What happened to our heroic future?

[Kadarin]

Ultimately, it will eventually die under the stifling crush of advancing Islam.

 

[Fritzo]

I wrote an article on this subject some time back. My perception is that the change of the sci-fi genre from "Humans will evolve and use technology to overcome problems" to "Technology creates problems and will be our downfall" has killed our innovation.

Star Trek introduced us to tricorders, communicators, warp speed, antimatter engines...all of which have been or are being developed because the inventors want to live in a Star Trek world. Star Wars, while not as inspiring as Star Trek, promoted space flight and engineering.

Around 1980 or so, sci-fi changed from great story telling to darkness and doom. In the future---YOU'RE GOING TO DIE FROM THE THINGS YOU MADE!!! This new twist became popular and squashed our ambitions in the process.

We need more movies that show us living happily with technology to inspire us. Right now, everyone perception of the future is:

- We're going to create robots that will kill us all
- We're going to nuke ourselves
- We're going to unleash a virus that kills us all
- We're going to ruin the planet and have to leave
- We're going to be destroyed by aliens
- We're all going to starve to death from lack of resources

You can still make a thrilling, smart movie without making technology the villain, and we really could use a few right now.

 

[IronWing]

I blame Richard Simmons.

 

[mmntech]

Pop culture tends to be reflective of society. Despite the social turmoil of the 1960s, there was still a bright future, we can do it attitude that permeated society. Probably the peak of futurism.

The 70s by contrast were marked by a deep recession, oil embargo, growing violence in cities, and Vietnam was going deeper into hell. Film took a distinctively darker tone, especially early in the decade before the birth of the blockbuster with Jaws.

The 80s and seem to be marked with more inspirational and fantasy films. Then the 2008 recession hits and film again takes a darker tone. Take Star Trek 2009 vs Star Trek 1960s. Kirk isn't an explorer here, he's a warrior in a pretty dark future. We even see a whole race of good guys wiped out. Much like the 70s, the 2000s were marked with war, recession, environmental scares, which is reflected in pop culture.

 

[Bateluer]

It is all about the time we live in. Recession, wars, political unrest, nuclear threats, terrorism are all inspiration for the apocolyptic futures we are seeing in the movies.

If anything, those were even more evident in the 1960s when Star Trek was created, and more prevalent in the 70s when it was in syndication, and still progressing with cold war tensions in the 1980s for TNG.

Not much terrorism going on in the 1960s, and other than North Korea's angry foot stomping, not much threat of a nuclear war today.

 

[dighn]

We can grow your lungs in a jar. Just because you or "the masses" aren't captivated, doesn't mean that advances haven't occurred. It is simply a perceptual problem.

never said I wasn't impressed with our progress; I'm a huge science nerd but that's beside the point. what matters is the perception of society as a whole in the shaping of these sentiments. I would also argue that it is an objective fact that scientific progress these days are more incremental than revolutionary, on a relative scale anyway.

In the end though, it doesn't really matter imo. Public sentiments are shaped by the present, but they don't necessarily dictate the future and those key to it. Sooner or later there will be something new that resonates with the public and sentiments will change again.

 

[dighn]

Robots and computers were supposed to make our lives easier. Is your life easier? All they've done is make us more efficient, so more work can be fit into a set amount of time, and on top of that, people are working more. Small computers make it easy to take the office home with you, and it's become accepted in many circles.

I do feel computers and automation have made improvements to our lives; but like any change they do have their downsides. The overtime issue I think is more social than technological in nature. I do agree with you though that the working world seems to be becoming less worker-friendly in general. This probably contributes in part to all the negativity.

 

[Vic Vega]

It is all about the time we live in. Recession, wars, political unrest, nuclear threats, terrorism are all inspiration for the apocolyptic futures we are seeing in the movies.

Do we really believe that our society of today is headed torward or capable of any type of peaceful hamonic blissful future.

Yeah, I don't buy that at all. When you consider what was going on in the 50s, 60s and 70s with regards to all the topics you named, things were far worse then than they are now.

 

[techs]

Yeah, I don't buy that at all. When you consider what was going on in the 50s, 60s and 70s with regards to all the topics you named, things were far worse then than they are now.

I agree.

I wonder if the fearful, pessimistic societal attitude we currently have is one that fits some peoples or organizations agenda to keep us feeling like we can't do or change anything and to just be submissive.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

never said I wasn't impressed with our progress; I'm a huge science nerd but that's beside the point. what matters is the perception of society as a whole in the shaping of these sentiments. I would also argue that it is an objective fact that scientific progress these days are more incremental than revolutionary, on a relative scale anyway.

