Whatever's reviews: Year 2100

[Hector]

inducks.org/story.php?c=I+PM++211-2&search=%CE%B5%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%82%202100%20%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9%20%CE%B2%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B5

On Scrooge McDuck's request, here is a review about the Future Duckburg story I have read. 
The story begins by showing Donald and the nephews at their house, what the creators believed a house would be like in the future. Surprisingly, they got some things right (computer that controls the houses devices, skype)!
Donald goes to work at his uncle's money bin, which is a money bin in name only, since there is no longer money in this world. Scrooge enjoys a virtual reality money bath, though!
Scrooge tells Donald what his tasks are and then leaves for business.
Soon, he returns. Or does he? It's an impostor that waits till Donald types the password to access his uncle's computer. As soon as that happens, the fake Scrooge kicks Donald out in order to be left alone with the real tycoon's secrets. Not suspecting anything from his 'uncle's' strange behaviour (well, usually, Donald ain't very brilliant), Donald returns home.
It is only through dumb luck that the fake Scrooge is exposed; Donald does not remember whether he locked the treasure hall door and calls Scrooge through skype (well, it is not called 'skype' in the story, but you get the meaning) to confirm it. It is only then he realizes Scrooge is not at the money bin.
Scrooge's nephews inform Gyro and they all run to the money bin, where it turns out that the fake Scrooge is a freakishly strong android. Surprisingly, the android is cool with them following it to its hideout!
Some thugs are arrested. Obviously, they do not have the kind of resources required to set up such a scheme themselves. Someone else guided them. Everybody wonders who their leader might be. Come on, guys, the franchise has like 3-4 villains; it hardly takes a genius to tell it's Rockerduck.
When the real Scrooge comes back and is informed, he enters his computer and Donald's mind enters the web, through one of Gyro's inventions (I wonder whether the creators of Wreck It Ralph have read this story). In the virtual world, Donald meets monsters, which are supposed to represent anti virus protection.
Scrooge suddenly remembers that he went for his annual check up recently. For some reason, this is what leads him to the conclusion that the enemy is Rockerduck. Then the heroes go to the anti heroic tycoon's mansion (yeah, they pay him a visit just like that; no guards or security systems to stop them!) and release Donald.
Overall, it was a boring and average story. I don't think I'd read it again.

Rating: 5/10

[TheMidgetMoose]

Am I understanding correctly that Scrooge, Donald, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Gyro, and Rockerduck are all still alive in 2100? That feels wrong to me, but I guess it fits with the concept that these characters never age, even in-universe, simply by virtue of being comic book characters.

[Hector]

It is never specified whether they are the same versions of them, but, considering Scrooge is taking a virtual money bath 'for old habits' sake', it might be an implication that they are the same and do not age indeed.

[pollux]

Cool! I am a sci-fi and tech fan, this story looks interesting. But I do not speak Italian. Has it ever appeared in English, German or French?

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Mar 16, 2019 18:27:05 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

That feels wrong to me, but I guess it fits with the concept that these characters never age, even in-universe, simply by virtue of being comic book characters.

Setting aside whether they're already unaging-due-to-being-comic-book-characters, I'd be quite ready to accept it anyway. If Gyro ever put his mind to anti-aging technology, as he is bound to eventually do, do you seriously believe silly things like "aging" and "death" would still be plaguing humanity by 2100? 

[TheMidgetMoose]

Mar 16, 2019 23:28:20 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Mar 16, 2019 18:27:05 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

That feels wrong to me, but I guess it fits with the concept that these characters never age, even in-universe, simply by virtue of being comic book characters.

Setting aside whether they're already unaging-due-to-being-comic-book-characters, I'd be quite ready to accept it anyway. If Gyro ever put his mind to anti-aging technology, as he is bound to eventually do, do you seriously believe silly things like "aging" and "death" would still be plaguing humanity by 2100? 

Huh. I had never thought of that. I guess I still having trouble believing that Gyro actually could do something like that. I suppose it's possible, especially since Gyro is frequently portrayed as being an endless reservoir of inventions. Still, even if he could invent such a thing, why would Huey, Dewey, and Louie want to remain children and, maybe more importantly, why would Donald let them? Do they remain in school this whole time, or do they graduate and become adults... still in the bodies of children? I guess I also would have expected more to happen to the characters by 2100 than what Whatever described in his review. I mean, if Donald and Daisy haven't tied the knot by 2100, I don't think they're ever settling down. I suppose it'll be a cycle of breaking up and getting back together for eternity. Poor Donald.

[pollux]

Mar 16, 2019 23:28:20 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Mar 16, 2019 18:27:05 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

That feels wrong to me, but I guess it fits with the concept that these characters never age, even in-universe, simply by virtue of being comic book characters.

