The Future

[MTL]

In response to the OP:


So far, it seems obvious to me that a lot of the 'Big Brother' stuff written about in books like 1984, Fahrenheit 451, etc
....have long since already come to pass, and I see the chokehold tightening all the time, through technology.

Plus I am keenly alive to the changing climate and resulting conditions.

While it may be true that overall, the world is a "better place" than it ever has been, before
(less pandemic disease impact, lower crime, better eduation, etc)

I fear that the 'Point Of No Return', where the environment is concerned, was passed decades ago,
(or, possibly, even more than a century ago....when humanity first got onto the path of using fossil fuels);

...and that the environmental 'Day Of Reckoning' looms in the future:

a point where it will be unavoidably apparent that we must finally 'Pay The Piper' for our choices.

So?  I don't hold out much hope at all for the future.

I already feel depressed at how much our phones are tracked, our purchases, our information, the cookies on our computers, etc etc.
And at hackers, malware, identity theft, etc;

I am depressed at the disappearing Middle Class;

Even winning the lottery now would not make me "happy";
it would only make certain things easier for the time being
...and would probably present new problems, as well.

I frequently think, these days, that they only thing that would make me at all happy,
is a time machine;

If I could, I would enjoy the 80s and 90s again, out of my own lifetime,
and appreciate them far more than I did, at the time,
and see my parents younger, again;


and I would also pick-and-choose other times to visit;
not necessarily for their historical relevance, or in an effort to change human history
(because I think humanity would find ways to screw each other no matter what)
but just to take simple "snapshots" of life in those times for my own enjoyment;

(I'd visit Detroit, for example, some time between 1945 and 1955,
when it was booming, dress in 1940s clothing, and just go shopping, downtown).