The Trials and Tribulations of the not-so-New Bear Icon

You know, the future hasn't been all it was cracked up to be.

I was hearing someone talk about the space race earlier today and they said, "You know, our generation was promised this, they were promised to be the first generation out in space." We'll it didn't happen.

I know, it's one of those "where are the flying cars?" kind of things, but it's true. When I was born, in the sixties, the view of the future was bright and bold and the world's problems would be solved. Wasn't there some Age of Aquarius that was supposed to happen?

We still have war, and famine, and disease. somewhere along the way the things like "The Great Society" turned into failed government policies and used by those who look more for handouts than hand up and all that claptrap. Somewhere between then and now, our society changed from thinking about the whole of mankind to just thinking about ourselves.

That space race ended when we, the Americans, won. Did we really have the vision to actually do something further than just going to the moon? After we got there, we sent a couple of other LEMs there to collect a few rocks and drive around the golf cart, then we left it for good. Space became just another place to haul cargo to, not the bold new frontier. I remember watching television wondering if I could go out and live in a space colony, turning above the earth.

Heck, we haven't even gotten to the Jetsons. Think about it, the sixties showed the future would be clean and bright. The earth would be greener (Though in the Jetsons they did have to jack up the apartments to get out of the smog below). Other visions of the future showed wondrous gadgets and TV's everywhere. We're close to that last one, but it seems soon the number of cameras is going to out number the number of monitors available.

The one thing we didn't see coming was computers and the internet. Wow what a difference. It' changed our lives more than the dawn of television changed our parents. We didn't get picture phones, but we got ICQ.

It seems that cars have changed the least. Sure, there's a larger range of sizes and shapes, but when it comes down to it, it's the same engine, just refined slightly. when you think that computers go billions of times faster than they did 40 years ago, how come a car only averages 2 or 3 times the gas milage they did back then? Now that the heat is on, it will be fascinating to see if we get some real change in the next 10-15 years as oil levels start getting scarcer.

Where's that kitchen of tomorrow? The one that delivers a fully prepared meal at the touch of a button? I've got plenty of gadgets, but I still have to pop something in the microwave for the closest to that experience. they tried to convince us we'd be eating pills for all our dietary needs, and for that we've come somewhat close, just ask Barry Bonds. Still, nothing satisfies like tearing into a good steak. Remember when Italian was and ethnic food or Chun King in a can was considered Chinese? now it's passe with more Americans eating Thai, Brazilian, and Middle easter cuisine, we've come a long way towards globalization.

We have seen revolutions in communications technology. Certainly not the things they seemed to expect, with suddenly media is in the hands of everyone. anyone can be published, or produce audio and video and have easy distribution. It's a revolution that may not do in big media, but it's definitely making them re-think how to work in this new world. where a tragedy like we saw yesterday in Minneapolis might have only been covered by journalists rushing to find eyewitnesses, now eyewitnesses can upload their own stories, pictures and video right after the event. It's become necessary to have the people become the fourth estate when they paid journalist are increasingly hampered by ratings, sponsors and corporate ownership.

The personal communications revolution has changed how we communicate to others, over long distances. Who would have thought that typing would still be a useful skill now, and that more kids type away at tiny keyboards on a cell phone than actually make calls on it. Cell Phones are the Star Trek communicators, and now they are getting closer to tricorders with the internet and news and games on them. we used to think portable TV just had a small cathode-ray tube and an antenna, but now it's a wireless connection and a color flat screen and isn't reliant on what the broadcast networks have put on the air.

Still, we haven't completely gotten rid of books, but we're getting closer to ditching music CDs. We use more oil and electricity than we did 40 years ago as there are more electronics and cars out there, but there's also more plastics and more junk.

We've had some of the dumbest, least innovative people running the country. Again, when you think that we've gotten through the civil rights mess, and tried to provide for all so many years back, why do we still have problems with inequality and poverty. why can't we at least agree to provide healthcare for every child? Why can't we work towards a better environment and better schools and better society? We've gone backwards in government as we've seen to many politicians cut corners, and reduce taxes and spending on the wrong things. Once the grand design of the interstate highway system was completed, suddenly, except for pork projects for legislators, we stopped providing proper funding to keep it up. All over the country our infrastructure is getting ready to fall apart, and no one wants to find the funding to do anything about it.

We pay politicians too much money for them to do a half-asses job where they won't make the tough calls to get things right because their campaigning for their next election more than they are actually being the people's representative. the system is broken, but the people who can fix it are the ones who would never do it.

Then it all comes back to the space program. Underfunded. Without leadership. Falling apart. The goal for people wasn't just to beat the Soviets to the moon, it was to find the future. The fifties and sixties seemed to embody the hope that it would all be there for us. All in beautiful gleaming whiteness. We never seemed closer to utopia.

Something changed. Even our views of the future got darker, dimmer. We haven't reached Blade runner or Mad Max, but we still seem tethered to this planet, and it seems to be darker and grittier each time we turn around. How do we get back there? Will a new generation stand up and try to fight for all of us, or will we keep sinking down to watching Lindsey Loahn's latest mistake and laughing?

It's been a wild ride so far, and who knows what's in store for us, but we certainly need something new. we need to give up the impediments that have sent us hurtling backwards for the last 20 or 30 years. It's time to solve things, and beat AIDS and cancer. It's time to make manufacturing more eco friendly, including the car. It's time to finally fund research into new fuels and more energy efficient gadgets. It's time to fund healthcare and social security for the next generations. It can be done, but not with this group of idiots. that goes for both government and the large corporate weasels, more concerned with bottom line and CEO pay than actually doing something for mankind.

A couple of years ago, President Bush said he wanted to send a manned mission to Mars by 2020. People laughed. It's not that the thing can't be done. Sure, there's kinks to be worked out, but we really could do it. It was the fact that it was just empty promises. It was never going to be funded. It was never going to happen. It was to try to build a new space race between the US and China. Once again, it's not about the future. The future has been sold off for a giant pissing contest.

I want the future back. The one we were promised watching Jason of Space Command and re-runs of Star Trek. It's only right.