I get tired of all the fake positive-thinking "if you can dream it you can do it" stuff. Oh, yes, I do believe in the whole thing of visualizing, thinking big, etc. I just dislike the consumerist, "The Secret", wishful thinking stuff we have way too much of.
But I do believe in imagination. I'm pretty sure the regular readers here are very imaginative people. You're geeks, otaku, fanboys, fangirls, and so on.
That means you've got a chance to dream up the future.
I'm not going to go with Einstein's quote on Imagination being more important thank knowledge. I think all our different mental abilities work together. But imagination IS pretty damn important and often unappreciated.
Think about what Imagination lets you do. It lets you see things unseen, it lets you put two and two together to make infinity. It lets you come up with things unrealized yet see them in your minds eye.
It lets you see the world differently.
Once you see the world differently – or dream up whole new worlds – you can then share them. You can make them real, from writing books to being the person who actually DOES make the space elevator a possibility.
If you were to tell people twenty years ago we'd be watching movies by game consoles, that people would get movie deals from putting quick videos on "that internet", or we'd be coming together via mobile phones they'd figure you were crazy.
Someone had to dream this up, because let's face it, some of the greatest things we have would sound pretty insane to other people. Outpatient surgery, space flight, you name it – it sounded like the work of madmen and crazy writers way back in the past.
So my geeks and geekettes, keep dreaming. Because you'll see the future that way.
Then you just have to make it. And that is what being fan to pro is about . . .
– Steven Savage