Read at your own risk…

 

The Oracle of the Future

( written for a school essay on May 1, 2008 )

 

 

Prologue

     The long wait is over.  U.S. troops have finally pulled out from Iraqi and Kuwait by mid-January 2009, amidst internal pressure from Congress and the new democratic President.  But problems back home continue to exasperate.  The continued decline of the real estate market coupled with the steep price of oil has left the U.S. economy in dire straits.  To make matters worse, the mortgage loan crisis has affected other consumer loans, including college and business loans.  Further news of a progressive recession has worried investors, causing record-breaking losses in the Wall Street stock exchange.  America has now shifted its focus from international conflicts to its pressing domestic crises.  Economists and politicians worked together for tax relief and economic reforms, as the federal rate dropped another point after the holidays.      

 

     While Iraq focuses on its rebuilding efforts and the growing civil war the following year, Iran began its dominance and influence in the Middle East.  And with the U.S. presence out of Iraq, it did not take long for other Arab countries to become more vocal and indignant against Americans.  Neglected foreign relations between America and Saudi Arabia has given Iran the leverage it needed, as it forged new ties with the world’s leading producer of oil and gas.  Within the next few years, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait joined the alliance.  And by the end of 2016, Iran has successfully rallied all the Arab countries in the Middle East under one coalition while Israel quietly watched its borders. 

 

     With its new united front, the Arab coalition became a growing threat to Europe and Asia while America continues to be preoccupied with its own domestic problems.  The price of oil continues to skyrocket as internal problems plagued Aramco, the largest oil corporation in the world.  In an unprecedented turn of events, Saudi Aramco has completely severed its ties with its American counterparts, creating the biggest shakedown in petroleum history since the 1973 oil crisis.  Although the direct cause is unknown, Iran has been rumored to be the mastermind behind it.  With its oil monopoly on the world market, the Arab coalition continued to control the price of crude oil.  Needless to say, fuel prices have more than doubled by 2019, attracting attention from the west that has been long overdue.

 

     In the next three years, America has engaged in a series of diplomatic talks with Saudi Arabia.  Some economy experts said it was little too late for the world’s number one consumer of oil to wait this long before addressing the oil crisis.  In the meantime, Iran has successfully strengthened its ties with the Russian Federation and China, creating an even tighter grip on the world’s oil trade.  China has the largest army in the world, and although it may not be the strongest, experts believed that an alliance with Russia and Saudi Arabia could provide the funding and weaponry that would transform it into a formidable one.  But a successful economic turnaround under a new Presidency has given Americans a false sense of world influence and military power, as politicians and economists continued to ignore the latter.

 

     With strained foreign diplomacy and depleted oil reserves, the United States President fostered a national goal of finding alternate sources of energy in May of 2023.  It was said to be the greatest accomplishment of the President’s term, perhaps similar to President Kennedy’s involvement with the U.S. space program.  For the first time in American history, Congress and interest groups worked unequivocally for funding and research in search of fuel alternatives.  However, public opinion could no longer ignore the ongoing threat in the Middle East.

 

     Two years later, unconfirmed reports of secret talks between Iran, Afghanistan, and China have placed Americans in more unfamiliar territory.  And with its newfound strength and solidarity, the Middle Eastern nations unanimously imposed an oil embargo against Northern America by the end of 2024.  Europe and China have decided to stay neutral to protect their own interests while internal dissent and the lack of diplomacy have kept the United Nations more divided than ever.  Still, America continued to push for a diplomatic resolution without resorting to war.  But that just might be what the Arab coalition was hoping for. 

