Friday, August 10, 2007

Sincerity and the Paleo-Future

The Summer 2007 issue of The Wilson Quarterly contains a small blurb about paleo-futurism. You may even recognize the name of a certain paleo-futurist blogger. An excerpt appears below.

Cars still don't fly, the moon remains uninhabited, and at home there's no robot doing the laundry. What happened to the future? To find it, bloggers and sci-fi buffs alike are flocking to websites that explore the paleofuture - "the future that never was." Matt Novak, the man behind paleo-future.blogspot.com, says that in today's cynical age, people crave the sincere and hopeful dreams of yesteryear.


Just to clarify, while we may long for sincerity in a world where sarcasm is the norm, I would rather be around today than at any other time in history. Too often we become nostalgic for a time that never existed. While the world is by no means perfect and there is plenty to do in making it a better place to live, most of us live longer and more comfortably than our great-grandparents did.

This could very well be the naiveté of a recent college graduate, but I feel writing this blog has exposed me to the fact that doomsday prophets are almost always wrong. And I like those odds.

Those of us who love studying history must occasionally take a breath and remember that tomorrow is the only thing we can truly change. So . . . what are you doing tomorrow?

See also:
Article for MungBeing

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Almost" always wrong? When has a doomsday prophet been right? Or did I take a leak during a commercial break and miss the Apocalypse? ; )

Mark Plus said...

The empirical evidence in Iraq supports the doomsayers who predicted that Bush's conquest would turn out badly.

And I've heard warnings for months now that the subprime mortgage situation would blow up and cause panic in the world's financial markets (still ongoing).

Anonymous said...

"I would rather be around today than at any other time in history. "

So true! I honestly believe that the future historians will say that the most important event of 2001 was the entry of China into the World Trade Organization.