Hart to believe that we are in the year 2020.
I recall nineteen years ago when we entered 2001 how many comparisons there were between the reality of 2001 and the fictional picture painted by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick in the motion picture 2001. Some stuff was pretty spot-on accurate, like the ipad-things Dave and Frank had on board Discovery-1. Other stuff was less so--commercial flights to the moon and to orbiting space station (which was admittedly under construction, but still). Overall, however, I remember the feeling that once 2001 had come, we were now officially living in THE FUTURE-RE-RE-RE-RE...(imagine the echo effect: that's what I'm trying to type out).
Now that we're in 2020, the disappointment is firmly entrenched. The disparity between where we are now and where we thought we'd be by this time is so great that it's hard to be optimistic at all. I suppose that may be why we don't get a whole lot of utopian sci-fi much anymore: it's all dystopian and bleak and dark and that overused word, "gritty." Hell, even the gleaming chrome of the original Star Trek (and even the bright optimism of the revival series, Star Trek the Next Generation) is tarnished and grim. Maybe sci-fi has just "grown up" from the so-called Golden Age, but it somehow seems more than that.
Optimism seems to have become passe, naive, even downright dangerous. I mean, honestly--who can look at where America and the world is and think that we're on the brink of some bright, utopian future? I imagine most of us feel like we'd be content to just stop sliding into darkness for a short time.
Ah, well. I didn't mean for 2020 to start out so glum--but there's no point in ignoring the reality. So let's try to work through it as best we can and strive for a future we can all imagine.
Be seeing you!
I recall nineteen years ago when we entered 2001 how many comparisons there were between the reality of 2001 and the fictional picture painted by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick in the motion picture 2001. Some stuff was pretty spot-on accurate, like the ipad-things Dave and Frank had on board Discovery-1. Other stuff was less so--commercial flights to the moon and to orbiting space station (which was admittedly under construction, but still). Overall, however, I remember the feeling that once 2001 had come, we were now officially living in THE FUTURE-RE-RE-RE-RE...(imagine the echo effect: that's what I'm trying to type out).
Now that we're in 2020, the disappointment is firmly entrenched. The disparity between where we are now and where we thought we'd be by this time is so great that it's hard to be optimistic at all. I suppose that may be why we don't get a whole lot of utopian sci-fi much anymore: it's all dystopian and bleak and dark and that overused word, "gritty." Hell, even the gleaming chrome of the original Star Trek (and even the bright optimism of the revival series, Star Trek the Next Generation) is tarnished and grim. Maybe sci-fi has just "grown up" from the so-called Golden Age, but it somehow seems more than that.
Optimism seems to have become passe, naive, even downright dangerous. I mean, honestly--who can look at where America and the world is and think that we're on the brink of some bright, utopian future? I imagine most of us feel like we'd be content to just stop sliding into darkness for a short time.
Ah, well. I didn't mean for 2020 to start out so glum--but there's no point in ignoring the reality. So let's try to work through it as best we can and strive for a future we can all imagine.
Be seeing you!
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