As much fun as The Jetsons were on Saturday mornings in the 1960's, there was one problem that my friends kept reminding me - "how much does it all cost?".

The cartoon future is fun as long as there's no price tag. Animators can dream big when someone else pays for it.

Walt Disney was a futurist who always dreamed big and there was no limit to the cartoon future Disney's animation studio could create.

"Magic Highway U.S.A.", from 1958, is bold and entertainng. But few have the kind of bank account to finance Disney's futurevision. As my friends at school liked to ask me whenever I disagreed with their call on the future, "OK hotshot, how much money does your family have?".

Our priorities when it comes to urban design have definitely shifted to the cheap side, but look at all of the intricate architecture from previous eras.

It's possible we might shift back to something like that in the future, especially if we ever reach a post-capitalist society. Or we might end up going even cheaper until everything is made of cardboard and scotch tape.

What is a post capitalist society? Sounds like some 1984 kinda place.

@Vaporman, basically think of Star Trek where scarcity is no longer an issue. Humans have their needs met and can focus on other pursuits of betterment because they don't need to worry about affording food and shelter and currency is no longer necessary. I don't think such a world is anywhere close to happening, but it's one utopia scifi likes to aim for. 

Ahhh okay. I gotcha. 

MamboGator wrote :

@Vaporman, basically think of Star Trek where scarcity is no longer an issue. Humans have their needs met and can focus on other pursuits of betterment because they don't need to worry about affording food and shelter and currency is no longer necessary. I don't think such a world is anywhere close to happening, but it's one utopia scifi likes to aim for. 

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Exactly where Gene Roddenberry wanted his Star Trek universe placed as he pitched the idea to Desilu Studios in the 1960's. Humanity would adopt a new mindset that would see creativity and equity flourish.

But even protesting college students at Berkeley in 1964 recognized that everything has a cost and you can't ignore economics - no matter how cool the ideas on paper may seem.

eddstarr wrote :

But even protesting college students at Berkeley in 1964 recognized that everything has a cost and you can't ignore economics - no matter how cool the ideas on paper may seem.

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Definitely. Star Trek really handwaves how they got to their utopia by saying "well, we evolved past the concept of money." In reality, that's probably not going to happen--at least not in the foreseeable future well beyond any of our lifetimes. So humans need to shift priorities (or reach a level of comfort) to where they're willing to spend a lot more money on aesthetics instead of just settling for something that's functional.

Even just replacing or upgrading our existing infrastructure would be a step toward a more futuristic look. Replacing our old, dated trains and utilities with something more modern would have the side effect of making it look more modern/futuristic. But those kind of projects happen through large-scale initiatives where either a windfall government or rich benefactor invests a ton into civic uplifting. Or there could be some urgent incentive to do so, like if the existing infrastructure is literally falling apart (which it is in many places, but the government is too poor or corrupt to do anything about it). Sorta like the Cold War resulting in the "giant leap" that fast tracked the space program in order to stay ahead of the ideological enemy.

After all these years I can still hear the voices of all the people I knew back in the 1960's who kept reminding me that "utopian ideas" are nothing new. What's shocking are people who never learn the lessons that form basic human motivations. 

Born in 1921, Gene Roddenberry was schooled in the Great Depression dreams of a world were everyone held a collective value and "community wealth" was equally distributed. And those dreams were well known to Lucille Ball, head of Desilu Studios and another Great Depression survivor. Gene's pitch for Star Trek struck a cord with Lucy and it was her networking in the background that paved the way for Gene to sell Star Trek to the TV networks.

I now realize that the crush of series television production, for time and money, resulted in Roddenberry throwing every idea, no matter if he knew better, into the Star Trek mix.

Not to pick on Gene Roddenberry - science fiction has always held ideals that we should aspire to. There are many generations who dream of a better world, not unlike the Emerald City from "The Wizard of Oz" - 1939.