Thoughts on Civilizations' perceptions of the Present and Future throughout history.

I am reading Carl Sagan's 1985 novel Contact because the film has long been one of my favorites and a professor I had this semester was married to him (Lynn Margulis), so I took the opportunity during some pre-summer travel to finally start reading the book. At one point it states that the Message from Vega gave people hope about the future when they otherwise tried not to think about it because it was dismal (Soviet Union cold war stuff, threat of nuclear holocaust). This got me thinking... for how long has our civilization had reservations about what the future holds? Is it even accurate to say that we don't (and haven't) held hope for the future? If it's true that we don't, how do our perceptions of what the future holds and the actual unfolding of the future into the present compare? Is the present better than the future we feared? Conversely, is it not less awesome than the other side of the coin predicts? (ie. no Jetsons future). In light of whatever conclusions we may arrive at in analyzing these questions, what do they tell us about what we can expect our future to hold? Slower technological advancement, but less doomsday stuff as well? (ie. Yesterday it was the threat of Nuclear Holocaust, today its Global Climate Change).

Were we more hopeful in the 1700s? 1800s? the 1900s with the industrial revolution? How did people feel about the present and the future in those periods? What were their concerns about the future in those centuries? What were they hopeful for? Is there a repeating pattern throughout the history of the New World? If there is such a pattern, does it extend far back in history? Were there different repeating patterns in different time periods? What, for example, were the Egyptians views on the present and future (as far as this question of optimism and fear) as compared to their reality? The ancient Greeks? Are there college courses on this topic?

Hellbent said:

Were we more hopeful in the 1700s? 1800s? the 1900s with the industrial revolution? How did people feel about the present and the future in those periods? What were their concerns about the future in those centuries?

You didn't worry about the distant future. You worried about preparing for the upcoming winter.

Technician said:

You didn't worry about the distant future. You worried about preparing for the upcoming winter.

True, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries.

There was a family guy episode where.. I think it was Peter was asked to describe something and the first thing he said was "Have you ever seen the movie Contact?" and I've been wanting to watch it ever since.

Hellbent said:

This got me thinking... for how long has our civilization had reservations about what the future holds?

I dunno, but I'm sure I've lived through at least a dozen predicted "end of the world" scenarios.

And unlike what I heard when I was a child, we are not driving flying cars around or have household robotic butlers like the Jetsons :-(

Enjay said:

I dunno, but I'm sure I've lived through at least a dozen predicted "end of the world" scenarios.

I think it's substantially more than that. Only not as prolific around the world.

kristus said:

I think it's substantially more than that. Only not as prolific around the world.

Then again, if we believe these gentlemen, the end is nigh because the world will be overrun by a bunch of inferior subhuman jew-manipulated turkoalbanians of jewish-american descent. Which IMHO is actually not too far from the truth.

Here's some predictions from the dawn of the 20th century. Some of them are pretty wacky.

Also, Carl Sagan is my hero.

Danarchy said:

Here's some predictions from the dawn of the 20th century. Some of them are pretty wacky.

Also, Carl Sagan is my hero.

Deadnail needs to get a job at that site.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Zeerust

Danarchy said:

Here's some predictions from the dawn of the 20th century. Some of them are pretty wacky.

Also, Carl Sagan is my hero.

Every time Carl comes up, I can't help but watch this video.

Cracked always manages to drop an informative/hilarious article. Carl Sagan was indeed an incredible person, and Contact was actually a pretty damn good movie.

Perceptions about the future always reflect the present. People went crazy in the 14th Century because of a combination of constant warfare, the Black Death, and the Papacy being fucking retarded. Just 100 years earlier, times were more prosperous and probably no one had an End of Days scenario in mind. My knowledge of 1500-1800 is pretty weak, though, so I can't comment on those.

I almost posted that video. I fucking love that song.

Hellbent said:

Deadnail needs to get a job at that site.

Haha, I don't remember reading that one before.

Actually, Deadnail is the main reason I read Cracked. He kept linking to it on Vets on just about a daily basis for a while.

I think Steampunk sums everything up pretty well.

Those are interesting questions, but I don't find them particularly useful unless we have empirical evidence which shows that our predecessors were affected by their own visions of the future - enough so that their actions taken were a direct result of their visions. Our predictions of today are based on scientific data and empirical evidence, not random guesswork, so at least in the realm of science and technology, the future is predicated upon our current understanding of the world. Whether or not that directly affects what we do in terms of ACTUALLY dictating certain modus operandi is anyone's guess.

Let's use a current example: global warming. Scientific data and research shows that global warming does exist, but we are still equivocating on the direct causes of the effect, and the magnitude of the effect. Now, outside of the scientific realm, political and social forces have used the data given to us by the scientists to do certain things. However, are the scientists themselves affected by the data? In the sense that even if the research indicates that the earth will become uninhabitable by, say, 2100, will they change any course of action or let it dictate other areas of research? Even if certain individuals are affected, will the majority of the scientific world change its course? I'm doubtful of that.

In other words, prognosticating about the future is well and all, but I don't think it has any practical or pragmatic value. Sagan was a great popularizer of science, and his advocacy of science was legendary. However, from a rational empiricist's point of view, Sagan (imo) delved too much into the science fiction aspect than actual science.

Qaatar said:

However, from a rational empiricist's point of view, Sagan (imo) delved too much into the science fiction aspect than actual science.

Huh? Maybe you meant to say michio kaku and not sagan?