As a child in Colorado, my view of the 21st century was shaped by what I saw in the movies and on television. I saw some of the old Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials and my favorite at the time- Jet Jackson, Flying Commando. Jet Jackson was actually Captain Midnight with a different title and sound dubbed. His sidekick, Ichabod Mudd (with 2ds) was the same in both incarnations.
Then, of course there was Forbidden Planet, a big budget Hollywood movie that I remember seeing at the drive in.
Forbidden Planet introduced us to Robby the Robot and futuristic flying machines and space travel. Alas the special effects were in their infancy and it would be years until things got really interesting.
It wasn't until the TV show The Jetsons that real speculation about life in the future would be seriously imagined.
As you can see, we are light years away from the Jetsons' flying car and Orbit City. George worked a two hour workweek and complained about being overworked. Interplanetary travel? Tesla is working on it. Robotic maids? We are making great strides in robotics. Much of what the Jetsons predicted is on its way.
Flat-screen televisions and tanning beds were predicted by the Jetsons. The show was canceled after 24 episodes because there were not enough color televisions in homes. Only 3% of homes had color televisions at the time. We did not get one until the first time the Oakland Raiders made the Super Bowl (1967).
Science fiction literature and Star Trek and Star Wars became prime predictors of future life. Not surprisingly, Star Wars and Star Trek focused on military technology. Our war machine is very efficient and we have kept it very busy. Lasers, satellites, and cloaking have all advanced.
Technology these days is about what I expected it to be. We are geeks at heart, I suspect. Rather than active physical play, kids gravitate to the latest technology. Texting has largely replaced conversation as a means of communication. Interpersonal communication and conversational skills are severely lacking in my opinion. Nearly half of our population chose to support the verbal flatulence and belicose ramblings of an amoral, pathological liar. Our interpersonal discourse is at the lowest levels in recent memory. I most definitely expected better of us. I do not see the divisions in our society going away any time soon. Ayn Rand would be delighted at the degree of selfishness rampant in our selfish society. And yet, we see random acts of kindness regularly. So maybe there is hope for us yet. Only time will tell.
That is my quick take on Conrad's suggested topic. Be sure to check what my compatriots Conrad and Ramana have to say on their blogs.
I'll see ya next week, same bat time and same bat channel.
As usual, we are in synch but you can see two different kids with overlapping interests coupled with distinct differences. Anyone who met the two of us as adults would probably not be surprised by the boys that emerge.
ReplyDeleteI think we could have been buddies back then.
as easily as me manage that now, I heartily agree
DeleteBoth you and Conrad had different boyhoods than what I had. I did not have access to the kind of material / media that you had and so my world view was influenced by my economic and social conditions of the then India. My take on the topic is therefore vastly different but realistic for many of my generation Indians.
ReplyDeleteYour background is infinitely more spiritual than mine and our cowboy history continues to bite us in the derrière today
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