# Future Classics - What's on your lists?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-classics-whats-on-your-lists/333245>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 29, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-classics-whats-on-your-lists/333245 "2005-11-29T18:54:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-classics-whats-on-your-lists/333245/21 "2005-11-30T20:20:53Z")

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“Star Trek”

Not so much as clearly remembered entities, but as a whole. I think a savvy entertainment fan (holovision?) of 2105 might be able to say “Oh that old thing with Kirk, Spock, Bones, the bald guy and the android” or “Beam me up, Scotty,” but will remember little if anything else about the franchise.

I think a reasonable test of time is about forty to fifty years. So, the things that we as a whole easily remember or are instantly aware of from 1950 or before will still be remembered after one hundred years.

Sir Rhosis

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2005, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-classics-whats-on-your-lists/333245/22 "2005-11-30T23:02:14Z")

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Perhaps we should distinguish “classics” that people know about in a general way, as cultural icons or memes in the collective unconscious, from “classics” that people actually read. Everybody in the English-speaking world today is generally aware of the story of Robinson Crusoe, but few have read Defoe’s novel.

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