Why care about the lost future?

Why care about the lost future?

by Lap Gong Leong

           One of the motifs in my writing is the reference and resurrection of long dead corporations and concepts that once defined American life. From Pan American World Airways to ABC’s The Avengers, much of my speculative and expository prose has often tried to reuse these long dead properties to illustrate a better time that can emit a dated and mawkish sensation.

I am not the first person to pine for a future lost and won’t be the last.

Economists such as Larry Summers and James Pethokoukis and rising influencers such as Eli Dourado have all indulged in the dream governance fueled renaissance. Pethokoukis has supplemented his think tank work with newsletter focused on promoting policies to accelerate progress.

           The common thread with all such people is a common belief that America is not on the right track. Indeed, center right and center left economists both agree that the slowdown in productivity from the 1973 Oil Shock ended the golden age of capitalism. And while Keynesians, Monetarists, and Austrians all disagree on the policy responses of the 1980s and 1990s, many have a yearning that humanity has been stagnating save for digital doo dads. This is best described in J Storrs Hall’s pleonastic and badly edited book “Where Is My Flying Car: A Memoir of Future Past”, a powerful (if not wholly persuasive) tome that high progress (from Cold Fusion to Flying Cars) was destroyed by bureaucracy and vested interests.

           The visions of these well intentioned and successful titans, who have often made fortunes from the stagnant environment that they decry, should not be the main reason as to why someone should care about the lost future. Indeed, progress studies often is unintentionally Panglossian.                                   

                                                           Why Care?

                       20 years of lackluster GDP growth has limited horizons and destroyed possibilities. A smaller pie means fewer public and private investments, which perpetuates more small pies. Since people aren’t prospering, upfront investment in arts or science is much harder, putting us in a negative cycle. While the world has seen its share of great innovation with superstar internet giants and green energy, it's far away from expecting any form of atomic energy to produce free electricity and to power us to the stars.

Visualizing a better future generates positivity in a negative environment. The act of reading a story with fantastic, almost magical, technology is a subversive act that generates for us an acute belief. The current present can be much better than our now.

Whereas literary science fiction always knows there will be a tomorrow, techno fantastic political writing believes that having a suboptimal now brings that axiom to suspicion. Our refusal to learn from mistakes and tolerate steady stagnation will keep humanity from advancing into a higher and happier plain.

           Caring about economic growth and progress is not a self-absorbed attempt to bring back a sunny country that only exists in people’s imaginations. At its best, writing about the lost future is a call to create a better present as fast and as comprehensively as possible with the best means at our disposal.

We cannot resurrect John Steed and Emma Peel, nor should people try to reconstitute Pan American World Airways. However, that doesn’t mean the world can’t be a much brighter and happier place with better living standards. Must flying be a mundane and horrible experience.

There is so much potential to live in a richer, happier, healthier, and more content world. There are so many ways to finally utilize the full potential of everyone. Whatever your intelligence, wealth, or personal circumstances, you can and should live in a world that protects your life and liberty and property. Perhaps most importantly is the importance of cool blue skies in a hot, red environment.

Nobody pretends that aging will be conquered, and nuclear fusion plants will be connected to the grid anytime soon. There are fewer reasons to believe there are a special, dispersed cadre practicing super science that will see render our true issues into mere inconveniences. The pace of rising upward will continue to be disappointing, even as we work to accelerate onward.

           The overwhelming goal of all this obsession isn’t everyday excitement, but the best mundanity.

One day, space won’t be a pulp frontier, but a world to be explored and sensed in record time. One day, fusion power will simply the source of our cheap electric bills. One day, a long and healthy life won’t be an achievement. And one day, what will seem fantastical, will become simply another day.

Tuesday, 25 May 2021

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[Each week, I join Lap Gong Leong, a colleague in weekly conversation; Lap is an emerging writer and commentator on a wide range of topics including politics, education, film, science fiction, and building a prosperous and free society for all. His analysis and critique aims to break through the logjam of conventional ideas and wisdom, especially as it relates to the careers and lives of individuals with Autism. We are pleased to share the 12th piece of writing from our recent exchanges.

About Lap Gong Leong, a graduate of Borough of Manhattan Community College in Liberal Arts, "I am in the process of transferring to a four-year university. However, the lack of Autistic aids for many individuals, including myself has incentivized me to work for myself."] A resident of NYC, Lap also divides his time between Hong Kong and Singapore.

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