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Where is the future we planned?


None of the above

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I was born in 1969.

That was the year we landed on the Moon. A time of some enthusiam for the future that brought along with it some rather grand hopes and expectations.

The year 2000 was often used as the benchmark for when these 'great things' would have happened and it wasn't an uncommon expectation that by 2000 'we' (humanity) would have banished poverty, ended world hunger and famine, world peace, we'd have colonies on the moon and be reaching out to Mars. Our technology would have 'saved us', science would have found the answers we need to make the world a perfect place and we'd be cpntemplating a new age of enlightenment...

Now obvioulsy these goals were a bit ambitious, but we don't seem to have made much progress at all!

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The trip to the moon was more about politics and and race between who got there first then it was about science.

The U.S.A won and then they moved on. No one really believed that. They just said stuff like that to get the public interested to create national pride.

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The trip to the moon was more about politics and and race between who got there first then it was about science.

The U.S.A won and then they moved on. No one really believed that. They just said stuff like that to get the public interested to create national pride.

That's just not true.

Of course the moonshot was political, but the national pride and global pride in mankinds achievements was genuine and the belief in a 'great future' was certainly genuine.

As for the specific goals and hopes?

As I said a little tounge in cheek, some of these goals were somewhat ambitious, but they didn't seem impossible.

If your profile is correct then you are 15 years old.

You've never known anything but the current prevailing view of a dark and distopian future.

It wasn't always like that.

There was a time when we looked to the future with hope and expectation.

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The trip to the moon was more about politics and and race between who got there first then it was about science.

The U.S.A won and then they moved on. No one really believed that. They just said stuff like that to get the public interested to create national pride.

I guess humans make the greatest progress when faced with adversity. The cold war was in full bloom and that race to the moon was about international dominance.

If we could, as a species, devote that degree of energy and idealism to the other things mentioned in the OP I think we would have accomplished some of them by now. But human nature can never be excluded from the equation. Truth is we have little to no ability to trust and we'd rather fight than abide peacefully.

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That's just not true.

Of course the moonshot was political, but the national pride and global pride in mankinds achievements was genuine and the belief in a 'great future' was certainly genuine.

As for the specific goals and hopes?

As I said a little tounge in cheek, some of these goals were somewhat ambitious, but they didn't seem impossible.

If your profile is correct then you are 15 years old.

You've never known anything but the current prevailing view of a dark and distopian future.

It wasn't always like that.

There was a time when we looked to the future with hope and expectation.

*facepalm*

I don't even. First off you do know my current view of the people my age. No one thinks the future is bleak and distopian. Don't make that assumption. The same way I don't use your an ignorant cranky old man because your older.

And secondly they did not "seem" impossible. in 2012 we still would find it extremely difficult to colonize the moon. It was shown as "possible" to the general public for political purposes. The government is not about scientific progress. Especially the American government. The government could give a rats ass about technology unless it helps them in a war or helps them get their messages across faster. The belief was real for sure among the general public. That does not change the fact the government never had any real plans to do that.

It was a hope and and a advertisement. Not a goal.

Edited by Kazoo
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Young people only care about themselves that is a fact.

And all old people hang out in their front yards and shake their fist at children screaming "get off mah lawn!"

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*facepalm*

I don't even. First off you do know my current view of the people my age. No one thinks the future is bleak and distopian. Don't make that assumption. The same way I don't use your an ignorant cranky old man because your older.

And secondly they did not "seem" impossible. in 2012 we still would find it extremely difficult to colonize the moon. It was shown as "possible" to the general public for political purposes. The government is not about scientific progress. Especially the American government. The government could give a rats ass about technology unless it helps them in a war or helps them get their messages across faster. The belief was real for sure among the general public. That does not change the fact the government never had any real plans to do that.

It was a hope and and a advertisement. Not a goal.

Well you certainly show your age there.

I'll leave our discussion there I think.

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Well you certainly show your age there.

I'll leave our discussion there I think.

You know many people who are older then me agree with this opinion.

What do you tell them?

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And all old people hang out in their front yards and shake their fist at children screaming "get off mah lawn!"

