Chances are, if you're reading this, that you are aware of the (Sid Meier's) Civilization series of video games; the most recent of them has sold something like 20 million copies. It could be argued that they are a cultural icon. Many young people like me grew up on them.
In a game whose premise involves commanding a titular civilization from the age of triremes to jet fighters, there is a comforting commonality in the depiction of how technology progresses. Or, more specifically, its apex. Because, while you will inevitably encounter writing and gunpowder as time passes, nearly every game in the series finishes the story off with Nuclear Fusion.
What is most remarkable about it is that it is one of the very few speculative technologies to feature in the games. Sure, you can launch a space mission to colonize another star system, but almost everything else in the games mirrors the world up to the present day.
I think that the creators continue to include fusion in the story of civilization, because like me (and I hope, most of the players too) they are optimistic that humanity will inevitably generate vast amounts of energy from controlled fusion. Could a civilization afford not to?
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