I love old sci-fi
-
Now recontextualize this using modern sci-fi that looks toward multiple centuries from now. Star Trek's egalitarian socialist utopia would never come to pass and the most likely future is that of Frank Herbert's Dune, where nearly 8,000 years from now we have a galactic feudal society where the ultra wealthy fight for control over limited resources while using religion to manipulate the poor into being their cannon fodder.
Foundation is also a sort of techno feudal society.
-
Our phones are just screens wirelessly attached to computers the size of buildings now. If Altman and Nvidia get their way data centers be the size of sport stadiums by next year.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Hey, my phone can do a lot just being the size of a phone. Running games, reading, voice synthesis and recognition, image and text generation, etc
-
People are confusing optimism with naiveté. The old sci-fi assumed the rate of progress with be constant or even accelerate. They saw people got to space and moon in what? 20 years? So they thought we will get to Mars by the end of century and beyond our solar system some time after that. They didn't predict the end of Cold War and massive disinvestment from space exploration. But there were plenty of pessimistic takes on the future. In Bladerunner all the animals are dead, in Alien everything is run by evil corporations, in Battlestar Galactica everyone dies, in Star Wars whole worlds are destroyed, apocalyptic visions are common. Getting the dates wrong is not the same as being optimistic.
The old sci-fi assumed the rate of progress with be constant or even accelerate.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Meanwhile, Asimov: We'll have robots that will help us accomplish crazy shit but stupid zealots will keep whining about it and holding them back
This is in no way relevant to anything that's happening today.
-
People are confusing optimism with naiveté. The old sci-fi assumed the rate of progress with be constant or even accelerate. They saw people got to space and moon in what? 20 years? So they thought we will get to Mars by the end of century and beyond our solar system some time after that. They didn't predict the end of Cold War and massive disinvestment from space exploration. But there were plenty of pessimistic takes on the future. In Bladerunner all the animals are dead, in Alien everything is run by evil corporations, in Battlestar Galactica everyone dies, in Star Wars whole worlds are destroyed, apocalyptic visions are common. Getting the dates wrong is not the same as being optimistic.
never watched the original series but if you're talking about the reimagined series BSG technically doesn't belong in the list. don't want to spoil why.
-
This post did not contain any content.
as a kid i was so convinced, near the end of 90s i thought "maybe there are huge advancements made but they're saving it for the year 2000 so it'll be bombastic like people have expected."
instead we got fucking segway lol
-
never watched the original series but if you're talking about the reimagined series BSG technically doesn't belong in the list. don't want to spoil why.
I also never watched original BSG but I assumed the part about aliens blowing up everything and the war with robots in general was still there.
-
I also never watched original BSG but I assumed the part about aliens blowing up everything and the war with robots in general was still there.
wrote last edited by [email protected]yeah but that's not the relevant part. the list is about pessimistic takes on the future.
also star wars takes place a long time ago so technically that doesn't belong either
-
What about SNW?
The vibe I'm getting is "we're eager and optimistic, but also, things get bad, the larger landscape is kinda bad and we are trying to hold straight faces?"
It feels very 2020s.
I haven't seen SNW, from what I've seen(clips/reviews) it's probably the most spirited successor to fit todays viewers.
-
Meanwhile, Asimov: We'll have robots that will help us accomplish crazy shit but stupid zealots will keep whining about it and holding them back
This is in no way relevant to anything that's happening today.
wrote last edited by [email protected]now take that and replace "robots" with "shareholders". perspective of every single big shareholder today.
-
yeah but that's not the relevant part. the list is about pessimistic takes on the future.
also star wars takes place a long time ago so technically that doesn't belong either
I think that global war with machines and death of most of the population is quite a pessimistic take on the future.
-
I think that global war with machines and death of most of the population is quite a pessimistic take on the future.
did you not watch the finale?
-
did you not watch the finale?
I don't know what you're getting at. It was a show about war. It was grim. It's not a optimistic take on the future. I don't care if it had happy ending or if technically it was set in the past.
-
People are confusing optimism with naiveté. The old sci-fi assumed the rate of progress with be constant or even accelerate. They saw people got to space and moon in what? 20 years? So they thought we will get to Mars by the end of century and beyond our solar system some time after that. They didn't predict the end of Cold War and massive disinvestment from space exploration. But there were plenty of pessimistic takes on the future. In Bladerunner all the animals are dead, in Alien everything is run by evil corporations, in Battlestar Galactica everyone dies, in Star Wars whole worlds are destroyed, apocalyptic visions are common. Getting the dates wrong is not the same as being optimistic.
Old sci-fi assumed progress in the physical world, of endless progress in speed or materials.
Instead we got near endless progress in the processing of information while we live in houses made of trees, drive cars on rubber tires, and eat animals. Much like before. Sure, we have jets, but even they work pretty much the same way as 50 years ago. Incremental progress, sure, but no warp drive, eh?
-
This post did not contain any content.
I used to wonder if I would ever walk on the moon or Mars during my lifetime when I was a kid. I miss that
-
I don't know what you're getting at. It was a show about war. It was grim. It's not a optimistic take on the future. I don't care if it had happy ending or if technically it was set in the past.
wrote last edited by [email protected]spoiler alert
it's not that it's an optimistic take on the future, it's that it's not a take on the future at all.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Lost in space took place in 1999!
-
as a kid i was so convinced, near the end of 90s i thought "maybe there are huge advancements made but they're saving it for the year 2000 so it'll be bombastic like people have expected."
instead we got fucking segway lol
If there is anything about the 90s that I always found fun is just how everyone and everything anticipated the year 2000.
-
spoiler alert
it's not that it's an optimistic take on the future, it's that it's not a take on the future at all.
It is. It's about people fighting a war in space. Saying that it happened "long time ago" in a different galaxy or in alternative reality doesn't make it a historical drama.
-
Me too. My dream home would be inspired by Forbidden Planet
idk how rich you are
But I will need to live this life in my dreams at night for the rest of my life