Setting aside whether they're already unaging-due-to-being-comic-book-characters, I'd be quite ready to accept it anyway. If Gyro ever put his mind to anti-aging technology, as he is bound to eventually do, do you seriously believe silly things like "aging" and "death" would still be plaguing humanity by 2100? 

It isn't that far-fetched and in real life some research is already done on this.

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Mar 17, 2019 0:08:45 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

Still, even if he could invent such a thing, why would Huey, Dewey, and Louie want to remain children and, maybe more importantly, why would Donald let them? Do they remain in school this whole time, or do they graduate and become adults... still in the bodies of children?

Good question. But considering his track record, Gyro's inventions are always amazing but never quite ideal; it's quite plausible that whatever miracle-medicine he came up with does make you immortal but at the cost of freezing you at your current age permanently, a side-effect he only discovered in the longer run, after HDL had already taken it. 

[TheMidgetMoose]

Mar 17, 2019 0:35:32 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Mar 17, 2019 0:08:45 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

Still, even if he could invent such a thing, why would Huey, Dewey, and Louie want to remain children and, maybe more importantly, why would Donald let them? Do they remain in school this whole time, or do they graduate and become adults... still in the bodies of children?

Good question. But considering his track record, Gyro's inventions are always amazing but never quite ideal; it's quite plausible that whatever miracle-medicine he came up with does make you immortal but at the cost of freezing you at your current age permanently, a side-effect he only discovered in the longer run, after HDL had already taken it. 

Do they still attend school, though, or do you imagine that they're living adult lives as children? Also, I still find it almost sad that Donald and Daisy could go 150 years without marrying, unless you believe they are married by 2100.

[RobbK1]

Mar 16, 2019 23:28:20 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Mar 16, 2019 18:27:05 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

That feels wrong to me, but I guess it fits with the concept that these characters never age, even in-universe, simply by virtue of being comic book characters.

Setting aside whether they're already unaging-due-to-being-comic-book-characters, I'd be quite ready to accept it anyway. If Gyro ever put his mind to anti-aging technology, as he is bound to eventually do, do you seriously believe silly things like "aging" and "death" would still be plaguing humanity by 2100? 

Yes.  And a LOT more people will be dying than ever before.  Only the very rich will be able to afford to "become youthful again" and receive the "treatments" that will be able to extend the current normal life span (using stem cell manipulation, hormonal treatments, other cell manipulation, and body part replacement). 

Allowing the Human population of Earth to continue to grow, while, at the same time, the aged don't expire, would bring on the end of The Human Race, and all large animals, and devastate The Earth, setting it back millions of years, to only very basic plant life, and small and simply-structured animals.  Already, Earth's Human population is rapidly destroying this planet's ecosystems, and causing the greatest planet-wide extinctions of plants and animals in its history.  I'm guessing that it is probably already to late for mankind to last more than a couple hundred years, at most (which would likely be better for the continuance of Life on Earth than having Humans continuing to increase in population, and, as a result, continue destroying more ecosystems).

It's analogous to the situation in US' Yellowstone National Park, and the several hundred miles around it after all the remaining wolves had been hunted down and killed (entire population wiped out).  The deer population in those regions grew to such numbers, without the wolves to thin them out, that they ate up all the plants the normally fed upon, and began to starve to death in large numbers.

I have little faith that Humans can organise strongly enough with totally level-headed and rational people in charge (e.g. keeping the greedy, power-hungry (and thus, irrational people) from ruining the situation, as they have been doing, ever since "civilisation" started.  I am glad I will not be around more than 20 to 30 more years, to live through those times that are much more likely to be tumultuous than smooth, based on the fact that World leaders have been ignoring the warnings of the scientists all through the period of modern science.

[xanderares]

In the story "Zio Paperone e la rapina dell’altro secolo" (I TL 740-B Rodolfo Cimino/Giorgio Cavazzano) a mad scientist becomes an accomplice of The Beagle Boys to exploit a gas of his invention that makes reverse the flow of time, for example a chicken exposed to the gas returns chick.
Who is exposed to the gas does not remember the future events at the moment when the gas brought it back.
They want to use gas all over Calisota (they will use special plastic sheeting to protect themselves from the gas), so the whole region will go back to the end of the 1800s, when Scrooge built his first money bin (made of wood). The Beagles hope that thanks to modern technologies they will have the necessary advantage to rob him, also because the police of the time is less organized than the modern one.
In the end, however, it will be a young Scrooge, who works as a bounty hunter, who alone will defeat they and rob them of their money.
When the effect of the gas ends everyone returns to the present and Scrooge discovers he has extra money he does not know where he comes from.

I have always considered the gas of this story the origin of all the problems related to the passage of time in the stories of ducks and mice.
A sort of side effect to the gas that prevents those who have been exposed from it from aging at the same rate as the others and at the same time alters their cognitive abilities on the passing of time, so HDL and the others age very slowly, but do not notice it unless someone points their finger at a specific date.

