# Lost Futures **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 18, 2007, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123 "2007-10-18T01:26:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/81 "2007-10-24T10:54:56Z")
Regarding a couple already mentioned? Wasn’t “Wild Palms” set in 2013? I remember a scene in which all the material relating to JFK’s assassination has been unsealed after 50 years and Oliver Stone is completely vindicated. _Soylent Green_ was set in 2022 (and it’s coming true). People tend to miss the scary scene in that movie; it’s not related to processing people into food, but is a calm meeting of a number of aging scientists and academics, who have completed a study proving that the oceans are irreparably damaged and dying, which pretty much dooms the human race. I think the 1955 movie _Conquest of Space_ was set before now. Damnit, I want my Chesley Bonestell rocketship. The recent movie _The Final Cut_ is unusual in that it’s set in some imagined future of indeterminate date, when the cars look like 1965 and the advanced computers have wooden keyboards. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/82 "2007-10-24T13:14:48Z")
If you have gamers as well, you could point out that if [Shadowrun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun_timeline) were correct, megacorps would have taken over North America, an earthquake would have destroyed most of New York, and the Japanese Imperial State would have been revived by now. Oh, and remains of life on Mars were discovered secretly, so no one noticed. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/83 "2007-10-24T15:10:32Z")
[_Gattaca_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca) (1997) was set in an unspecified “not-too-distant future,” so we can’t say it’s a “lost future” as yet – but its vision is interesting. In the future, astronauts will fly in business suits! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/84 "2007-10-24T15:21:29Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] I think the 1955 movie _Conquest of Space_ was set before now. Damnit, I want my Chesley Bonestell rocketship. [/QUOTE] Will you settle for some cool [stills](http://davidszondy.com/future/conquest/conquest.htm)? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/85 "2007-10-24T17:50:29Z")
[QUOTE=xnylder] If you have gamers as well, you could point out that if [Shadowrun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun_timeline) were correct, megacorps would have taken over North America, an earthquake would have destroyed most of New York, and the Japanese Imperial State would have been revived by now. [/QUOTE] Things are a lot better right now than **Twilight 2000** predicted. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2007, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/86 "2007-10-24T21:53:34Z")
[QUOTE=Tapiotar] I hope you have a decade by decade display of death rays. [/QUOTE] I just want to second this idea. Perhaps the largest panel could be on the decade when death rays reached their design and style zenith. Which decade was that? I keep forgetting. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/87 "2007-11-05T04:18:12Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Will you settle for some cool [stills](http://davidszondy.com/future/conquest/conquest.htm)? [/QUOTE] The stills were good, but that site was terrific! ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/88 "2007-11-05T05:36:52Z")
[QUOTE=Czarcasm] Somehow I managed to end up as co-chair of a science fiction convention here in Oregon, and the theme I’ve come up with is _Futures Lost_-a look at books, movies and television shows that taken place in a future time that we’ve bypassed(_Space: 1999_, _2001: A Space Odyssey_, _Deathrace 2000_, etc.) I’ve got three or four tracks of panels to fill, and two tracks of 24-hours-a-day videos to show, and I need ideas! [/QUOTE] More info, please. Some of us in Oregon might be interested in attending your con. Love the theme. It doesn’t sound like it’s Orycon 29, which is Nov 16-18 and whose webpage says the theme is “Pirates, past present and future.” Ambercon was Nov 1-4. Potlatch is in Seattle in early 2008, and Westercon won’t be back for at least the next two years. I’ve been to a few Orycons and the last two Portland Westercons, and enjoyed them as only an aging fanboy can. If there’s something else coming, I’d be very interested. So, here’s a legit invite to share the details with the Dope. [Note to mods: I have no financial or other connection with any con, other than that of a potential interested customer.] ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/89 "2007-11-05T06:00:47Z")
I’m co-running _next_ year’s Orycon. This year I’m in charge of Hospitality. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/90 "2007-11-05T06:20:10Z")
[QUOTE=Czarcasm] I’m co-running _next_ year’s Orycon. This year I’m in charge of Hospitality. [/QUOTE] _opens mouth_ _thinks twice_ _shuts mouth_ 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/91 "2007-11-05T06:24:31Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] _opens mouth_ _thinks twice_ _shuts mouth_ 😉 [/QUOTE] No soup for you! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/92 "2007-11-05T07:00:16Z")
[QUOTE=Tristan] 1984: A look back on the dystopian futures of the past, and their real life counterpart. [/QUOTE] I was a senior in high school in 1984 and I remember a Peanuts cartoon during New Year’s week lamenting the fact that there were going to be so many book reports and so many journalists falling over themselves to make 1984 analogies in the next few months. Dig it up and it might be an interesting display for the conference. LAUGH-IN used to have a News of the Future segment. I remember that Dan Rowan referred to President Ronald Reagan (this from about 1970 with the news being from the 1990s) and the audience laughed. Big Boy restaurants had comic books set in the year 2000 with $20 trips to the moon. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/93 "2007-11-05T15:14:33Z")