 

     It was a calm and sunny day on April 11, 2025.  China was amassing its armies and navies on perhaps what could be the biggest sea invasion since the battle of Normandy in 1944.  Except this time, it was headed for Taiwan.  Years before the attack, China has been aggressively building up its forces with the intention of invading Taiwan.  This has been its most ambitious attempt since the 1949 Chinese revolution, perhaps emboldened by the support and approval of the Arab coalition.  Intelligence reports quickly reached the Japanese government, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency Headquarters in Langley, Virginia.  While earlier indications of the invasion were blatantly ignored by American political analysts, Japan was indeed paying attention.  Under its new National Defense Program Outline, Japan has been keeping a constant vigil on its surrounding neighbors, including China and North Korea.  And in the months leading to the attack, Japan has continued to push for American intervention in accordance with the US-Japan Alliance agreement of 2005.

 

     The attack was short-lived. Chinese forces were immediately thwarted by American air and naval forces from the east and south china seas.  While it remained to be the biggest military blunder in Chinese history, it created a much stronger alliance between Japan and America.  Bilateral trade relations improved, as the world’s two largest and most interdependent economies settled their cultural differences almost overnight.  Commerce and industry mergers provided a steady exchange of technology and prime commodities.  But perhaps the most publicized merger was that of the automobile industry, between General Motors and Toyota Motor Corporation on December 7, 2026.  With a fast recovering economy and less dependency on crude oil, the world value of the dollar rose higher than the Euro and the British pound.      

    

     Meanwhile, tensions mount in the Middle East as an extreme drought and famine drove Jordan to break its 1994 Peace Treaty with Israel by building a dam on the Yarmouk River together with massive water storage systems to improve its water supply.  Water sharing issues have been a prime source of tension between both countries since the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.  Israel won that war to gain control of the upper Jordan River and parts of the Yarmouk River.  But with the Arab coalition behind it, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan now believes it could finally resolve this conflict for good with another war. 

 

     Islamic scholars were divided on the issue of war.  The Roman Catholic Church denounced any form of European involvement.  American conservatives believed it was the prelude to biblical Armageddon as they converged in churches nationwide.  And the government of Israel was earnestly bracing up for quite possibly the greatest threat to Jewish existence since the Holocaust of World War II.  Arab forces were also joined by the biggest army of the world from China, armed with a barrage of black-market weaponry from the Russian Federation.  Citing the US-Israel Alliance made by former President Kennedy in 1962, the ‘Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ director successfully appealed for American support.  And on September 11, 2027, war broke in the Middle East between Israel and the Arab coalition.  The third world war lasted for several months, activating America’s industrial and scientific capabilities with the help of Japanese technology.  Israel and its allies were eventually victorious, leaving a path of destruction and devastation in the Arab countries.  In a little more than twenty-six years after the historic attack on the World Trade Center, the world-wide web of terrorism was no more.  And there is peace in the Middle East, finally. 

 

 

The Oracle

    You are now further into the distant future.  A typical day perhaps, as you go through the normal daily grind.  Stuck in traffic by midtown, something catches your attention.  You immediately recognized it from the ads that inundated your favorite television program.  You can’t help but stare at it, a car one can only dream about.  It can accelerate to a hundred miles per hour in six seconds flat.  Perhaps not the fastest in its class, but this one does it in the air.  Yes, it is airborne, although some still prefer to drive it on the highways.  Of course there are other cars to choose from.  The automobile industry manufactures a host of advanced supercars using various fuel alternatives.  But perhaps the most popular and innovative invention of the 31^st century has been the Oracle, a car that travels by land and air using water and carbon dioxide for fuel.  It was hailed by critics as “the most ingenious conveyance of the century” not because of its airborne capabilities, but for its unique capacity to clean the air during operation.  The prototype was created by D4M Enterprises, a company I helped build from the ground up.  We finally went into mass production last year, reaching record-breaking sales every quarter.  You may say it’s an overnight success story, but the technology has truly come a long, long way.