In the end though, it doesn't really matter imo. Public sentiments are shaped by the present, but they don't necessarily dictate the future and those key to it. Sooner or later there will be something new that resonates with the public and sentiments will change again.

This thread is one individual's faulty perception/thesis, which has spawned a contemplative exercise in finding the cause of a trend that does not exist.

 

[Fritzo]

I agree.

I wonder if the fearful, pessimistic societal attitude we currently have is one that fits some peoples or organizations agenda to keep us feeling like we can't do or change anything and to just be submissive.

It has more to do with the instantaneous communication and 24 news channels that are forced to come up with content.

 

[Tim]

Potato

 

[torpid]

Looking at the list of Hugo award winners in the past 20+ years I don't see a noticeable trend towards nihilism or anything. Connie Willis' stories are somewhat more Star Trekky in that they are stories about time travelers from the future who go back in time to study historical events as a part of a doctoral program at Oxford.

 

[Nintendesert]

9-11 happened and Americans are pessimistic little chicken-shits now.

 

[rudder]

Can't even make batteries for our phones, you think we are capable of warp travel? Lulz.

This how it is done:

1) Start a company
2) Apply and get $15 Trillion in Federal loans to develop advanced space travel. Luckily the government won't care about economic viability of the project... you just have to donate to the right campaigns.
3) Develop warp technology then try to sell it to NASA
4) When NASA says they have no money, declare bankruptcy.
5) Sell company to Chinese high bidder... netting you $500 billion for the sale.
6) Buy cheap knock-off Chinese warp travel engines with that $500 billion
7) resell them to NASA at reduced prices (easy to do since you no longer have $15 trillion in debt).
8) Warp whereever you want to although using cheap chinese knockoffs I would not travel too far.

 

[JTsyo]

besides peace is borring...

This, a utopia doesn't offer the same struggles as a dystopia.

 

[polarmystery]

I blame religion

 

[BurnItDwn]

During the cold war, every kid dreamed of the future with flying cars and spaceships.

Now NASA is so poor they have to outsource space missions to the fvcking Russians.

When the cold war was over, we simply wasted our resources on greed and murder rather than discovery and science.

 

[mitchelt]

Obama...that's what happened!

 

[darkswordsman17]

You guys have it all wrong. Its because things are so good now that we need our escapism to paint things the opposite because most people can't comprehend things going to pieces. Its why the little pockets of it that crop up here shake people so damn much. But people like to think that some fictitious bs zombie stupidity is how things would be. Not likely at all. People are just being delusional and its escapism from the hum drum 9-5 things aren't so damn bad after all lives people are living.

Seriously, anyone who thinks now is more full of strife doesn't know jack shit about history, even pretty recent history. Could that change, pretty much in the blink of an eye? Yeah, but that hasn't happened for most, while progress slowly marches on. I think this is why people are so seeking apocalypse, despite the confluence of all these minor things and the countless cataclysmic things that we can't do anything about (supervolcanoes, planet-killing space events, etc), humans really are actually holding together pretty damn well.

As for scientific advancement, there's still a lot going on (honestly, maybe more than ever), but the directly tangible impact is being lessened. We're learning some responsibility in using things because our better understanding of them has changed us. We're butting up against very real limitations with ourselves as well. Space flight is still tough as hell, the only reason it seems different is that our understanding of just how hostile it is has changed how we approach it. Seriously, go read up on what we now know about just spending a few months in space and then maybe connect the dots to why going to Mars isn't just about getting the money to go. And Mars is actually pretty ridiculously easy compared to what's beyond.

If anything, those were even more evident in the 1960s when Star Trek was created, and more prevalent in the 70s when it was in syndication, and still progressing with cold war tensions in the 1980s for TNG.

Not much terrorism going on in the 1960s, and other than North Korea's angry foot stomping, not much threat of a nuclear war today.

Not much terrorism in the 60s? JFK? Ever hear of the Weather Underground? Black Panthers? And of course the people/groups that were the reason groups like those became so radicalized. CIA and FBI (read up on their opinion of the civil rights movement and people like Martin Luther King Jr.). That's just a minor part pertaining to the U.S., there was a lot of shit happening just about everywhere that would be worse than the average "act of terror" now. A hell of a lot of it was being done by our government (Bay of Pigs anyone?), although certainly not anywhere close to all of it.

Seriously, even with 9/11, this has been a pretty damn mild time. Just because compared to the 90s it had some bigger events closer to home doesn't change that. Yes there's still a lot of awful terrible things being done in the world, and at times you see glimpses of things from the past, but people really need history lessons to appreciate things.