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Rafi Amin

TEDCRED 20+

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If you could jump in to the future and see one thing for yourself now, what would that be ?

It is impossible to see the future but I just want to know /learn what are the things that you are eager to know of future.

In my case,

I would have jumped in to the future and saw whether Peace comes to my country Afghanistan or not.

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  • Sumanth Koppolu

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    Jan 15 2013: I wouldd like to see the next dominating species after humans. How they will look like and how they act. How are they different from us. Probly i'll have to go some million yrs forward

  • Kunal Shah

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    Jan 15 2013: I'd love to see the effects of human activities on the world and the environment. A good place to start would be the 'Earth song' by Michael Jackson. We shall have brought about more war, diseases, terrorism... and we shall at some point wonder what was the purpose of all of this? Prayers of peace, followed by action... is urgently needed. Will a great spiritual evolution take place, shall the world have transformed itself in to one where peace, love and unity are the order of the day.
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    Erik Nyquist

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    Jan 14 2013: I think I would choose to find out whether anything we do now truly matters; there will be a point in time in the future where humanity is either dead and gone, or has succeeded beyond the ability of any war or ecological disaster to destroy it. I would like to know what those humans are like, and if what we do to day matters in that struggle.
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    Cassy Lee

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    Jan 12 2013: I'd like to see if peace, war and racism were no longer an issue. I'd like to believe that the world would be a nicer place to live in in many years to come.

  • Richard Krooman 50+

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    Jan 12 2013: If children are still smiling to eachother in the future...


    it's the only way you can know there is any hope.

  • John Penn

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    Jan 12 2013: I'd like to see whether we ever become a true space-faring species. I'd like to see the time when humans are spread around the galaxy.
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      Erik Nyquist

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      Jan 14 2013: As would I, Mr. Penn. It is in my view that our only hope for long term existence depends on us moving out into the stars...and then beyond even that.
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    Elizabeth Gu 30+

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    Jan 12 2013: Well, frankly speaking, it would be a buzz kill, so I'd rather not lol

    But if I should, then personally, I just want to see how I’d be doing in the future—whether it's 20 years after or 30 years after.

    And if there's anyone who died or something changed drastically in my country, then I shall keep this in mind that I should treat the person who will die in 20 years wholeheartedly so that I wouldn't regret while saying, "I should have been better to him/her." in the future.

    If what future shows me is something bad, something we wouldn't really want to face, I would keep cheering myself up to do something right to see if I can give it a shot to change the flow of future generation's 'drastic change' beforehand.

    …And even if I have a chance to see what would really happen in the future, I wouldn’t want to convince people as some sort of prophet.

    Even if I see what future holds for us, I shall not talk about it a lot.
    I know how small I am. I may be passionate, but I don’t want to force people to listen to me as if I am the only one who knows the truth. They might not listen to me at all.

    So many burdens to take.

    Nonetheless, interesting question, indeed! :)

  • Irida Balliu

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    Jan 12 2013: I do not know which career path to chase in my life and that is why I would like to see myself . Just to be assured that I can make the ''impossible'' possible and not to be scared of what I really want.

    • John Frankendoe

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      Jan 15 2013: Are you limited to only one career in your lifetime? Start down one path and then figure out how to navigate towards the other. keep your options open.

  • Shikha Gill

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    Jan 11 2013: I would like to see "water cars"... End of the EVIL OIL..and will like to see if it will change power dynamics amongst various countries of the world

  • Robert Sherry

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    Jan 11 2013: I would like to go into the future 500 years to see what advancements had happened and what they were saying about our time now. This would include many of the current problems we are facing. i.e. Poverty,Accessible drinking water, Global Climate issues, Food supply and distribution, Healthcare,Population size, Education, War, Economics, Pollution of everykind and of course Technological advancements. I can only hope that what they say would make me proud, but they way the pace of things are going I think this is unlikely. But I still hold out hope!! Thanks...