 

     The automobile industry has been struggling for centuries to find a viable solution to the energy crisis.  Economists blame the Third World War in 2027 for the extinction of crude oil.  Unfortunately, most of the oil deposits in the Middle East, Russia, and China were burned up and destroyed during the war, eventually causing a global energy crisis.  The war left the world in economic turmoil, as countries scrambled to find alternate sources of energy.  In contrast, Israel grew in stature and power as they occupied and colonized large regions of the Middle Eastern countries.  Oil is no longer a prime commodity in the international market, as advancements in travel and transportation led to the abolishment of fuel driven vehicles which eventually lowered air pollution levels worldwide.  Variations of hybrids and electrical vehicles flooded the market, although there were still a few mechanical inconsistencies.  But the setbacks led to more research and the eventual mass production of hydrogen, nitrogen and solar powered cars.

 

     This is the year 3005, a time of peace and prosperity in the thirty-first century.  Superior technological advances in medicine and science are abundant.  Cities and communities are sustained by elaborate eco-systems that virtually leave nothing to chance.  Remarkable advancements in medicine have rendered the human body immune to every known cancer and disease in history.  The complications and sensitivities of surgery and organ transplant now seem primitive with the advent of “body cell-regeneration”.  Even severed limbs could be replaced or reconstructed with near-perfect accuracy.  Addictive and harmful drugs have been universally outlawed, for even pain-killers have outlived what little use it had.  Commercial alcohol and tobacco is no longer produced for human consumption.  Consequently, the average life span of human beings world-wide now ranges from 120 to 130 years of age. 

 

     Politics and commerce had a drastic evolution in the thirty-first century.  For the most part, the bureaucratic government structure of the twenty-first century has been solely replaced by local governments presided by a council of elders elected by each community.  These councils around the world formed a cooperative network that shares resources and commodities, finally putting an end to world hunger and violence.  Countries and governments are no longer separated by cultural values, beliefs, and prejudices.  Even local currencies have been replaced with a universally scannable micro-chip implant that instantaneously revolutionized the point-of-sale technology.  Business ideologies shifted from self-preservation and ‘survival of the fittest’ to employee development and well-being.  Employee morale became a top priority, as companies provided better benefits and incentives to employees.  Historians credit this new age thinking to the conglomeration of Japanese and American governments after the Third World War.

 

     The principles and ideals of nationalism and internationalism in the twentieth century have evolved to that of globalization in the new millennium.  Global industry and global economy have been simplified using one international currency and a universal wage system which consequently eliminated tariffs, trade zones, capital controls, and the need for subsidies worldwide.  Immigration laws were abolished, as people lived under one form of government where territorial and border restrictions no longer apply.  It promoted the travel industry and significantly increased the free circulation of people worldwide.  People no longer hoard wealth since governmental principles now include an altruistic concern for human welfare.  Countries no longer build and create weapons of war, as everyone peacefully co-exists under a single government structure.

 

     Earth’s geography has changed as well.  The Third World War left over forty percent of the Middle East, China, and Russia desolate and uninhabited.  The unforgettable effects of global warming in the mid-2500 are still evident today.  Rising sea levels have submerged northern parts of Russia, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Alaska.  Smaller islands and land masses within the Arctic Ocean were completely engulfed by the seas.  A slew of severe storms and earthquakes caused a significant amount of land erosion in the coastal areas along the Canadian and American eastern shores.  Water resources in South America are still scarce, and droughts continue to plague the continent of Africa.  But mankind has unequivocally worked together to solve environmental threats and challenges for a better, healthier, and cleaner Earth.  Our cooperative government continues to ensure the balanced distribution of resources such as water and food.  Water and air quality levels continue to improve as people share a universal concern against the harmful effects of pollution. 

 

     In the decline and near-extinction of fossil fuels, solar and wind power became the leading sources of energy.  Recent studies in the fields of atomic physics have enabled scientists to harness and successfully multiply its raw energy exponentially, creating an endless supply of clean energy for the world.  Infrastructures are now built with stronger materials that could withstand the enormous thresholds of stress and strain caused by natural disasters.  Populated areas are now filled with habitat skyscrapers that rise higher into the air.  Coincidentally, the Oracle provides convenience and greater ease in travel between these tall buildings we now call home, while it cleans the very air that we breathe.  Space travel has become routine, extending as far as the Jovian planet Jupiter.  Human colonies have been built on the Earth’s moon and the planet of Mars in the last decade, each habitat sustaining a populace of about 10,000 people. 

