I was referring to decades-past "artist's rendition" pictures depicting the future. Scenes of dramatic rocket launches and moon hotels, exotic-looking personal

I was referring to decades-past "artist's rendition" pictures depicting the future. Scenes of dramatic rocket launches and moon hotels, exotic-looking personal vehicles, surreal attire, and sporadic inclusion of alien life forms. You're making my point. Your mother is simply alive. Your MiL sees like anyone else might. Cars are kinda ugly, but in a character-less way instead of "OMG that's butt-ugly", and simply travel farther and kill fewer people. The reality of being in the "future" is that it's not visually a dramatic difference ... yet it is dramatically "futuristic" precisely because percentage-wise more people are leading normal lives, living on the Moon isn't interesting to most, and instant access to the near-sum-total of human knowledge just means more porn & cat pictures to amuse oneself with.