Where's my pajama-wearing future?

[sfwriter]

A lot of the things I used to think would happen just didn't. I really believed in that pajama wearing star trek universe sold to me in science fiction. Basically those beliefs where that rationality would win out. We were getting smarter. The path of the world was to become more connected, less confrontational, and better off. Starvation, if not poverty, would be defeated.

For me personally, space and technology where a big component in that future, though I didn't begrudge anyone a soulful, heartfelt journey back to nature. At no place in our evolutionary history could I see a time where the technological ratchet was turned backward, only forward. I still feel like the solution to polluting technologies are non-polluting technologies, not a lack of technology all together.

Over the last twenty years, I have been repeatedly disillusioned. Bush and company are just the latest manifestation of that latent rotten-ness I thought we were outgrowing as a species. TV got dumber, not smarter. People seem more abrasive not more open. Race relations have gotten worse, not better. Africa appears to be mired in poverty and exploitation. The rest of the third world appears the same.

Corporations seem more interested in treating things than curing them. As more and more R&D occurs under corporate banners rather than national ones, we own less and less of our technology. Also, that means more research for profit and less for the betterment of mankind.

Am I right or wrong about these perceptions? Anyone else feel like their future was sold out from under them? Anyone see signs of hope I'm missing?

[wryter2000]

1. Constant progress is an illusion, I think

We go back and forth on a lot of things.

As a romance writer, I often run into the perception that sexual morals always advance from the more repressive to the more liberated. Lots of previous eras were far more raunchy than today. We appeared to be climbing out of the Victorian morass for a while, but we're slopping right back into it.

[sfwriter]

2. Isn't romance a new idea?

I was under the impression that romantic love itself was relatively new.

[Insider]

3. thought-provoking

as an african-american lesbian, i feel like opportunities for me are better now than ever, in this country anyway. i live in a beautiful place. and i'm older and more comfy.

i can imagine people see hope in 'new frontiers' in various places. medical research, computer technology, eastern european or south african democracy?

and new parents must see hope in little faces everyday.

you probably are not missing anything. but thanks for the thoughts.

[sfwriter]

4. I've got a littel face due...

...On June 22nd.

It has me rethinking the futures I've been creating. I'm looking a lot closer at WHY things aren't improving in places where I thought they would.

Africa is a big one for me. I thought after what happened in South Africa, we'd have a wave of democratic reform across the continent.

[Insider]

6. oh my. little face...

best wishes to you. that's so lovely. i'm grinning (i'm also very sleepy)

:party:

[Indiana_Dem]

5. You're preaching to the choir here!

I am so glad someone else is as deeply disturbed by these thoughts as I am!

I grew up in the late 60s early 70s watching the illusion brought to us by Sesame Street, Zoom, the Electric Company, & Mr. Rogers, etc. They taught about "cooperation", "patience", "love", "harmony", and all kinds of other positive ideas. My formative mind developed through viewing children's shows like that and I still maintain those goals at 40! What has happened to people? Or has it always been this way? I realize there are many many good people but it appears as if many of the ones at the top have reverted to carnal tendencies.

I do see signs of hope in people like you, though. We are out here somewhere....

[sfwriter]

7. Seasame Street and Jimmy Carter

I've thought a lot about what those post-60s formative years did to me. I grew up during an age of conservation, growing globalisim, and expanding social awareness. "Do unto others" seemed to be the whole of the word, and even into college, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the fall of Apartheid, and the fall of communism helped me keep that dream alive.

I remember all the Carter-era propaganda in grade school about turning the lights off and how Solar and wind would save us. That was good stuff. It made us conscious of waste.. That era ended when Reagan came into office. Those little "turn them off" stickers disappeared from my grade-school light switches over night.

This administration would have us believe that waste is a virtue. I guess by now they probably tell children that the sea otters and sea gulls in that Exxon spill are well-oiled.

I'm trying to figure out where it all might be going. I've got a little one headed into it.

[Indiana_Dem]

8. I remember the Carter days, too!

I remember my family switching all the lights off and turning the heat down, too! Then, as I graduated HS in '82 through some years of Reagan, jobs were scarce and the energy crisis was all but forgotten. I remember several unions being busted in my small town. It was all turning around starting with Reagan. Almost all the unions are gone now in my town and most of the jobs are low-wage.

I have a 16 year-old who hasn't ever lived in an era where you have to conserve. She did grow up with Barney though!!! lol (Whether she'll admit it or not!) I've tried to teach her the things I was taught but the world hasn't been geared the same way since she was born so it has been difficult. I fear our youth are in for a rough ride in the future.

[sfwriter]

9. That's my feeling...Barney, teletubbies, and banality...

What are we teaching them?

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