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(c) Roger Ressmeyer / Corbis
Lasers fire at a fuel pellet inside a nuclear fusion experiment at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics. Covering the effort to develop fusion as a power source was one of the experiences that led photographer Roger Ressmeyer to move ahead with his "Visions of Tomorrow" film project.
For decades, photographer Roger Ressmeyer has chronicled discoveries the frontiers of science, from nuclear fusion to the edges of the universe, and now he's working to distill all those discoveries into a hopeful film about the future, titled "Visions of Tomorrow."
"This movie will be saying, 'Here's what we can do about humankind's biggest problems. ... The world's future looks a lot brighter than we're led to believe," Ressmeyer says. But in order to get that message onto the big screen, he's going to need a little help — and several million dollars. That's why he's bringing his project to the Social Innovation Fast Pitch conference in Seattle this week.
Ressmeyer is best-known as a visual storyteller, specializing in the wonders of space and science. It's that reputation that has earned him honors as 2012's PhotoMedia Photography Person of the Year. He has helped chronicle the space effort in magazine layouts and in coffee-table books such as "Orbit," and he has captured images from around the world that make the world's scientific landmarks look like the shrines they deserve to be.
Through the years, Ressmeyer has come to believe that scientific wonders have a spiritual dimension as well. "Visions of Tomorrow" will tell that story, with the help of some of the best minds in science and technology.
"A key spiritual truth is that 'thoughts become things,' as Mike Dooley says," Ressmeyer told me over the weekend. "What we're hoping to do on the spiritual level is to address the collective loss of hope, and create a movie that leaves people walking on air, letting go of fears, and getting behind a better future for the planet."
Visions of Tomorrow
Photographer Roger Ressmeyer is creating "Visions of Tomorrow."
The project sounds a bit like some other science-plus-soul hybrids that have shown up in theaters or on DVD in recent years, ranging from "What the (Bleep) Do We Know" to "I AM" and "The Secret." But Ressmeyer insists that this film will be different.
"There have been many 'new-agey' movies about the fact that humanity is one, and people everywhere are basically good. What makes this movie different is that it will present actual solutions under development by world-renowned scientists, engineers and futurists," he said.
Setting an agenda
So who are these scientists, engineers and futurists? For now, Ressmeyer is being cagey about that question. He's begun to use his network of contacts to recruit the folks that will be featured in the movie, and some filming has been done already. But he's holding back on the details until he assembles a core of executive producers to help shepherd the project — and assembles the financing for the next phase.
He says his vision for "Visions of Tomorrow" aims to touch upon some of the top problems facing humanity, and how science and engineering can turn them around.
"In my years of covering science, I learned how to dig really deep, and how to create images that bring ideas to life," Ressmeyer said. "We'll take the best ideas — the ones most likely to succeed, the ones covering the biggest challenges humanity faces, like resource depletion, climate change and global warming, overpopulation, the effects of war and social distress. In the movie, all of these things will come together in a beautiful, entertaining and inspirational view of what's possible for tomorrow."
Nuclear fusion power seems certain to earn some screen time: Ressmeyer noted that his photo coverage of the fusion frontier was one of the factors that led to the "Visions of Tomorrow" project in the first place.
"We don't expect that every one of these solutions will pan out," he told me, "but we do believe there are enough possibilities out there to produce virtually limitless energy, to address the population issue, climate change, and raise the planet's collective consciousness."
The road ahead
During the Seattle conference on Thursday, Ressmeyer will talk about the project and show a teaser video clip. "It's the perfect place to show that pre-production footage for the first time, and possibly the only time it will ever be shown in public," he said.
If the backing comes together the way Ressmeyer hopes, filming would resume in early 2013, with the film's release set for 2014. Ressmeyer has also established a Visions of Tomorrow Foundation to move ahead with the agenda laid out in the movie, and he and his colleagues plan to use social-media crowdsourcing (and crowdsupporting) to keep hope alive.
Ressmeyer says that reviving hope in the future is the driving force behind "Visions of Tomorrow." During our interview, the 58-year-old photographer recalled the despair that he felt when doctors told him he suffered from juvenile diabetes, back in the days when many people saw that disease as a "virtual death sentence."
"My experience of being told at age 13 that I would be lucky to live 20 years led to a very, very major internal struggle between optimism and pessimism, idealism and cynicism, that in some ways continues to this day," he said. "All my life experiences have led to a vision and realization that hope is the force that drives planetary change — and there's a real shortage of that right now. 'Visions of Tomorrow' is designed to spread hope, to create confidence we can fix things."
Ressmeyer still has to fill in a lot of the blank spots in his vision, but do you think he's on the right track? What issues would you want to see addressed in a vision of tomorrow, and what bright ideas can you contribute? Please feel free to weigh in with your questions and solutions in the comment space below. I have a feeling that Ressmeyer will be watching.
