Why the future won’t look like a sci-fi movie

Joejimbobjones, 11 months ago

The article is a nothing burger classic. They set up the straw man notion of a 1950s jet pack futurism where we live in glass domes and commute in flying cars and then try to knock it down with their superior insight.

Modern science fiction has dealt with this for decades now - Blade Runner is 40 years old ffs - where the future is layered on the past. And the poorer you are, the more you rely on the castoffs and remnants of what was. So guess what - we do get parts of that shiny glistening future, you just have to be a billionaire to enjoy it. And if you're born in a slum then it will probably never exist for you.

Don't waste the click and spend a moment thinking about inequality instead.

PositiveNoise, 11 months ago

I'm fine with boring improvements that are nothing like space-opera craziness, such as:

• eating a hamburger that seems like a current hamburger, but with lab-grown meat
• costs of energy going down dramatically, and virtually all energy coming from renewable, safe sources
• most people who develop cancer or dementia or other serious conditions being pretty much ok once they get the affordable treatment
• cars that virtually never crash
• products that last a very long time, and are automatically recycled by the manufacturer when they are worn out

None of this stuff is what Star Wars talks about, but it could be part of a nice future, indeed.