I've been seeing a lot of Back to the Future fans posting silly fashions from the sequel movie, which was set in 2015. Have faith, you Sci-Fi believers. It's only a phase. In 2019, the restoration comes.
I always enjoy coming to the year a favorite scifi story was set in, and seeing what predictions the author got wrong and right. When I first saw "Blade Runner," I thought the advances in genetic engineering were too ambitious for 25-30 years in the future. They probably were, but I'm no longer sure they're all so wildly off by the calendar; I guess we'll see in four years. On the other hand, I don't think we'll have colonized a lot of off-worlds by 2019, or have a lot of private air-cars whizzing around between city buildings.
Great movie, though. It's time I watched it again.
Having lived in the same neighborhood my whole life, I'm starting to understand the pace of change on a societal and cultural level better. The futurists often forget that it looks like pretty fast and revolutionary change when you look back at the highlights, but it's really a slower pace than we would like to believe. In the 1980s, what was seen as 2019 would probably be more like 2119, and likely not as bad- we (as a people) tend to focus on the negatives and scary things- giving them greater weight than they deserve. Overpopulation (part of what the scene of Bladerunner was about) is one of those fears.
I always enjoy coming to the year a favorite scifi story was set in, and seeing what predictions the author got wrong and right. When I first saw "Blade Runner," I thought the advances in genetic engineering were too ambitious for 25-30 years in the future. They probably were, but I'm no longer sure they're all so wildly off by the calendar; I guess we'll see in four years. On the other hand, I don't think we'll have colonized a lot of off-worlds by 2019, or have a lot of private air-cars whizzing around between city buildings.
ReplyDeleteGreat movie, though. It's time I watched it again.
Having lived in the same neighborhood my whole life, I'm starting to understand the pace of change on a societal and cultural level better. The futurists often forget that it looks like pretty fast and revolutionary change when you look back at the highlights, but it's really a slower pace than we would like to believe. In the 1980s, what was seen as 2019 would probably be more like 2119, and likely not as bad- we (as a people) tend to focus on the negatives and scary things- giving them greater weight than they deserve. Overpopulation (part of what the scene of Bladerunner was about) is one of those fears.
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