  • Matthew Callender

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    Jan 10 2013: I think I would like to visit the far-flung future, maybe 2000 or even 3000 years from now and just sit on a bench (or whatever it is that people sit on in the future).

    I would like to watch as people go about their day to day lives and look for similarities. Like the way they walk and talk, the way they might rush around with a coffee or some futuristic beverage or the way they might chat amongst themselves on the way to work and school.

    I would love to see how much of us is in them, how much of our cultures, personalities and idiosyncrasies survived the passage of time, no matter how diluted and how they would have mixed together to form permutations of ourselves that we would never even have considered. At the end of my journey to the future I would like to know whether mankind got better with age or is the worst yet to come; and with all the differences and variations, who is more human?

  • Ariel Sanchez

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    Jan 10 2013: I would want to see at what moment I would be the most content in my life.... I'd like to see the expression on my face and feel how I would feel just for a moment.
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    Alan Russell

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    Jan 8 2013: I want to see how all my kids have turned out--my own personal ones and all the ones I've taught.

  • ROOZBEH DAREGHOLI

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    Jan 8 2013: I really want to know what will happen in my country,and what will be the result of these conflicts between Iran and USA.

  • Justin Hardesty

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    Jan 8 2013: I would definitely want to see how I am doing financially. As a freshmen in college it stresses me out knowing that when I graduate I will be around $40,000 in debt, I know that isn't as bad as some other people have it, but I would love to see how I am doing when I am 40 (being 18 now).

  • Conor Corrigan

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    Jan 8 2013: Interesting. What does the 'singularity' mean? Does 1st contact mean god (or gods)?

  • Conor Corrigan

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    Jan 8 2013: Eternity.
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    Mike Colera 10+

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    Jan 4 2013: On my philosophical side, I am not sure there would be anything new to see in the near future. I mean, a war may end in one place and be ongoing in another. My ipad might have a holographic display... but, I don't believe there will be a " I never saw that coming moment". If I go farther out in time, and find that the earth has been visited by a being from another plant, that would shake my belief that mankind was a joke played by God on the universe. Worse case, I would find the earth as part of the corona of a dying sun. Pragmatically, I would just want the lottery numbers.

  • specs 2

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    Jan 4 2013: I'm gonna be a bit selfish here - I've lived with war, violence and death for a sizable chunk of my early life. I've also had to face it down myself a few times in these later years. It's not death that bothers me though. It's somewhat familiar to me now. What does bother me about it however is not finding out about how everybody's life works out.

    Will B realize her potential and come to terms with her mom before it's to late.
    Will my nieces stay close and draw strength from each other.
    Will my little brother find peace.
    Will my nephew chase his own path.
    How will E's marriage survive the MS.

    So many questions and hopes for the future. It's impossible to pick one.

  • Bipedal Joe

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    Jan 4 2013: the ultimate fate of the universe

    • Conor Corrigan

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      Jan 8 2013: Yep definitely.

      • Bipedal Joe

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        Jan 8 2013: more : the 'technological singularity', 'first contact', and 'the ultimate product/pinnacle of cosmic evolution´

  • Matt Smith

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    Jan 4 2013: Damn, one thing, there's so much to see and do in the future. I don't think I can decide...

  • Thunder Tang

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    Jan 4 2013: Hope your dream c ome true. If I had this superpower, I hope to whether I had travelled abroad. magnesium sulfate from Rech Chemical Co.Ltd.
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    Kate Blake 50+

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    Jan 2 2013: Hi Rafi, good one!

    I totally agree with Juliette's vision stated below. I know I saw a proud and beautiful Afghanistan in the mid-70's, and in my heart I know it will happen again.

    I'd like to see world peace where everybody respects each other, all beliefs and lifestyles so that we all live in harmony by caring for and supporting each other. Let's make it happen!

  • Muhammad Arkandiptyo

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    Jan 2 2013: For my personal wish.... To see if truly I will really be a good father, raising my kids back in our ancestral hometown in Central Java while successfully improving the life of the tobacco farmers in my village....

