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The world of tomorrow

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Re: The world of tomorrow

#31

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #20

Curious. The article mentions Star Trek three times , in all cases referring to The Original Series, while stating that "Outside of niche books and magazines, the golden age of optimistic science fiction did not exist.", which is surprising it how it missed the golden era of Star Trek, beginning with The Next Generation (1987-1994), aka. the reference work for optimistic future in popular sci-fi, subsequently followe…

> measure how we've lost the optimistic future by tracking how Star Trek shows (including the post-2005 ones) got darker (literally, I'm talking about how the scenes were lit), the architecture less Hilton-like, and eventually, when carpets started to disappear.

Yes, you could do that.

Or you could just cite "Alien" (and arguably "Dark Star" before it) as the key break with "the future is bright and shiny and comfortable", long before 2005.

Re: The world of tomorrow

#32

Post by Saigonautica »

Animats wrote: post #2

That's the view from a country on the trailing edge. In Shenzhen, or Seoul, or Tskuba, or Tapei you'll find enthusiasm for technology. The US can't even make a smartphone any more. Or electrical distribution equipment. Or telephone central offices. Or TV sets. Next to go, cars. (Chrysler just exited the car business. Minivans only now.)

I immigrated to Asia around a decade ago and the relative optimism for technology and the future in general is one of the things that struck me as well.

I mean, if you look for pessimism you'll find examples of that too -- but in broad strokes I would also describe the average perception as 'enthusiastic'. It's something I've have a hard time explaining to my North American colleagues.

Maybe it just has to be experienced?

Re: The world of tomorrow

#33

Post by gessha »

Supermancho wrote: post #3

The productivity increases of the modern times led to a corporate class. These oligarchs have eschewed the progressive initiatives, in eager pursuit of even greater wealth, supported by the wholly owned media and a bribed political class. What has been more evenly distributed globally is the ever-growing poverty, pollution and apathy against these powers. To be fair, some improvements have been made, even at the feet…

“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings.” Ursula Le Guin

https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ursulakleguinnatio...

Re: The world of tomorrow

#34

Post by Teever »

slibhb wrote: post #29
Supermancho wrote: post #3

The productivity increases of the modern times led to a corporate class. These oligarchs have eschewed the progressive initiatives, in eager pursuit of even greater wealth, supported by the wholly owned media and a bribed political class. What has been more evenly distributed globally is the ever-growing poverty, pollution and apathy against these powers. To be fair, some improvements have been made, even at the feet…

This attitude is so common. It's obviously wrong. Humanity is richer and freer than ever. Here's a theory of why people spend so much time railing against modernity, capitalism, and "the corporate class": Humans used to have to labor all to avoid starvation. There were few choices and most of us we died in the town where we were born. Compare to today -- now, we have incredible freedom, cheap and delicious food, chea…

No, people hate modern society because they understand that although things are better than they were they aren't nearly as good as they could be if it wasn't for rampant and unchecked corruption.

What's worse is that people know that whole ecosystems and stable climate patterns are slipping away and will likely never come back.

Re: The world of tomorrow

#35

Post by Animats »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #22
DennisP wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For cars the US does have Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian. The first two are vertically integrated, making as many of their own components as possible. We also have Intel, and a pretty great rocket company.

> For cars the US does have Tesla (...) We also have (...) a pretty great rocket company And yet you all wish you didn't. Well, maybe not everyone, but it's the dominant view. This brings back a memory of a HN comment from a little over a decade ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7885128 I'll just quote it in full: If you want to track the death of the cultural vision of Silicon Valley -- the belief that some…

> Elon Musk may have changed for the worse since then

The drug use became known in 2017, and it seems to be getting worse.[1]

The timeline of Tesla shows the successful innovation happening before then.[2] Then bad stuff started happening.

[1] https://www.wsj.com/business/elon-musk-illegal-drugs-e826a9e...

[2] https://www.thestreet.com/technology/history-of-tesla-150889...

Re: The world of tomorrow

#36

Post by Animats »

Saigonautica wrote: post #32
Animats wrote: post #2

That's the view from a country on the trailing edge. In Shenzhen, or Seoul, or Tskuba, or Tapei you'll find enthusiasm for technology. The US can't even make a smartphone any more. Or electrical distribution equipment. Or telephone central offices. Or TV sets. Next to go, cars. (Chrysler just exited the car business. Minivans only now.)

I immigrated to Asia around a decade ago and the relative optimism for technology and the future in general is one of the things that struck me as well. I mean, if you look for pessimism you'll find examples of that too -- but in broad strokes I would also describe the average perception as 'enthusiastic'. It's something I've have a hard time explaining to my North American colleagues. Maybe it just has to be experie…

That's a result of massive recent change. The US hasn't had that, since the basic infrastructure was built long ago.

Re: The world of tomorrow

#37

Post by TOGoS »

deadbabe wrote: post #24
ryandrake wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're all so pessimistic about the future not because we think it's going to be captured by the plutocrats and oligarchs, but because we know the future has already been preemptively captured by them. They're all doing the work now to cement their positions in the future, and there's nothing the rest of us can do about it. I don't know what great inventions and technological leaps we are going to see in 2030, 2040, o…

That’s what they want us to believe. But at the end of the day, we can always fight. There’s little they can do to stop a massive violent uprising.

Or a massive not-violent one. Just stop working.

The ruling class will bring the violence soon enough.

Re: The world of tomorrow

#38

Post by avmich »

> Like Peter Thiel’s famous complaint that ‘we wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters’

Wonder how it feels to be famous for a whining.

Re: The world of tomorrow

#39

Post by [deleted] »

deadbabe wrote: post #24
ryandrake wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're all so pessimistic about the future not because we think it's going to be captured by the plutocrats and oligarchs, but because we know the future has already been preemptively captured by them. They're all doing the work now to cement their positions in the future, and there's nothing the rest of us can do about it. I don't know what great inventions and technological leaps we are going to see in 2030, 2040, o…

That’s what they want us to believe. But at the end of the day, we can always fight. There’s little they can do to stop a massive violent uprising.

[deleted]
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