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DR TOMORROW’s
PRESCRIPTION FOR THE FUTURE
by De Kwok
For Dr. Tomorrow, the future is now. The Vancouver, B.C. resident
has been tracking, informing and thinking about the future for
a majority of his time on earth. Born Frank Ogden, he has written
numerous books, such as This Is The Last Book You Will Ever
Read and Navigating in Cyberspace, pontificating on how
human beings will live in the near future. But Dr. Tomorrow
believes life is best lived and has dedicated himself to traveling,
meeting and talking to people around the world. Dr. Tomorrow
never stopped living for the future.
In his online digital diary, Dr. Tomorrow presents Ogden’s
Laws, a series of points on how to exist for maximum life satisfaction
— from the clever (“In times of panic, chaos or rapid change,
the bizarre rapidly become acceptable”) to the controversial
(“The American Constitution is wrong”). Dr. Tomorrow’s laws
were written 15 years ago and still remain his tenets today.
His intelligent assessment of what the future might bring gives
us a present day blueprint of how to live our lives.
Not deterred by age — he is in his seventies — Dr. Tomorrow
embraces the advantages of what medicine, computers, and technology
will bring. Although I do not always agree with his assertion,
he is one of the most interesting visionaries I’ve met. One
thing is for sure: Dr. Tomorrow will always keep his cyborg
eyes clearly aimed at the future.
Tablet: What would you say Dr Tomorrow’s agenda
is?
Dr Tomorrow: Rather than tell you, let me
point out a few examples. Everybody in the world it seems has
an agenda. At an early age, from where I know not, I decided
I would not follow any conventional path. So far it’s working.
I have no formal educational qualifications whatsoever. Today,
this is my biggest asset. I have always found a way around traditional
roadblocks, laws and regulations. Not by avoiding them but by
going around, under, through or dissolving them. Example: I
read a magazine article about this West Coast hospital doing
some early work with psychedelics. It intrigued me.
I went to the hospital, asked to see the Medical Director,
and told him I liked what I had read about what they are doing
with these new, radical and unusual chemicals and, I wanted
to work with him. He asked, “Are you an M.D.? Psychiatrist?
Male Nurse? Orderly?” I told him, “None of the above.” He pointed
out this was a hospital and they did need help in what they
were doing, but only medically-skilled people could understand
what was happening in this new field. I suggested I would work
for him for three months for free and then we both could see
if he could afford me. I also pointed out that any new field
is like a jungle to most white men. There are no signs, no trails,
and no manual. They needed an explorer. I could see the “work
free” bit hit one of his hot buttons and my arrogance in pointing
out the new field theory caused him to think.
He was J. Ross MacLean and he owned this, the largest psychiatric
hospital in western Canada. He had been around, had lots of
routine medical experience and in the year prior to my arrival
was following orthodox medical principles. They weren’t working.
I was “in.” Not only in right then, but in three weeks I was
on the payroll. A monthly contract [and payscale] was agreed
upon. And, fire me, if he wished at the end of each, every and
any month. I got permission to use the hospital medical library
and read through most of it in the two weeks.
Instead of hurdles and problems I see everything and anything
as an opportunity. I stayed with the hospital for seven years.
I left because a prominent broadcaster that owned 100 percent
of 14 radio and television stations heard about me, came to
the West Coast to see me and asked what I knew about radio.
I told him, “they have two knobs and one vertical stick. One
knob turns the radio on and makes noises as you rotate the knob.
The other knob moves the stick and the noise changes.” “Is that
all you know?” That’s all I have to know, I’m just listening.
“I want to make you president of my flagship stations in
Montreal.” The stations went from the bottom to the top of the
ratings in the city in the first year.
Tablet: Can you briefly tell us about Ogden’s Laws?
DT: [Ogden’s Laws] are 40 of my personal
axioms pointing out something usually known that is presented
in different or unusual ways. I consider them triggers for thinking.
Tablet: Can technology be harmful to human beings?
DT: Yes. An axe is technology. If used to
cut firewood and keep one warm that is usually beneficial. If
used to chop someone up that might be considered harmful to
humans. The same applies to all technology. An airplane is usually
considered beneficial if it carries you from A to B. If it crashes
(and you live) you may have a different viewpoint.