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Mar 17, 2019 2:54:56 GMT RobbK1 said:

Yes.  And a LOT more people will be dying than ever before.  Only the very rich will be able to afford to "become youthful again" and receive the "treatments" that will be able to extend the current normal life span (using stem cell manipulation, hormonal treatments, other cell manipulation, and body part replacement).

In the real world, what you describe is a distressingly plausible theory. But we're not talking real world. In the Duck universe, on the other hand, whatever Gyro cooked up couldn't possibly be all that expensive to make. He's the fellow who makes Moon rockets out of scrap on a ten-cents budget (the ten-cents is to buy himself coffee during his one five-minute-long break, see). 

[Hector]

Or you can go with a theory I posted long ago and nobody bothered with: One of the three nephews has fairy godparents!
In Nick's show 'Fairly Oddparents', it is revealed at some point that the main character made a wish for everybody to stop ageing and remained a kid for 50 years (attending school normally) without anyone around ever noticing that time had stopped passing.

[TheMidgetMoose]

Mar 17, 2019 12:40:16 GMT Hector said:

Or you can go with a theory I posted long ago and nobody bothered with: One of the three nephews has fairy godparents!
In Nick's show 'Fairly Oddparents', it is revealed at some point that the main character made a wish for everybody to stop ageing and remained a kid for 50 years (attending school normally) without anyone around ever noticing that time had stopped passing.

Even if this were true, it still wouldn't explain why Daisy and Donald haven't tied the knot yet, why Gyro hasn't become a world-famous visionary who has ended world hunger, or why Magica is still after Scrooge's dime. If one can believe that a certain status quo is able to maintained in Duckburg from 1947 to 2100, then have it. I just have trouble believing that so much time could pass and so little could change. I know that technology and culture changes, but the characters haven't had any major changes. They've never decided to begin a new chapter of their life, to do something different, or to change their perspective. Like I said, for those of who can swallow that these characters would remain exactly the same in personality, job, and perspective for 150 years, that's fine. To each his own. For me, however, I think it makes most sense that the Scrooge who has adventures in the 1950's is not the same as the one who has adventures in the 1990's. I'm fine with some stories being in set in the 2010's and some being set in the 1940's, but for me, those stories do not take place in the same universe and portray different versions of the characters we know and love.

[pollux]

Mar 17, 2019 2:54:56 GMT RobbK1 said:

Mar 16, 2019 23:28:20 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Setting aside whether they're already unaging-due-to-being-comic-book-characters, I'd be quite ready to accept it anyway. If Gyro ever put his mind to anti-aging technology, as he is bound to eventually do, do you seriously believe silly things like "aging" and "death" would still be plaguing humanity by 2100? 

Yes.  And a LOT more people will be dying than ever before.  Only the very rich will be able to afford to "become youthful again" and receive the "treatments" that will be able to extend the current normal life span (using stem cell manipulation, hormonal treatments, other cell manipulation, and body part replacement). 

Allowing the Human population of Earth to continue to grow, while, at the same time, the aged don't expire, would bring on the end of The Human Race, and all large animals, and devastate The Earth, setting it back millions of years, to only very basic plant life, and small and simply-structured animals.  Already, Earth's Human population is rapidly destroying this planet's ecosystems, and causing the greatest planet-wide extinctions of plants and animals in its history.  I'm guessing that it is probably already to late for mankind to last more than a couple hundred years, at most (which would likely be better for the continuance of Life on Earth than having Humans continuing to increase in population, and, as a result, continue destroying more ecosystems).

It's analogous to the situation in US' Yellowstone National Park, and the several hundred miles around it after all the remaining wolves had been hunted down and killed (entire population wiped out).  The deer population in those regions grew to such numbers, without the wolves to thin them out, that they ate up all the plants the normally fed upon, and began to starve to death in large numbers.

I have little faith that Humans can organise strongly enough with totally level-headed and rational people in charge (e.g. keeping the greedy, power-hungry (and thus, irrational people) from ruining the situation, as they have been doing, ever since "civilisation" started.  I am glad I will not be around more than 20 to 30 more years, to live through those times that are much more likely to be tumultuous than smooth, based on the fact that World leaders have been ignoring the warnings of the scientists all through the period of modern science.

Adventure capitalists like Scrooge, Rockerduck and Glomgold surely have R&D departments which already work on eternal life, like Silicon Valley IT moguls, Chinese megacorporations and (((Russian oligarchs))) already do.

Maybe because they are pathologically powerhungry and greedy, like ye mentioned, yet they are rational enough to know that they will loose all their power and wealth when they will die, so they're going to do something about that?

Also, who says that people are still going to live only on Earth for all eternity? What about space travel and virtual reality? 

I have the guess that Hector is the kind of guy who'd like to take the blue pill and upload his soul into a simulated world that looks like a Disney comicbook or TV show.