Where are our visions?

[Syt]

Maybe it's nostalgia, maybe it's time messing with memories.

But I seem to recall that there used to be more of a long view in public discourse. Be it plans for colonizing the moon or space tourism, maglev trains, international integration, technology, societal changes ...

... who does that anymore, besides excentrics like Elon Musk (or Tim ) that often get laughed at, or companies like Google and Amazon who mostly look into ways of selling you more stuff?

Where are the positive views of the future, the utopias that contrast the doom & gloom that seem to be on people's mind?

When was the last time you read an article that painted a hopeful picture of the next 10, 20, 50 years?

Have we become so small minded that we lost the will to dream big?

Or is that still out there, and I'm just overlooking it?

[MadImmortalMan]

Trump kinda talked about this in his inauguration speech.

Finally, we must think big and dream even bigger.

One thing I think is instructive is the popularity of TV, games and movies with a post-apocalyptic setting. Why are people so drawn to Walking Dead, Fallout, Attack on Titan, etc? I think it's because they like to fantasize about the heavy weight of the rules of society being gone, even if that means they would be incredibly unsafe.

In some ways, the pessimism is actually wishful thinking.

[Syt]

I think the popular entertainment of an era is always pretty illuminating.

The post apocalypse was somewhat popular in the 80s, too, under the shadow of potential nuclear war.

I see several strands at the moment:
- Cynicism. Instead of an idealized version of life, shows often go gritty, detailing the lives and actions of less than savory characters - Sopranos, Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Game of Thrones spring to mind.
- Escapism. It feels like there's more alternate worlds in mainstream media - Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, superheroes, Star Wars and Star Trek being back in force, the popularity of the LotR movies, or the brief hype around Avatar, Transformers, Pacific Rim, Edge of Tomorrow, and countless more. I remember a time when a major sci-fi/fantasy movie coming to the theater was a rare thing. The digital revolution surely helped.
- Nostalgia. Reigns big, esp. at the movies - reboots, remakes, decades late sequels, and appropriating almost any IP of the last 30 or 40 years for a big screen adaptation (with varying success), if it harkens back to "happier times."

[mongers]

Maybe it's nostalgia, maybe it's time messing with memories.

But I seem to recall that there used to be more of a long view in public discourse. Be it plans for colonizing the moon or space tourism, maglev trains, international integration, technology, societal changes ...

... who does that anymore, besides excentrics like Elon Musk (or Tim ) that often get laughed at, or companies like Google and Amazon who mostly look into ways of selling you more stuff?

Where are the positive views of the future, the utopias that contrast the doom & gloom that seem to be on people's mind?

When was the last time you read an article that painted a hopeful picture of the next 10, 20, 50 years?

Have we become so small minded that we lost the will to dream big?

Or is that still out there, and I'm just overlooking it?

Don't worry Syt, over the next few years I will be expounding on my vision for a better future. 

[DGuller]

I guess it's related to the paradox that despite the fact that things are better than they ever were before, too many people perceive the whole world crashing down on them.

[Capetan Mihali]

Why is there the assumption that the world is "better" than ever before?  Because more diseases can be cured and those who can afford the medication/treatment can add more years to the end of their lives?  Because more people have more consumer goods than ever?  What are the criteria?

Because there other criteria that point to things being worse for a lot of people.  Loss of traditions and the richness of community life, increasing instability and uncertainty about life prospects, the creation of new desires that go unsatisfied, an overabundance of choices in rich countries, new forms of communication actually producing more social isolation, etc.

[garbon]

Why is there the assumption that the world is "better" than ever before?  Because more diseases can be cured and those who can afford the medication/treatment can add more years to the end of their lives?  Because more people have more consumer goods than ever?  What are the criteria?

Because there other criteria that point to things being worse for a lot of people.  Loss of traditions and the richness of community life, increasing instability and uncertainty about life prospects, the creation of new desires that go unsatisfied, an overabundance of choices in rich countries, new forms of communication actually producing more social isolation, etc.

[crazy canuck]

Why is there the assumption that the world is "better" than ever before?  Because more diseases can be cured and those who can afford the medication/treatment can add more years to the end of their lives?  Because more people have more consumer goods than ever?  What are the criteria?

Because there other criteria that point to things being worse for a lot of people.  Loss of traditions and the richness of community life, increasing instability and uncertainty about life prospects, the creation of new desires that go unsatisfied, an overabundance of choices in rich countries, new forms of communication actually producing more social isolation, etc.

