I’ve finally begun watching the latest season of Doctor Who. I will not post any genuine spoilers in this post – you won’t learn what the Face of Boe’s secret is from me! 🙂 But the last episode I watched, “Gridlock”, raises questions that I’ve asked before in other contexts.
Can we imagine our descendents 15 million years in the future, living perhaps 15 million light years from Earth, still singing hymns like “The Old Rugged Cross” or even “Abide With Me”?
One thing is certain – any descendants we have then will not be ‘human’ in the sense of looking like us. We cannot even talk about what their technology might be like, and more than a medieval peasant could discuss playing World of Warcraft. They will almost certainly not speak English or any other language that exists today, although one might imagine languages becoming more static as a result of the existence of print and audio media.
This being so, can we imagine them telling stories about “a hill far away” on a planet far away and finding the meaning of their lives in them, and finding that those stories shape their significance?
I merely pose the question, for now. Watch “Gridlock” and join with me in thinking about and discussing them further!
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