More from Roger Ressmeyer:
- Audio slideshow: Voyage of the Millennium
- Buzz Aldrin plans the next giant leap
- 'Visions of Tomorrow' website
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Maybe in his visions of tomorrow he could include a planet with less people, making less pollution. One thing he could work on is taking pictures of a scientist working on a pill for men to stop them from peregrination of the population until they can care for their off spring all by their little self's.
It's a good thing to move forward with fusion and all the bells and whistles, but if we were really serious about our planet, population control would be at the for front.
Of course that would mean all the men would have to admit that it is their problem as much as the woman's, and just think of all those macho men in South America, Africa, Asia and Middle East that would never give up their reproductive dicks to a better world.
So as far as this guys "dream" goes, it is just another guy making a name for himself at the expense of the human race.
The good news is that human and plants recycle each other, we eat plants and our waste is the best plant food; plants release oxygen for us to breath, we produce CO2 for plants to make food et al. So human pollution is not unavoidable, especially with the current pace of space exploration, we have been developing the technology to make human life completely sustainable. Chicken, pig, fish et al are also well recycled, so human don't even have to be vegetarian. But Earth do have limited space, so even though we can live environmentaly sustainable, we still will run out of space, unless we develop space colonies, which I believe we are capable of. Once we travel out of the solar system, we probably will say: wow, the Milky Way could use a lot more human. Or maybe we will find our cousins somewhere out there.
Nuclear Fusion....COOL!
Look at the two comments above. Steve seems obsessed with population control and Dawn Toy appears to want to blow something up (or did I misread his/her interest).
How were these totally polar opposite posts derived from the optimistic premise of a film celebrating "Visions of the Future" and what does that say about us?
It says humans don't all speak with one mind. Surprised?
I'm waiting for 2015 when we get flying cars. Or at least that's what they predicted in Back to the Future.
I think it's a great idea because it is a start! BTW, I agree with the premise of the first poster (without the cynicism and hopelessness) and the enthusiasm of the second. Also, there seem to be some factions of our society that want to disavow science and take us back to the 1800's. At least this idea gives our culture a starting point to look FORWARD, not backwards.
"Some" factions? The rampant megalomania surounding religeous belief is the problem! Get over it.
There has neve been any proof, or logical reasons to believe in a diety. there are none!
We need to advance science as much as possible, and utilize what we learn now, not later.
Oh, but the children will suffer if the wrath of god is not beaten into them, all is lost!
Yay science.
If you ask a devout person and a scientist what they believe in and why should I, the devout can only say, "I have faith, and so should you". The scientist on the other hand will either setup and experiment, or show you data from an experiment to PROVE what they believe in...
Then another scientist comes along with a different experiment and proves the 1st wrong, and then comes a 3rd scientist who does the same to the 2nd. Talk to a group of paleontologists about how the dinosaurs became extinct and you will get a possible 6 different answers as the old Asteroid theory is now being questioned. In my own profession the PSA was the definitive test for prostate cancer a few years ago now it's not. Science evolves, changes, turns back on itself as does religion. "Science without Religion is lame. Religion without Science is blind." Albert Einstein. I pity either side that becomes so smug/confident in it's theories/philosophies.
John. I doubt Einstein ever said what you mentioned since his letters indicated he thought religion was silly and childish. Many scientists come up with many ideas and then attempt to make a hypothesis. Most go nowhere but some make it and then some of those become actual scientific theories. Those theories then are built upon to come up with more ideas, hypothesis and more theories.
I believe in the future we will be able to do amazing things and have many ideas about what those things might be. I believe one thing we need to do is build a way into space. Using the moon as an anchor point build a tower up from the surface through L1 and down into Earths gravity well. From the end of the fixed structure we will be able to lift payloads into space and convey it along the fixed structure to L1 for launch into space or on down the the moons surface.
As for John wanting flying cars I was thinking if we could build a containment vessel for a hydrogen burst we could use it to fill up smaller tanks to millions of PSI. Those tanks would be mounted in a Jetsons style flying car and releasing the high pressure would provide lift and propulsion.
I am a long time Star Treker and truly believe in the promise of space as the answer to many of the problems we face. The biggest promise space gives us is space its self. Lots of room to grow and inexhaustible energy directly from the sun. If we move out into space the population of the planet could be reduced even as it grows. Having our industry in space could eliminate pollution on the planet. Mr. Roddenberry's dream still lives in me.
Humans are not dinosaurs, we can figure out ways to deal with pollutions. Air recycle is a relative simple science. Prevent water pollution is a bit difficult but can be done. The Bill Gates foundation sponsored a high tech toilet design compitition, the idea was making the toilet a waste treatment and recycle unit at the same time. So in the future the public sewer system as we know it will be replaced by on site treatment at user's site. This will eliminate the possibility of underground sewage leak to the water way. This concept makes even more sense when applied to the industrial waste management, because each industry produces unique waste. For example, the way to treat waste water from a chemical plant is different from the way to treat biohazardous waste water from a hospital. So customized on site waste treatment is the way to insure public water safety and environmental sustainability. We humans don't have to stop breathing to make out planet beautiful and livable.