We live in the futuere.

Judging by Mr. Obama’s call on Keystone XL, and kindred energy calls, the great age of capitalist accomplishment in the New World appears to be coming to a close. Exhausted by political gridlock, bureaucratic regulation and progressive populism (which gives everyone a veto on everything), the U.S. seems incapable of imagining, or doing, heroic things. Big business is widely regarded as a criminal enterprise, profits as the proceeds of crime and shareholders as co-conspirators. Sic transit gloria.

Let the Empire State Building serve as an iconic reminder of the America that once was. It was 1930. The architect produced the design plans in two weeks – and 3,400 workers built the world’s highest skyscraper in 410 days. Government didn’t get involved until it cut the ribbon. It would take a decade to complete a comparable project today – as the World Trade Center site attests. Americans appear to live more and more of their lives in the Country of Can’t, in the Age of No.

Where we used to have the personal jetpacks and space station suburbs, our contemporary pop-culture futurisms overwhelmingly favour some manner of collapse of our civilization. Considering my gut reaction to this column (substantial agreement "is", polar opposite "ought"), perhaps these visions are no less utopian.


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While reading Paleo-Future it occurs to me that there are certain things that are always gotten wrong in futuristic speculation.
( In before someone quotes that bit about debunking in The Abolition of Man. )

So what must I keep in mind?
( First, that tropes are not necessarily bad, BUT. )

Just a cleaned-up version of some idle notes saved to my thumb drive when I couldn't focus on work. Still no concrete ideas at the moment, though I expect an initial glimmer by Christmas...