people before this point in history were omnivores. But really, what is the point of slaughtering animals when you can get all the necessary nutrients from plants and have the needed plants growing all year round? It is cheaper to grow plants to - plant the seeds, water, fertilize, water, and so on until harvest. Animals need to have a living space, given food, other costly things. Anyway, with basically the whole world united under one cause - improving our world - and a smaller variety of food being grown, it was easy to produce enough food.
   
Anyway, once the argument over GMOs had been settled, scientists were able to modify and increase the productivity of plants and their resistance to disease and weather. Fields that once were used to house livestock could be used for plants. Aquaponics was taken a step further and plants were grown in the ocean. Food production boomed, decreasing prices and allowing more people to buy more food.
   
That settled the food problem with poverty. Next came housing.
   
Why didn't we put houses in skyscrapers? Yes there are apartment buildings, but can't we take it a step further? That's what the scientists asked, and, seeing no reason why not, they did. There are huge domestic complexes now. I myself live in one, and it is a very pretty building with stunning architecture. With the amount of housing available, there is more room.
   
Jobs. This still remains a problem, but there have been many good solutions and I have no doubt that we will fix this in the future. With the expanses of farms, many people have agriculture related jobs. Many feel that this is a step backwards; after all, farming was the main occupation of most people up to the 19th century, and that was a long time ago.
   
But it works. Farmers are self-sustaining and produce food that can go to the market. There are many other jobs too; farming is the biggest industry, and the second biggest would most likely be science. Since the countries are united, the funding for science is extraordinary. All of the developments I listed? Yeah, they were developed, installed, and successful in under two decades. Two decades. We are making quantum leaps in discoveries and create new technology so fast, yesterday's technology is already outdated.
   
Well, not quite. But you get the image.
   
As much as I love the success, as a mathematician and environmentalist, I am very aware of the consequences of situations, decisions, and actions.
   
What do I think is the consequence of success?
   
Failure.

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