 

     The devolution of world religions and the growth of cultural diffusion led to the widespread popularity of quantum metaphysics.  People have become more open-minded as they learned to reconcile science with cultural mysticisms.  Churches were either abandoned or demolished, as people willingly replaced religion with pseudoscientific beliefs.  Marriage quickly changed from an institution to a mere agreement with any stipulation a couple may wish to include.  Although the new movement had many variations, people were still accepting and respectful of each other’s core beliefs.  For the most part, people lived together in harmony as crime rates fell to the lowest it has ever been since the last millennium.   

 

     I started a career in mechanical engineering with one of the world’s biggest car manufacturer twenty-nine years ago.  That job gave me valuable experience and foresight in the fields of automotive design and development.  This is where I started to envision the possibility of flight for the modern-day car.  After retiring from the company in 2997, I convinced three other colleagues in helping me design such a car.  After four long years of collaboration and generous funding through grants from corporate sponsors, we came up with a prototype that could actually fly using Hydrogen and Oxygen compounds for fuel.  It’s also fully equipped with a sophisticated navigational system that includes an auto-pilot feature and an anti-collision warning system.  It was a breakthrough for modern-day science, a car that would revolutionize the way people travel.  Needless to say, it didn’t take us long to get the financing needed to establish the company. 

 

     Sparked by a vision to provide scientific innovations for mankind in the field of travel, we built the D4M Corporation on May 7^th, 3002.  We started as a For-Profit corporation.  I and my three colleagues comprised the board of directors, since we share the same work ethics, beliefs and vision.  Our ‘Articles of Incorporation’ focused on design development and environmental concerns, including air quality, noise pollution, and safety.  We also provided an extensive wage and benefits package to our officers and employees.  By the end of 3002, we started manufacturing and marketing the product.    

 

     We had two major assembly plants in Texas and Pennsylvania, each one employing thousands of professionals and experts in the fields of mechanical engineering, advertising, and marketing.  Both plants manufactured about 55,000 units a year, up to 80,000 units at full capacity.  But the research did not stop there.  We had another major breakthrough the following year when we were able to provide better velocity, lift, and thermodynamics by combining proportionate amounts of carbon dioxide with water.  Critics say this was the biggest turning point for the company; the upward surge in the Sigmoid Curve of economic growth.  The abrupt increase in sales has placed both plants almost at capacity in less than two years.  In the last year alone, our company stock went through a 2-for-1 split three times.  To meet the growing demand, we have built two additional assembly plants in Japan and Israel which will be fully operational in less than a month.

 

     The Oracle truly accommodates the lifestyle of the thirty-first century.  We proudly stand by our product, a first-of-its-kind vehicle that runs on the most plentiful elements in the world and emits zero air and noise pollution.  Subsequently, economists and ecologists alike gave the company enormous praise.  The result is what you are staring at right now – the new and improved 3005 Oracle H2O, the car of the century.

 

 

Epilogue

    In a few decades, perhaps even years, more companies will build similar airborne vehicles.  And shortly thereafter it probably won’t take long for the industry to reach its saturation point.  On more than one occasion my colleagues have also asked me about the company’s future.  With the amount of capital gains and revenue the company is currently making, we have all decided to turn it into a Non-Profit corporation within three to four years.  As a foundation with a large stock fund, the company could provide support and funding for public and private interests involving education, the environment, and new innovations.  Collectively, we realized that it’s better to be remembered as successful pioneers instead of profiteers.  Philosophers and scholars say the need to make a difference is deeply rooted in the hopes and dreams of mankind.  In the end, or should I say the ‘future’, it was the Oracle itself that made it all possible for us.