  • Naveed Ahady

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    Jan 2 2013: I would have find the key of my luck, which wouldn't be possible.
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    W. Ying 10+

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    Jan 2 2013: How much invalid happiness is there then?
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    Genevieve Tran 50+

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    Jan 2 2013: Rafi, it's of course a loving concern you have about your Afghanistan. What would you do once you found out whether there is peace or not on a chosen future date? Would it alter the course of your days? How would it alter the course of your citizenship today?
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      Rafi Amin 20+

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      Jan 2 2013: Hi Genevieve,

      I have actually spent my whole life in war, my mother said when I was born war was continuing in our village, I spent my childhood & teenage time hiding from bullets and surviving. I count myself one of lucky ones who survived.

      Unfortunately it is still not over and I,m tired of it , I just want to get out of this situation no matter what I need to do and would never want my kids go through this experience.
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        Genevieve Tran 50+

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        Jan 7 2013: You might be a young person, but I hope you might be happy to know that there are people in their 50s and 60s who remember being curious international tourists in Afghanistan in the 1970s--going to see the buddha statues in Bamyan and the markets in Kabul. They miss this dearly. But, I really think that peace-time Afghanistan is retrievable :) Nothing is impossible!

        I have an idea: why not put out a request to people on TED, on Facebook, and twitter--all over the world to upload their old beautiful pictures of Afghanistan? Build up a digital memory of what Afghanistan really is in peace times. I think people would totally participate--who wouldn't want to celebrate having known this lovely country when it was open to the world? Looking back, what a rare opportunity it was! And it would be a lovely tribute to a culture put on hold for 30 years. Who knows, it could motivate the hardest people to turn this war around. I know one Japanese man who has photos of himself visiting the buddha statues that he showed me once. I'll ask him to upload them (tho he might not like FB). I'll ask the TED community in an "idea" module if they have any photos to share to a FB page. If so, I'd love to show you the "future" of Afghanistan :) (made from important pieces from the past...) [Update: Some friends have helped already: https://www.facebook.com/TheAfghanistanIKnow ]

  • Marc Bonf Schneider

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    Jan 2 2013: Although it would be nice to see something about the future at large, I think that after thinking a little longer most of us would choose something where the knowledge of the future would change our present actions. Knowledge whether peace will come to Afghanistan or if humanity survives will probably not change your present actions or your future life too much. Knowing next weeks lottery numbers most certainly will. Knowing who you will fall in love with will not change your choice of partner, knowing whether you will be happy after 20 years of marriage will.
    As for the question of Afghanistan, the question is not 'if' but 'when'. Currently there are still too many powerful people that fear that they will lose power if there is peace (clan leaders etc.). To change that Afghanistan will a large number of people that believe that they will be better off if there is peace - the internet would help to connect the people to form a large group. But it is just as important to get people to believe that there is prosperity in peace. Afghanistan is surrounded by countries that have peace (at least on the surface) but have little prosperity, so that doesn't help. I'd say that in the wake of the economic upswing after the arab spring some surrounding countries should get significantly whelthier, providing a perspective and a trade opportunity for their neighbours. I'd say sometime after 2030, but I'm no expert.

    • Muhammad Arkandiptyo

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      Jan 2 2013: And the other question is not just 'when'....

      I remembered just a week ago, in the wake of 8 years remembrance of the Aceh Tsunami that devastated the Aceh province and the Western coast of Sumatra in my country Indonesia, lots of interviews and analysis have been broadcasted over the TV channels, radios and YouTube about this particularly great disaster that brought many change to Indonesian life.... from how it triggers the Aceh Peace Agreement, how Indonesians manage their local wisdom and the modern technology to be preventive against a natural disaster situation....

      One of the most important things that puts me in great conscience of the essence in your country Afghanistan, as well as mine Indonesia, as well as other developing countries with conflict.... is not just how to get to peace.

      But how to give a peace solution that can LAST FOR A LONG TIME. A sustainable peace for generations. That is the key.

  • walter crockett

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    Jan 1 2013: If humanity survives.
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