From the early 19th century to the mid-20th century, humans had high ideals for the future. Humans thought our progress, that had always seemed to be drastically changing our lives and how we interact, was going to bring us together as one. The entire human race will be connected. There would be no more war and no more suffering greatly because there will be no more ignorance. Well, in our modern times, we now see that is absolutely not true. Ignorance seems to be running rampant even though information is literally at our finger tips. We still have war and there is still prejudice. Crime is growing and we are depleting our resources with reckless abandon.
When I think of Utopia I think 3 thoughts. No, 4 thoughts. One, is the band "Training for Utopia".
I think about this director who was (in his commentary) talking about what the cities looked like in the 70s. He said that the future would be filled with trash at the rate we're going. The commentary was within the last couple years, and he had retract his statement. He said we had cleaned up our act and the cities are beautiful and clean for the most part. My question is where is all this trash going?
The 3rd thing is Alexander Campbell.
Campbell was the founder of the restoration movement which was a new church that strictly modeled itself after the first Church of Acts'. Jesus' perfect church, according to Campbell and his followers. It was this "flawless" church structure and way of life that Campbell believed would bring in the new millennium as a perfect "Christian" society. Which at the time my not have been so far-fetched. It was in the early 1800s, the time of the Second Great Awakening and everyone was freaking out about going to hell. Laws were even passed to keep America in an orderly Christian like behavior (the reason you still can't by booze on Sunday). Campbell started a monthly journal called the Millennium Harbinger. It lasted nearly 100 years before that dream fully died. I think it became Christianity Today. Beginning with "we will take over the world" to "how to survive as a Christian in modern society". So what went wrong there? I suppose a combination of common sense and democracy.
The 4th thing I think about is H.G. Wells' story, THE TIME MACHINE. Really, I'm referring to the original film from 1960. The main character is convinced that the future (because of technology) will be a much greater place and as a man of science and knowledge, and a man who is far ahead of his time, he believes his place is there. He travels to 1990 and realizes that there's a nuclear war going on and the human race is about to be wiped out of existence and will have to start all over with pale air-headed teenage blonds, thousands of years later. So it was a pessimistic outlook. The thinkers of the 60s couldn't get past "the bomb". It just seemed to possible. There was little point to even look beyond it.
Kurt Vonnegut wrote the book Player Piano where he explained that technology will take over important human qualities like art, and craftsmanship. Asimov and others write about how the line between robots and human being with be blurred.
I say there's something going on with social networking. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's bad. I think the new concept (new as in, the last 5 years) of "share" is an amazing one. It's ruined the way property and ownership has carried on for the past 100 years, but it is a great thing and people will adapt.
Cell phones also are mind boggling. Texting instead of talking, and never having an excuse of getting lost or out of reach.
The man who invented the radio was convinced that this new medium would bring humans together. How could there be any confusion if everyone in the world could hear one voice at the same time? The man who invented television thought, "how could you be at war with someone when you can see their face and hear their voice, pleading with you to stop?" And now with the Internet and all of it's webings and networkings. There should be no more loneliness...because there is always someone on line to talk to. No more feeling like you are the only one who feels the way you do, because they're all out there...all kinds. But now... I feel more detached than ever. I see the virtual world going on through the computer screen, and I don't really feel part of it. We all have our internet personalities that we've made for ourselves and that's all 90% of our world knows about us. If we go outside and to "real" things, that might all get compromised. We go to parties and hang out with friends so that we can add a few pictures to our profile. If there were no pictures, there was no event. It feels like we're becoming less like humans and more like websites.
Chaplin had a speech in a film from 1940 that greatly summed up the problems with modern society and fascism. It's the most epic speech I've ever heard. It got him a first class ticket out of the country with a "keep out" sign around his neck, but it needed to be said.
