He asserted that these technological milestones will fundamentally redefine human existence.
“What does it mean from a material standpoint to be able to do that?
… I think those moments are things all of a sudden where it really changes how we think about human life and our daily life.
And to me, that's one of those big things and it is coming,” Johnson said.
Historical records show that foundational figures also pondered the immense potential of the country's development.
Benjamin Franklin wrote to scientist Joseph Priestley in 1780 regarding the vast potential of scientific advancement.
“The rapid Progress true Science now makes, occasions my Regretting sometimes that I was born so soon.
It is impossible to imagine the Height to which may be carried in a 1000 Years the Power of Man over Matter,” Franklin wrote.
He envisioned future technologies that closely mirror modern concepts of magnetic levitation transit: “We may perhaps learn to deprive large Masses of their Gravity & give them absolute Levity, for the sake of easy Transport.”
Franklin also maintained that medical progress would eventually eradicate common human ailments, “prevented or cured, not excepting even that of Old Age.”
George Santayana later commented on historical awareness during the American centennial era: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
John Adams likewise utilized scientific advancements in 1787 to describe his optimism for the American future: “A prospect into futurity in America, is like contemplating the heavens through the telescopes of Herschell.
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Objects stupendous in their magnitudes and motions strike us from all quarters, and fill us with amazement!”