[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad] Things are a lot better right now than **Twilight 2000** predicted. [/QUOTE] Or **The Morrow Project** predicted, either. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/94 "2007-11-05T16:28:19Z")
I recall a skit from the original-cast _Saturday Night Live:_ “Jeopardy 2001.” Can anybody find an online link to it? My google-fu is not strong today. The only joke I remember is: “Legalized in 1994, it provided an effective solution to population growth.” BZZZ! “What is baby-killing?” Oh, and there was something about every contestant receiving a rhesus monkey torture kit. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/95 "2007-11-06T03:10:11Z")
[QUOTE=Czarcasm] I’m co-running _next_ year’s Orycon. This year I’m in charge of Hospitality. [/QUOTE] Aha! I should have known. If I’m able to make it this year, I will buy the Hospitality Chair a drink (Og knows he will probably need one) [Link to this year’s Orycon site](http://www.orycon.org/orycon29/) ---
**Author:** ![zensunni\_wanderer42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d9b06d/32.png) [@zensunni\_wanderer42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zensunni_wanderer42)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/96 "2008-01-12T08:37:56Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Heilein’s **The Door into Summer** was written in the fifties, starts in the seventies and ends in 2000, and differs quite a bit from the reality. Our robots are still more primitive, we lack antigravity, no zombie drugs, and history in general is different. And of course we still don’t have suspended animation now, much less in the 70’s. [/QUOTE] I was going to suggest this one too. It is one of my favorites! (I wouldn’t be too sure about the zombie drugs though…) The big missing item is, of course, time travel! But the other thing that this book is notable for is the number of things that we HAVE now that we didn’t when it was written, such as CAD and word processors, vacuum cleaners that wander around and vacuum the room for you, even automatic cat litter pans! My college adviser read this in 1970 (when it was “all the rage”) and thought it a good story. In the mid 80s when I was in college, he had re-read it and was floored by how many things that it mentions occurred between 1970 and 1984! I last re-read it in the year 2000, of course… Marty in Central Illinois - The Land of Corn and Flatness! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/97 "2008-01-12T13:40:30Z")
[QUOTE=zensunni\_wanderer42] I was going to suggest this one too. It is one of my favorites! (I wouldn’t be too sure about the zombie drugs though…) The big missing item is, of course, time travel! But the other thing that this book is notable for is the number of things that we HAVE now that we didn’t when it was written, such as CAD and word processors, vacuum cleaners that wander around and vacuum the room for you, even automatic cat litter pans! My college adviser read this in 1970 (when it was “all the rage”) and thought it a good story. In the mid 80s when I was in college, he had re-read it and was floored by how many things that it mentions occurred between 1970 and 1984! I last re-read it in the year 2000, of course… Marty in Central Illinois - The Land of Corn and Flatness! [/QUOTE] I remember all those cartoons that showed “the house of the future” with the auto-vacuum that zipped around and sucked everything up, including the cat. Thanks for reminding me-I think I’ll dig up a few of those and show them during one of the panels. ---
**Author:** ![Othar\_the\_Tooth\_Collector](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Othar\_the\_Tooth\_Collector](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othar_the_Tooth_Collector)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/98 "2008-01-12T19:54:23Z")
The early Larry Niven stories set in his “Known Space” future history have mankind exploring the solar system in atomic spaceships in the 1980s. Instead of going back and changing the timeline, he’s made the decision that the Known Space stories are set in an alternate history where more resources were put into the space program. ---
**Author:** ![Othar\_the\_Tooth\_Collector](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Othar\_the\_Tooth\_Collector](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othar_the_Tooth_Collector)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/99 "2008-01-12T19:57:54Z")
Forgot to add, in 1999 an explosion of nuclear waste stored on the moon knocked it out of it’s orbit and the people living in the moonbase had many strange adventures (Space: 1999). In 1994, a runaway planet tears the Moon in two, causing huge catastrophes and leading to a world dominated by mutants, super-science, and sorcery! (Thundarr the Barbarian). ---
**Author:** ![Othar\_the\_Tooth\_Collector](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Othar\_the\_Tooth\_Collector](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othar_the_Tooth_Collector)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2008, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123/100 "2008-01-12T20:01:16Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_War) doesn’t mention anything about its being a secret/unnoticed. [/QUOTE] Yes it does. > [@Wikipedia](#): > > At the time “Space Seed” was written, the Eugenics Wars were inferred to be large-scale global conflicts. However, after the very different reality of the actual 1990s, the Eugenics Wars have been retconned in some of the non-canonical Star Trek novels that describe them as much more covert conflicts, secret wars that occurred mostly in the shadows of the major conflicts and events of that decade, with Gary Seven and his assistant being Khan’s principal opponents. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-futures/423123.md?page=6)