"The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy. Look at you, you're the prodigal son."

World and Williamsburg Narrative (future)

-"More human than human" is our motto. -

Science. That is the banner under which we fly in order to propel ourselves beyond mere humans that suffer disease, hunger, and the ever present mortal coil. The population of cities has been managed by building up and expanding its reach not only beyond the clouds, but into the stars. We have our narrative of Williamsburg, an epicenter of culture and commerce. This area has overcome the blight of economic depression and industrialization to become a beacon of culture in New York City. Genetic advancements have solved the problems of food by enriching its nutrient value and increasing the storage stocks through means of cloning. However, even with these solutions implemented, one thing still remains. One fact still keeps humanity from making it the most splendid species in the universe; the fact that humanity is still human. Genetic design and cloning still can not prevent the inherent cruelty found written deeper than the sequences found in our genetic code. With cloning, a solution was found for labor in the mines of the outer colonies. Williamsburg has become the manufacturing plant for humans that are not human. They are far superior to anything that could be created from Adam's rib. Hipsters have been replaced with human life substitutions. A capable worker. A replaceable resource. A sophisticated machine. An imitation of sentience. A dilemma. It thinks therefore it is. Science has created a being capable of sophisticated thought and sophisticated emotion, but does its origin make it any less human? No. Humanity is defined not by its lineage but by its own existence. Fear, hate, love, hope, all that has once resided in Pandora's Box, and even the truth of mortality can be used to define what it means to be human. After the clone war, the Williamsburg cloning and manufacturing plant was shut down and replaced with the Universal Depot for the Awesomeness. A place has been created where humanity is expressed through art- signifying the presence of passion, science-signifying the existence of knowledge, religion-signifying the need for hope, and architecture- signifying the expression of culture. The unique nature of human life can extend beyond whatever container it is in, and out to define which was once believed to be more than human.

Williamsburg (currently)

As it stands, Williamsburg is a relatively diverse area. The residents currently include hipsters and young adults who wear clothing from this era who are starting off on their own, and, as wikipedia would put it, "Many ethnic groups have enclaves within Williamsburg, including Germans, Hasidic Jews, Italians, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans." Of course, as time passes so do the groups that come and go. A lot of development is going on to create condos and other high rise projects. This obviously comes at the cost of replacing the current residents and "feel" of the neighborhood. It is not something that is only happening to Williamsburg, examples harsh development could be found all over Manhattan, Queens, and, when these places are exhausted, the Bronx.

Architecture

Whether talking about the future and reveling in the present, architecture's role is undoubtedly to serve culture, not control or inhibit it. The idea of a creating these super organized cities in which everything is set up to work like clockwork results in dystopian views, like the ones found in the movies "Brasil" or "Soylent Green." Architecture has the power to control, but, more importantly, it has the power to influence. In scenes found in movies like "Blade Runner" or "The 5th Element," the power of the cityscape both inspires and terrifies, and, more often than not, it is what the viewer remembers the most. A utopian world often comes at the cost of creating a dystopia for someone else. There are many people with many different views for this not to be true. I believe, for the future, architecture needs to have a responsible hand when it comes to topics such as pollution and responding to the city and its inhabitants, and, while there may not necessarily be any right answer, there are certainly wrong ones.