… If you showed them how wrong most of their predictions were?
I’m a big fan of Retro-Futurism (and if you’re even slightly interested in it then you should definitely check out the most excellent Tales of Future Past), and I’ve been wondering lately how all the Futurists back in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s would react if someone from 2008 went back in time and showed them how things actually turned out- ie, we wear the same clothes as they did back then (more or less), we don’t have flying cars, computers are small enough to be carried in your pocket, and videophones have been around for years but no-one uses them.
I’m not talking about people who were alive in that era looking back now and saying “It’s funny we never got around to Robot Butlers; the March 1954 issue of Plausible Science seemed convinced we’d all have a Rosie The Robot of our very own by 1967 at the latest”, but more if there was a room full of Futurists, Sci-Fi Writers, Scientists, and Other People Who Looked To The Future in, say, 1958 (maybe they’re having a conference in or something?) and someone from 2008 showed up and was able to say “Err, no, actually” to the representative from Pan Am as he is making his sales pitch for Flights to the Moon (starting 1972) on the latest fleet of Pan Am Clippers…
Let’s also presume that our time-traveller is able to successfully convince the delegates at this conference that he (or she) really is from 2008, and has the necessary proof to back this up and show them how the world actually turns out in 50 years time, so we can avoid that side-track if possible.
Personally, I’m inclined to think they’d be astounded at how things they were so confident would become commonplace just never really did (“Sure, we’ve been to the moon a couple of times, but it’s expensive and there’s bugger all there. No, we’re still working on Mars, but rather a lot of people have pointed out we can explore the Outback of Australia for much less money and get similar photos without having to send spacecraft millions of miles across the solar system”) or how things they never really foresaw become part of everyday life, and in unexpected ways (“Computers are really small and most people have at least one; and they’re all connected to this thing called the Internet which has all the knowledge of the world on it, yet is most commonly used to look up pornographic images and/or post pictures of cats with amusing captions, or argue over the existence of UFOs or who really shot JF… sorry, forget I said that last part.”)
On the other hand, they may simply say “Pffft! Just you wait! We’ll build a bigger and better future! With gleaming aluminium and hovercars and Lunar whaling expeditions*! Just you wait and see! BUWAHAHAHAHAHA!”
What do you reckon?
*And Lunar Theme Parks, with Blackjack, and Hookers! And forget the Theme Park!