Tablet: What everyday items do you see becoming obsolete?
DT: All. Twenty years ago I said that 90
percent of the technologies one utilized that day would be obsolete
in 20 years. Today, things move faster.
Tablet: Human beings haven’t always been so enamored
with technology and advancement. Do you think that we are becoming
more trusting of technology?
DT: No. It’s more seductive. Example: Thirteen
years ago I was going blind. My right eye was 20/300. Left eye
20/200. That’s white cane country anyway you look at it. I found
an opthamologist that was doing some exploratory work in that
field and talked my way into being his guinea pig. He did my
right eye first and a year later my still deteriorating left
eye (years interval minimized potential infection to the optic
nerve).
What he “did” was to remove my natural lens which is in a tiny
purse-like object next to the retina and then surgically-insert
an intra ocular lens (looks like a pin-head of plastic). The
day after the first eye was done my vision was 20/30. Over a
couple of years both eyes improved from 20/30 to 20/15.
In fact, in 1992, I got back my airplane, helicopter, glider
and balloon licenses. You can say I am biased over technology. I am
now trying to talk them into doing a retrofit on my left eye. There
is ample room in the “purse” to hold two pin-heads. Each lens
has two “spider-like legs” that initially hold the lens in place.
I want them to tie the “leg” from the second “lens” to the muscle
in the corner of my left eye. Then when I wink the second lens
will rotate providing a “zoom shot.” Wouldn’t that be great
for the beach?
Tablet: Are you pessimistic or optimistic about the
future?
DT: I am very positive about the future.
I believe continually facing new challenges is what prods evolution.
With lots of prodding [there is] no telling where we’ll go.
I am currently involved in the Human Consciousness Project.
Just as an electroencephlagram can be put on your head enabling
the doctor to “read” your brain, Roger Nelson of Princeton University
came up with the idea to do something similar and read the planet’s
brain with an EGG or ElectronicGaiaGram.
Tablet: What do you think is the future of race
relations?
DT: The world today is a vortex, a sort of
MixMaster. When it stops spinning the world will be light-chocolate.
Tablet: Is age a factor in how people access technology?
DT: Not in accessing the technology; but
in their attitude to it. Obviously if you grow up with snakes
(like me, I used to sleep with them) you grew up understanding
them and feel comfortable with them. Ditto airplanes. After
six wartime years living with airplanes, you think everybody’s
done that. I think computers (and Apple iBooks at that) should
be mandatory in all homes for seniors.
Tablet: What is your favorite technological advancement
and why?
DT: Well personally, my cyborg eyes. Outside
of that: the Internet. Nothing, nothing has affected so many,
so quickly, in such depth over a wide area at such relative
minimal cost. It is more important today to be computer-literate
than it was to be able to read and write in the industrial age.
Tablet: What do you think of genetically-altered foods
and should we be afraid of them?
DT: I think they are great. Most people have
been using spices in the last four years. They’ve all been radiated
since then with no troubles except lasting longer. I’ll eat
any radiated meal you will pay for. Radiation will prolong fruit,
retarding microbial action for extended periods. Gives longer
shelf life so mangos can come from Sri Lanka or Haiti.
Tablet: Do you think that, with the advancement of
monitoring devices, we are losing our privacy?
DT: You haven’t had any for years. Did you
miss the Rodney King clips? There is no privacy. Period. There
is no security. Period. Learn to live with it. Sleep with it.
If you become “anchored” to anything, that restricts movement.
Tablet: In the future, do you think people will live
longer or forever? If so, will this be a good or a bad thing?
DT: I just had my 82nd birthday. I still
lecture (7 countries and 17 cities this year) and fly all the
time. Anybody can do it once they accept [that] they can do
more than they ever imagined. There are no restrictions today.
None. I can see living to 120 (after all there are now 72 body
parts you can get off the shelf). More cyborgian parts are coming
out every day: hip replacements, knee replacements, heart valves.
Once the demand appears, the solution will soon follow. Something
like the Viagra story.
For more on Dr. Tomorrow and his writing, go to
drtomorrow.com.
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