Pass the Future, please.
February 12, 2007 4:36 PM   Subscribe

Tales of Future Past* — It's been a looong Monday. Do you want to get off the planet and out of the city to a place where you can really live? Well, here's some food for thought on the way home down life's highways. First, take a break from all this depressing war talk. Then empower yourself by giving yourself some space and maybe taking off for a few days. Drive just a bit slower, turn up the volume and imagine that your mechanic will say the tranny's OK after all. Once you're in the front door, take time to get slightly wired and forget all about politics. Get recharged for tomorrow: have a nice long bath, put your mind at ease, watch Ur Fave shOw, and listen to some soothing music. Now, don't things look a lot better? [*Note the 'Start the Tour' links at the bottom of each page.]
posted by cenoxo (10 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
Cool. I am going to have to spend some time lookign at this later.
posted by blahblahblah at 4:56 PM on February 12, 2007


Pretty comprehensive, but only in his expressions of disappointment. I'm quite happy with what we've accomplished so far -- we take far too many of our innovations for granted. The "Future Past" didn't account for much environmental concern or pragmatic predictions of how conflicting peoples would interact; we are dealing with both right now.

I'd guess that the disappointment stems more from a lack of foresight in addition to a vision that is simply too idealistic (and that really lack reason).
posted by spiderskull at 5:01 PM on February 12, 2007


Niiiiiiiice post.
Good job.
posted by squidfartz at 5:11 PM on February 12, 2007


spiderskull, TOFP is retro-futuristic escapist fare. Monday's almost over: enjoy a nibble or two.
posted by cenoxo at 5:32 PM on February 12, 2007


I think we need this sort of naive balls out imagination. Excellent post.
posted by tkchrist at 6:02 PM on February 12, 2007


"The fact is, science fiction and popular science had set the bar so high that only the Second Coming with ray guns would have satisfied."

Let's all just savor that for a second.

"...Second Coming with ray guns..."

Awww yeah, baby.
posted by lekvar at 6:25 PM on February 12, 2007


I was momentarily confused as to why my mechanic would have anything to say about transsexuals.
posted by Target Practice at 6:32 PM on February 12, 2007


I’m currently reading The Sheep Look Up, John Brunners sequel to Stand On Zanzibar, and it’s a cracking read – tense, short segments build a picture of a world on the brink of destruction from overpopulation.

It was written in 1972 and set, I think, in the late 80s, though some of it seems very contemporary.

One thing that doesn’t stand up now is a scene in which an SST overflying Denver sets off an avalanche…

Of course we never got the SST, Boeing rather smartly gave up on the idea and sniggered as Concorde screwed itself into the ground financially. It’s a pity in a way, because it looked like a really cool plane.

And now we’re facing a future where predicting snow on mountains in Denver is a dicey proposition…
posted by Artw at 3:51 PM on February 13, 2007


Why do FPP's have to be so damn cryptic? Can't anyone just tell me what the hell the cool site they saw is all about?

Nice post, great site. Sorry about the snark.
posted by bluejayk at 3:32 AM on February 15, 2007


Most FPP's (including mine) are pretty straightforward: I just wanted to try something a little different. My apologies for any confusion.
posted by cenoxo at 1:34 AM on February 18, 2007


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