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We can't really imagine the distant future because we are very biased about the past and present. And we also can't account for developments that are entirely n
by close04 6y ago
We can't really imagine the distant future because we are very biased about the past and present. And we also can't account for developments that are entirely new.
People always imagined the future full of flying cars because cars and planes were the big thing so the combination must also be big. But nobody really imagined "social networks" 100 years ago, which are way bigger now than flying cars. They had no indication that this could possibly be a thing, at least not in their current form. We imagined/had forums and all sorts of communities but not really close to the current idea of social media.
- goto11 6y agoScience-fiction tend to underestimate social changes compared to technological changes. The classic example is Asimov where we have an intergalactic empire thousands of years in the future but with gender roles stuck in the 1950's. Videophones are everywhere in SF, but who predicted people would prefer text messaging with emojis? Smartphones and climate change crisis was predicted many times, but who predicted transsexual rights would become a divisive political issue in the US?
- close04 6y agoSciFi creators are also bound by the fact that their creations must be commercial successes. Touching on sensitive social topics can get in the way of that and it's the best way to get a lynch mob at their door. So even if one could have predicted in the '30s anything related to race and gender-related emancipation they would have been buried along with their work. Fancy futuristic tech? Yes, please! Radical social reform ideas? Solid nope.
- SomeoneFromCA 6y agoThat what I said. But at least, by not giving you fantasies a free reign, you can be a bit closer to the reality.