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[pwhodges]

From Penelope's tweets this week:

Also what is the deal with aging authors dedicating their grim-apocalyptic-vision-of-the-future books to their children?

Protip: the world isn't slouching into a hopeless dystopia just because you're getting older.

Actually, some of us think it really is headed that way...

Can I just say how much I'm looking forward to the baby boomer generation finally dying off?

Don't worry - we're on our way... soonish (but not quite yet).

[pwhodges]

<shrug>  This is not a "things are all worse than when I was young" thing, because, for sure, they aren't.  But, as a reasonably well-informed scientist, I can't see a way out of the physical problems that the world is now committed to enduring; and as an amateur observer of human nature, I can't see society handling the longer-term effects gracefully.

Feel free to prove me wrong...

[techkid]

It sure is taking the "pessimist" approach, but observation does seem to indicate that "things are going pretty bad, and most people's attitudes ain't helping."

Human nature won't change unless we are somehow able to sway humanity as a whole into a change. But in order to achieve that lofty goal, we must first change human nature.

At least, that's my view.

[Border Reiver]

I just thought that Penn-Penn was having a bad day when little miss special order showed up to give it that extra-special shove.

It's either that or he mother's maiden name is  Murphy.

[jwhouk]

It's like an insider joke inside a comic strip.

[Throg]

@pwhodges: which one, climate change or the gradual effects of peak oil? 

Me, I'm optimistic in the long run there will be international trade via sailing ships. It'll be steampunk with a vengeance. 

[Carl-E]

And with the rising oceans, you'll be able to make those midwestern deliveries directly by sail...


Why am I getting a waterworld vibe? 

[pwhodges]

@pwhodges: which one, climate change or the gradual effects of peak oil?

Climate change first.  In particular, the effects on sea level will accelerate once they start to become seriously apparent.  Then peak oil will seriously affect the costs of sorting things out, just when whole major cities need to be moved or replaced.  Considering the fragile state of some places in the current minor financial difficulties, I see the possibility of these things leading to a real global financial collapse in the next century, causing a complete breakdown of society.

Hey, I enjoy a bit of gloom and doom on a nice sunny day!

[Is it cold in here?]

A case could be made that the world has always been a hopeless dystopia and only the optimism and inexperience of youth prevent people from noticing.

[pwhodges]

I suppose another way to look at that is to say that expectations change according to the current practicalities - and in effect, this affects only those who live long enough to see a perceptible change.

[DSL]

Well, just for a little bit of optimism -- and in honor of the space arc recently concluded -- Dragon docked to ISS today, first ISS  rendezvous by a private spacecraft.

[Carl-E]

Great, space has gone commercial. 

Can't wait for that Coke billboard on the face of the moon...

[DSL]

I'll take it, if it gets us there faster.

[Skewbrow]

Great, space has gone commercial. 

Can't wait for that Coke billboard on the face of the moon...

I would prefer "240 000 miles to Wall Drug".

[LTK]

A case could be made that the world has always been a hopeless dystopia and only the optimism and inexperience of youth prevent people from noticing.

I must be doing it wrong then. 21 and the stone-cold nihilist in me already believes humanity is a lost cause.

[Is it cold in here?]

A bit of historical perspective can lead to the awareness, which most people don't realize until it's over, that we are living in a Golden Age. The next conclusion is that it can only get worse.

[Schmorgluck]

Great, space has gone commercial. 

Can't wait for that Coke billboard on the face of the moon...

Heh, it has been (somewhat) done in a famous Franco-Belgian comic. Well, it didn't turn out as well as the mad scientist who did it expected it to.

Anyway, this whole thread makes me think of a classic piece from the Daily Show.

[DSL]

Happened in an Arthur C. Clarke short story, too.

[Is it cold in here?]

Great, space has gone commercial. 

Can't wait for that Coke billboard on the face of the moon...

D. D. Harriman, where are you now that we need you?

[Redball]

James Blish, we're ready for the spindizzies and antiagathics.

[Near Lurker]

You know, I will say this for Twilight: it put a stop to a decade of every single YA book that wasn't some self-obsessed brat's diary being set in dystopia.

(Just in time for people to claim with a straight face that that element made Battle Royale appreciably different...)

[jwhouk]

...And then Hunger Games comes along and ruins that.

[techkid]

A bit of historical perspective can lead to the awareness, which most people don't realize until it's over, that we are living in a Golden Age. The next conclusion is that it can only get worse.

True. To take a quote from Futurama: "When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all".

To me, that pretty much says that by the time something's gone horribly wrong, people will only start realising that something needs to be fixed.

[Is it cold in here?]

Is widespread dystopian fiction a sign that things are going well?

Wasn't the popular fiction of the 1930s, mired in a depression with a terrible war visibly looming, escapist and optimistic?

[Carl-E]

I think it's more a sign of complacency in the general society. 

In both cases, it's escapism. 

[jwhouk]

This is almost getting close to a "Discuss" thread...

[themacnut]

There is already a large segment of the population who believe civilization is going to collapse within their lifetime and are preparing to survive it. Google "Doomsday Preppers" for examples of that group.

[pwhodges]

This is almost getting close to a "Discuss" thread...

In fact there's an appropriate thread currently on the go there.

[Is it cold in here?]

And making this back into a comic thread, how did Pennelope get to be an optimist?

Or is she just being negative about dystopian fiction, as opposed to being positive about the future?

[Carl-E]

I thik it was just the irony of dedicating a dystopian futue to your own progeny that ticked her off. 


That, and Grumpy Old People (The GOP?)