What? Have you been run off someones lawn lately?
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Maybe the plans that we started out with haven't been made to happen since the moon landing. However there have been many achievements in other ways. Look how far the computer has come since then or medical advances, televisions, cameras, phones, spy technology, you can have your every move tracked and the ability to stick the enemy with a drone.

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What? Have you been run off someones lawn lately?

That made me laugh so hard my teeth almost came out and I nearly fell out of my rocking chair. untitled.jpg

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What? Have you been run off someones lawn lately?

Hopefully this is a joke I don't get and not you actually taking that seriously.

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Maybe the plans that we started out with haven't been made to happen since the moon landing. However there have been many achievements in other ways. Look how far the computer has come since then or medical advances, televisions, cameras, phones, spy technology, you can have your every move tracked and the ability to stick the enemy with a drone.

Yeah, that's the progress I hoped for.

Makes up for the lack of flying cars :(

Edited by Atlantia
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Hopefully this is a joke I don't get and not you actually taking that seriously.

It a joke because what you said sounded like a joke.
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Kinda amusing discussion between youth and the aged. I rather side with youth in this instance. Probably youth will always be more hopeful in the future than a cranky old man like me, for example. I think a lot of great progress in many areas of society and in the sciences have happened since 1969.

I was a hippy back during the revolutionary days and I thought that optimistic outlook would lead us to a wonderful future. It didn't quite happen they way we had it planned, but different good things happened instead, so I should be satisfied.

We can't predict the future, it seems to go its own way, good and bad.

Coincidentally, I recently wrote a short story in my blog called The Project that is related to this very subject. What a coincidence!

Edited by StarMountainKid
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Age is irrelevant in discussion unless it is used to bludgeon a point of view across by denegrating someones contribution based on their age.

I am with Atlantia here in the OP - there was a huge surge in confidence amongst many peoples in the 1960's that some of the very large advances to bring about a better world were just around the corner (so to speak). Many of them never materialised for a variety of reasons: The Military / Industrial Complex; inertia built into various Political Systems; the power of pharmaceutical companies; the radicalising of many religions; the buying up by Patent Houses of nascent innovations in turn bought up by traditionalist companies to protect their own market share (luddites) etc etc.

I remain optimistic however that things will improve, but probably not in my lifetime

"The New Richard Nixon" and "Atlantias" comments re: the age of contributors here, should just be ignored by all. IMO

Edited by keithisco
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I'm a 60's child as well. The 60's in general was a time of great optimism and idealist thinking. Strides where being made in many areas, including civil rights. So many today take those accomplishments for granted. I thought that by the year 2000 no one would notice anyone's race anymore.

Dont forget flying cars, Jetpacks, and meals in a pill - where did those go?!!!

Edited by ranrod
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Well, from my research it seems we are on the verge -- within the next year or two -- of having LENR (Low Energy Nuclear Reaction) being perfected and marketed. This will give the world very inexpensive clean energy. Energy that will drastically change the existing paradigm, and open the way for us old hippies to see our dreams come true.

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Makes up for the lack of flying cars :(

When I was a kid I wanted a flying car. Now that I'm older I realize how bloody dangerous that would be.

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Well I think that there has been a combined attack against our future and prospects..

Attacking from the left, Corporatism, and their biggest weapons are Copyright and paitents..

Attacking from the right, Bankers and money lenders.. Their biggest weapon has been illusion and slavery..

Let's face it, the only things that have stopped a great future for us all and future generations has been the Corporations and Bankers.

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Seriously though. I'm also a child of the 60's, 1963 to be exact.

When the question of "Where is the future we planned?" is asked, you just know that it was doomed to failure. The future cannot be planned.

A month or so ago, someone posted a thread about some French trading cards from 1900 depicting what life would be like in the year 2000. Most were extremely fanciful and a just few were strangely reminiscent of what life is like now.

When we were children was there anyone dreaming about mapping the human genome, 3D printers and nanotechnology? Someone could probably provide some examples from science-fiction films and books from the time, but I digress.

Before most of us who are reading this right now are dead, there will be new technologies that will emerge that we can't even conceive of, let alone find a use for, right now.

The 'dream' is not dead, it just keeps evolving.

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