#Dystopia #Future #ScienceFiction
🤔 Are we living in what would have been considered a dystopia 80 years ago?
As we approach the end of the second decade of the 21st century, it’s natural to wonder if the reality we are living in would have been considered a dystopia 80 years ago. In the 1940s, the world was in the midst of a global war, the aftermath of the Great Depression, and a time of great social unrest. Science fiction of that era often portrayed bleak futures where technology and societal structures had gone awry. Let’s take a closer look at whether our current reality aligns with the dystopian visions of the past.
## The Golden Age of Science Fiction
I picked 80 years because it was deep in what is considered the golden age of science fiction.
In the 1940s, science fiction was flourishing, with writers like Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Arthur C. Clarke shaping the genre. These authors imagined worlds where technology had advanced far beyond what was thought possible, often with both utopian and dystopian consequences. The concept of dystopia, a society characterized by suffering and oppression, was a common theme in these works.
## Technology and Surveillance
One of the hallmarks of a dystopian society is the presence of invasive technology and pervasive surveillance. In today’s world, we are constantly connected through our smartphones, smart devices, and social media platforms. While this technology has brought many conveniences, it also raises concerns about privacy and surveillance.
### Examples:
– Facial recognition technology
– Social media tracking
– Data mining
## Social Divide and Inequality
Dystopian literature often explores themes of social divide and inequality, where the rich and powerful exploit the marginalized and disenfranchised. In our current reality, income inequality is a pressing issue, with a small percentage of the population holding a disproportionate amount of wealth.
### Examples:
– Wage gap
– Access to healthcare and education
– Housing affordability
## Environmental Degradation
Another common theme in dystopian literature is environmental degradation, where the consequences of unchecked industrialization and pollution have devastated the planet. As we face the realities of climate change and environmental destruction, it’s hard not to draw parallels with the dystopian futures imagined by science fiction writers of the past.
### Examples:
– Rising sea levels
– Extreme weather events
– Deforestation
## Conclusion
While our current reality certainly has aspects that would be considered dystopian by the standards of 80 years ago, it’s important to remember that we also have the power to shape our future. By acknowledging the challenges we face and working towards solutions, we can steer clear of the dystopian outcomes predicted by science fiction. So, are we living in a dystopia? The answer may vary depending on who you ask, but one thing is for certain – the choice is ours to make.
In conclusion, the question of whether we are living in what would have been considered a dystopia 80 years ago is a complex one. While our reality has its share of challenges and uncertainties, it also holds the potential for positive change and progress. By reflecting on the lessons of the past and working towards a more equitable and sustainable future, we can avoid the dystopian pitfalls of science fiction and create a world that is truly worth living in.
No. Things are, for most people, pretty good, compared to history.
80 years was in the middle of WWII, so probably not. Also most people then would have memories of the Great Depression
More like a utopia. 80 years ago WWII was happening. And we’ve had a ton of advancements in medicine, communications, travel, and consumer tech since then.
I mean, the primary complaint of people from 80 years ago would probably be all the miscegenation, so I’m not really worried about what those people would think.
80 years ago, The Holocaust was happening. This is not a comparative dystopia.
What do you mean, I can’t smoke in this elevator? this is a dystopian nightmare!
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We are living in the specific dystopia that Cyberpunk 2020 was set in written 35 years ago.
Comparing this to 1943, though? Tricky. That was in the middle of the biggest war humanity has ever seen. Hard to imagine what looks like a dystopia by comparison.
Considering the 20th century had two of the deadliest wars in human history, the great depression, and the real risk of a nuclear apocalypse I’m gonna say no.
80 years ago, members of my family were in German occupied France during WW2. Some of their experiences include lack of food (my grandfather once bicycled 200 miles to get a sack of potatoes to feed the family), bombardment by the British and US bombers (my grand aunt was living near the railway), being almost shot by the Germans as revenge for partisan attack (execution was called out at the last minute after they were lined against the wall) and forced labour in Germany at the age of 16.
I am grateful I live today.
I absolutely don’t think so. I think a lot of people now tend to overestimate how bad our modern society really is.
We are actually living in the best of times and the worst of times.
“We live in the age of miracles and all we do is complain.”
Women didn’t have a ton of personal rights until the 60/70s. Not a big deal if you had a good marriage, hell if you were trapped in a bad one. So… feeling pretty good about 2024 here in a western country.
Given that cancer is no longer a death sentence, famine is nearly nonexistent thanks to modified crops improving nutrition, and I, a black chick, can go to medical school without being harassed by the KKK, I’m gonna say no
What’s interesting is that the way fiction explores dystopian societies is to actually replicate the past and warn against history repeating itself. We are always in a dystopia somewhere.
No. Social media may make you feel like that, but its hard to point to a single metric that humanity has not improved on in the last 80 years, obviously save for metrics relating to the climate.
