What if, right now, all progress in the world were to come to a screeching halt?
What if every trend or cause or fight were allowed to continue to spin on to its natural outcome, but there were no more improvements?
Can you see that future?
I saw it today. It played out on a screen at my local movie theater. And it wasn't pretty.

The world presented in Children of Men is a familiar one.
The TV news is insipid and intrusive.
There are advertisements everywhere.
The cubicles are cramped and cluttered.
The coffee shops are crowded.
And there are bombs.
But there are no babies.

And it's disturbing because it's so plausible.

The world - our world - gets what it wanted all along: control over life and death. But it turns out that we pick death. Maybe not knowingly. But is it that far-fetched? How much value do we really place on a human life now?
Promiscuity is chic. (Nothing special here, I might as well give it up for what little I can leverage it for.) Depression is rampant, and we drown the pain with drugs. (Why try to find the answers when I can just forget the questions?) Selfishness reigns. Abortion is acceptable. Death is routine. Hate is powerful.

There are plenty of things to fear in the world of Children of Men. Chaos spins by on the ubiquitous TV screens, martial law is alluded to, and there isn't even a veneer of happiness, or cleanliness for that matter. And it is a world that sees its own extinction coming. With no births for 18 years, the death of humankind is only a few decades away.
There is terrorism. Fascism. Racism. Nationalism. There is plenty of blame to go around. But there is no hope.

Watch this movie. If you come out unaffected, then I'm pretty sure you're sleeping your life away.