The world is better than before because, on average, people have enough food and economic security to worry about having an overabundance of choice 

[Capetan Mihali]

Why is there the assumption that the world is "better" than ever before?  Because more diseases can be cured and those who can afford the medication/treatment can add more years to the end of their lives?  Because more people have more consumer goods than ever?  What are the criteria?

Because there other criteria that point to things being worse for a lot of people.  Loss of traditions and the richness of community life, increasing instability and uncertainty about life prospects, the creation of new desires that go unsatisfied, an overabundance of choices in rich countries, new forms of communication actually producing more social isolation, etc.

[Monoriu]

I remember that technological advancement used to be portrayed in a much more positive light when I was a kid.  I was promised things like robotic workers, hovercars, colonisation of the moon/Mars, mechas etc in the near future, and those would be fantastic.  The fear that robots would replace human workers was an afterthought.  Now that we are on the verge of getting driverless cars, the first thing everybody mentions is unemployment.  Not safer roads, fewer accidents and deaths.

[garbon]

Why is there the assumption that the world is "better" than ever before?  Because more diseases can be cured and those who can afford the medication/treatment can add more years to the end of their lives?  Because more people have more consumer goods than ever?  What are the criteria?

Because there other criteria that point to things being worse for a lot of people.  Loss of traditions and the richness of community life, increasing instability and uncertainty about life prospects, the creation of new desires that go unsatisfied, an overabundance of choices in rich countries, new forms of communication actually producing more social isolation, etc.

Seems like you had some points that could be arguable but I don't see how that one could be.  I think CC said it well.

[garbon]

I remember that technological advancement used to be portrayed in a much more positive light when I was a kid.  I was promised things like robotic workers, hovercars, colonisation of the moon/Mars, mechas etc in the near future, and those would be fantastic.  The fear that robots would replace human workers was an afterthought.  Now that we are on the verge of getting driverless cars, the first thing everybody mentions is unemployment.  Not safer roads, fewer accidents and deaths.

I'm not sure it is the first thing that everyone mentions but it is true that as we actually care about other people, we realize that some thought does need to put into how those displaced from jobs will cope. We really don't have any good, workable answers to that. Workable as in there is political will to implement.

[Capetan Mihali]

Why is there the assumption that the world is "better" than ever before?  Because more diseases can be cured and those who can afford the medication/treatment can add more years to the end of their lives?  Because more people have more consumer goods than ever?  What are the criteria?

Because there other criteria that point to things being worse for a lot of people.  Loss of traditions and the richness of community life, increasing instability and uncertainty about life prospects, the creation of new desires that go unsatisfied, an overabundance of choices in rich countries, new forms of communication actually producing more social isolation, etc.

The world is better than before because, on average, people have enough food and economic security to worry about having an overabundance of choice 

In a world that's never probably been more unequal, "averages" do a lot of work, don't they... Global economic and food security is still entirely unrealized.

I don't get why the overload of choice in rich countries is such a joke when we're talking about whether all our contemporary advancements have created a good quality of life.  Alvin Toffler was talking about "choice overload" back in 1970, and it's been studied seriously by psychologists for a long time.

[garbon]

Why is there the assumption that the world is "better" than ever before?  Because more diseases can be cured and those who can afford the medication/treatment can add more years to the end of their lives?  Because more people have more consumer goods than ever?  What are the criteria?

Because there other criteria that point to things being worse for a lot of people.  Loss of traditions and the richness of community life, increasing instability and uncertainty about life prospects, the creation of new desires that go unsatisfied, an overabundance of choices in rich countries, new forms of communication actually producing more social isolation, etc.

The world is better than before because, on average, people have enough food and economic security to worry about having an overabundance of choice 

In a world that's never probably been more unequal, "averages" do a lot of work, don't they... Global economic and food security is still entirely unrealized.

I don't get why the overload of choice in rich countries is such a joke when we're talking about whether all our contemporary advancements have created a good quality of life.

You seem to be doing something very odd in this post. On one hand you dismiss improvements in food and economic security as they have not been globally realized but then want to also drill in on an overabundance of choice which is only really afforded to a small segment of individuals world wide. I don't really think you can have both points.

[Capetan Mihali]

You seem to be doing something very odd in this post. On one hand you dismiss improvements in food and economic security as they have not been globally realized but then want to also drill in on an overabundance of choice which is only really afforded to a small segment of individuals world wide. I don't really think you can have both points.

I'm saying that it's not self-evident that peoples' lives are "better than ever" either in poor countries or rich countries -- clearly, the issues differ for the person depending on place and status.