X-Message-Number: 20061 From: "Mark Plus" <> Subject: Futurology's declining fortunes Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2002 17:00:27 -0700 Newsweek's Website has a collection of short articles about various futuristic ideas & possibilities, built around the theme of life in 2012: http://www.msnbc.com/news/nw-futurology_front.asp One article describes the sorry state of futurology, which arose in the heady days of Cold War power politics and rapid economic-technological progress. Today talking about futurology sounds retro, like something from an Austin Powers movie. You'd almost expect speakers at futurologists' meetings to be wearing Nehru jackets & love beads or something comparable. From: http://www.msnbc.com/news/805046.asp?0cb=-415104790 There used to be a real sense of the future in society and what we should do about it, says Michael Marien, editor of Future Survey, the monthly publication of the World Future Society. But [future studies] never developed. It never fulfilled its promise. Now we d rather spend money and have a good time in the present. Mark resumes: I've noticed this trend too. The discounting of the idea of progress has probably contributed to the general lack of interest in cryonics in particular, and real life extension in general. If you go back to read what "futurists" in the 1960's and '70's wrote about life in our time, you can find some forecasts which seem unintentionally funny now. FM-2030 (F.M. Esfandiary) certainly made his share of dated bad predictions, along with ones that seem plausibly accurate enough to pass. (I can supply some examples upon request.) You can find this pessimistic zeitgeist even in popular science fiction shows. The technology used by the crew of the latest Trek spinoff, _Enterprise_, (set in the 22nd Century as a "prequel" to the original series) doesn't seem all that reliable. They're especially distrustful of the new transporter technology. This probably reflects neurologically normal consumers' frustrations with all the recent electronics gadgets designed by Asperger's cases who think in non-hunter-gatherer ways. I'm reminded of what Rick Moranis said in _Spaceballs_: "Even in the future nothing works!" Mark Plus It's not "religious" or "science fictional" if you can do it. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20061