I mean- I always take the stance that we do have most of the stuff movies “promised,” but the thing to remember is that usually in futurist sci fi and especially cyber punk- the future sucks for most people. At best it’s tedium and the general people fade into the background. At worst it’s total misery or constant terror and fear. Regardless- it’s usually awful from our perspective. Even “utopian” sci fi like Star Trek. Most people alive today would hate living in the start trek universe if they REALLY think about it. The culture and everything else are too “enlightened” for most of us- we aren’t “evolved enough” to live comfortably in that world.
For the rest of the future stuff- usually the main characters are usually the few people who have a cool time. Usually the entire reason we are seeing a story at all is in that world the events occurring are out of the ordinary or the MC’s represent an interesting life- in which case there are people with interesting lives in the present world. Basically, if you are someone that would likely be a main character in a futuristic fiction- you are living more or less the “promised sci fi future.” If you have the money, if you do the cool things- we have that stuff. Commercial space travel, robots, flying cars and jet packs and proxy wars and high tech spying and corporate intrigue and cloning etc. it’s just- most of us don’t get that stuff, just like most of the un named background characters living daily life in the sci fi future fiction don’t. That’s why the book or film isn’t about them. They aren’t interesting. So wether you’re looking back at tales of knights and samurai or forward
to the sci fi future- it isn’t generally that their specific world or lives are so interesting, it’s that we, the ones watching and feeling that longing, are missing the thing that would make us not want to live in any world except this one. Wether it is future technology or magic powers, we might think it’s cool but we wouldn’t yearn for it generally if we felt fulfilled and entertained and safe and powerful in our own lives and world.
Absolutely. I am rather obsessed with 10th-11th century Scandinavia and England, and I'd love to visit and observe that world so I can better understand it. But I would never want to live there, and I probably would not like the people at all. I'm sure the same would be true if you plunked an 11th century early Christian Norse into our world. Mutual horror and disgust.
Agreed. It is fun to imagine the classic “person pulled from the past marveling at how cool our world is..” but how they perceive it and liking it… questionable. We already can observe this common phenomenon in the span of a single human lifetime- with generations spanning into the 20 and 21st centuries great examples because of the social and political and technological change.
How many older adults say things like: “I’d hate to grow up in <your time>.”
Even millennials were already “feeling sorry” for kids not much younger. Objectively it isn’t that this time or place is generally better or worse, it’s just that is the reality we know and generally adapted to navigate. It’s a touch more complex, the way we experience and perceive things changes tends to change at various states of development (age) and by and large the specifics change but we face the same abstract challenges and joys as almost any time.
It can make slight differences wether you are starving in 800BC or 2023AD, wether you are rich and powerful in 1498 or 1998, end of day, farmers farm and writers write. Rulers rule and warriors war. People tend towards being happy or not. Wether it is a far away place ten thousand years ago or a poverty stricken country in the modern world, people experience joy and love life and those they are close to. The wealthiest people can always do things that most people can’t even perhaps hope for, but there is always something out of reach. Even in 2023 no money can guarantee you another day with a loved one and while the rich can touch space, not even the wealthiest man can go to Mars (and live to tell the tale..) so things change but they also stay the same. Life is “season to taste” with a limited selection of ingredients, and we all tend to develop tastes for the familiar.
How many older adults say things like: “I’d hate to grow up in <your time>.”
Even millennials were already “feeling sorry” for kids not much younger. Objectively it isn’t that this time or place is generally better or worse, it’s just that is the reality we know and generally adapted to navigate. It’s a touch more complex, the way we experience and perceive things changes tends to change at various states of development (age) and by and large the specifics change but we face the same abstract challenges and joys as almost any time.