Now obviously some of these benefits are felt more in western society but in the last 80 years we have improved:
Life expectancy
Literacy rates
Reduction in extreme poverty
Access to clean water
Technological advancements
Child mortality rates
Gender equality measures
Created the internet
Reduced global hunger
And thats just off the top of my head.
I think Brave New World warned us about ourselves best even better than 1984. Not only would there be constant surveillance but we’d be the ones pointing the cameras.
No 80 years much of the world was at War in 1944, which was the peak of the holocaust. The horror of Gaza was happening across much of europe and parts of Asia. The war zones had famine there was rationing away from the front. 79 years ago, nuclear weapons were used
the subset of loud doomers yearning for a unicorn past range from unfortunate misguided kids to repgunant racists and religious extremists. The misguided reactionary movement to choke the free internet because of them is rather dystopian imo
In the us, there was legal segregation and conscription. Healthcare and communication were still primitive. Of course, there real problems and lots of room fir improvements today but nothing like back then except in isolated pockets like Gaza and the addled minds of entitled doomers who use the wonders of modern communication to complain 24/7. Everyone who sees this post has more personal computing power than existed worldwide in 1944.
Unfortunately, these bratty doomers are used by reactionaries as propaganda to justify doing absolutely nothing about the actual issues of today.
Saying decades/centuries ago were better. Let’s give up, and we can stop progressing because it’s all good now are just different heads of the same snake . This dangerous nonense must be resisted
One could argue that the us/uk had flawed but better leadership back then, However
a large swath of the world was under Stalin, Mao, and of course Hitler people under those regimes would not see the modern world with all its problems as a dystopia
In the 1940’s my father’s family didn’t even have electricity yet. Also there was a world war going on.
As fucked up as it seems to us, the world of today with air conditioning and without children working 10 hour shifts in cotton gins would have seemed like some kind of Star Trek level utopia.
I’m not. 80 years ago my rights were extremely limited. I wouldn’t have been able to vote. My choice of work would have been extremely limited. Opening a bank account would have been nearly impossible. Much of the things I’ve done in my life would have been both immoral and illegal.
Women who looked like me could be assaulted and mistreated with little interference. Men who looked like me were often murdered without consequence.
Please tell me what part of my life today is dystopian? Aside from the people who are working to roll back my rights? I’m still able to travel freely, keep my own property, and in my country the Constitution protects my rights, however begrudgingly. I could travel most of the world and find much the same. Where my human rights would not be respected it works be because most people there don’t have rights.
A lot of comments here – I think inaccurately – equate the fulfillment of our material needs with an absence of dystopia. Yes, we have far better education, literacy, health care, housing and so on. But consider the average middle class Chinese person. They have all these things too, but they’re also pawns in an authoritarian total surveillance machine. That’s a dystopia.
Whereas many indigenous cultures are seemingly aligned with human needs in a way that more ‘sophisticated’ cultures are not. Witness that fact that when Native Americans were taken from their tribes and raised with white people, they always returned to their tribe if they could. Whereas the reverse was extremely rare: overwhelmingly, white people raised in Native societies chose to remain there all their lives. Not dystopian.
Dystopias are societies that have become sick in some way, whose social systems have been distorted, often because of authoritarian control, but not always, in ways that undermine natural human flourishing. They blunt us, morally and spiritually, and stand in the way of our fulfillment, by restricting our freedom in explicit or implicit ways.
Everybody mentions 1984 and Brave New World. But Vonnegut’s first novel Player Piano is incredibly dystopian, and the horror of it is that they got there by being totally rational and technocratic. The movie Equals features a peaceful, stable, seemingly meritocratic world where everyone’s emotions have been suppressed. Definitely dystopian.
So are we living in a dystopia? I’m in the US. If you’re a woman, a racial minority, or LGBT in a red state, then there’s a good chance your life is pretty dystopian. If you’re in a blue state, maybe less so. But to the extent we’re living in a corporatist oligarchy in the throes of end-stage capitalism, we’re all at risk. Progress in AI could easily tip the scales in the new few years. So could a second Trump presidency. Or the likely clampdown on civil rights as climate change hits the fan and the resource wars start in earnest.
“Nazis are back?! That can’t be real.” -World War 2 vets
80 years ago means 1944. Do you think the people living in the concentration camps would consider our time worse?
I guarantee 99% of humans 80 years ago would trade with their modern equivalent in a heartbeat and laugh at a suggestion to the contrary.
In 1944
-China was being invaded and preparing for a civil war
-Almost all of Africa was being colonized
-Europe was in the biggest war in history
-Japan was failing
-America was basically entirely devoted to a war
-India was a colony to a country whose prime minister openly calls them animals
-Over twenty million Russians died in the past four years
-In pretty much all these cases men between 18-30 were expected to either work in horrid conditions or serve in a massively devastating war, ethnic minorities had no rights in any of these countries, and women only had rights in some countries.
Today we have kinda shitty governments and companies sell our information. Someone in 1944 wouldn’t even consider our society possible.