The early 2010s seemed like a more optimistic and exciting time compared to now

[NickGOT456]

Does anyone here feel the same?

I remember being so excited getting into fantasy, comic book superheroes, and sci fi for the first time back in 2014.

Experiencing stuff like "Mass Effect", "MCU", and "Game of Thrones" for the very first time was magical.

Back then I thought humanity would put itself on the road to achieving a Star Trek future by the late 2010s.

Sadly today's world feels like a much more darker place now even with all the technological advancement.

It may have been a brighter time but it is sad that much of American society stopped dreaming about space travel and the future at that time.

 

What distracted society?

Did Americans thought Hollywood style materialism to be the better aspiration than building a future in space?

What if we lived a world where American society had a stronger middle class, valued education, and fixed the government so the space program would be better and more innovative?

As well as providing high speed internet to underserved communities and was much more effective at stopping mass shootings?

I wished I lived in an America that was much more aspirational.

Edited November 12, 2023 by NickGOT456

[Kalbear]

A fucking future in space is not the way to make a world more egalitarian, more aspirational or more fair. That is absolutely the case if you're putting your trust in billionaires to do it instead of things like NASA. And if you want a more aspirational culture and a stronger middle class putting your trust in billionaires who routinely try to destroy unions, exploit labor, exploit resources and side with autocrats is probably not your best bet. 

[Larry of the Lawn]

Cart before the horse, Kal.  Why haven't we created a more egalitarian society?

Because we've been knee-capped by the gravity well.  You know what you don't have in space?  Poverty.  Murder.  Taxes.  Probably barely any herpes either.  

 

[DireWolfSpirit]

11 minutes ago, Larry of the Lawn said:

Probably barely any herpes either.  

Hate to be the bearer of bad news here but

Currently, 47/89 (53%) astronauts from shuttle-flights and 14/23 (61%) astronauts from ISS missions shed one or more herpes viruses in saliva/urine samples. Astronauts shed Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), varicella-zoster virus (VZV), and herpes-simplex-1 (HSV-1) in saliva and cytomegalovirus (CMV) in urine.Feb 7, 2019

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › pmc

 

Herpes Virus Reactivation in Astronauts During ... - NCBI

 

Apparently space travel is rather effective at causing  certain dormant viruses to activate

[Kalbear]

15 minutes ago, Larry of the Lawn said:

Cart before the horse, Kal.  Why haven't we created a more egalitarian society?

Because we've been knee-capped by the gravity well.  You know what you don't have in space?  Poverty.  Murder.  Taxes.  Probably barely any herpes either.  

 

 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

12 hours ago, Larry of the Lawn said:

Cart before the horse, Kal.  Why haven't we created a more egalitarian society?

Because we've been knee-capped by the gravity well.  You know what you don't have in space?  Poverty.  Murder.  Taxes.  Probably barely any herpes either.  

Long term exposure to high energy cosmic rays definitely solves all those problems.

[Larry of the Lawn]

Well ah'll tell you whuuuut, which whomsoever Presidential candidate throws some light and then full weight of the federal government at the space herpes epidemic has my vote.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, Madame deVenoge said:

You haven’t seen the fine movie Spaceballs. There are space herpes.

Still better than having your head on backwards or foot crushed by a giant statue of yourself. 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Tywin et al.

[Darryk]

Yeah I remember being more optimistic in the early 2010s. I was in my late 20s so at a phase where I had matured a bit more but still had my whole future ahead of me.

2010 was the football world cup in South Africa which I really have fond memories and wish I could go back to.

I was playing games like Skyrim and Dishonored and seeing movies like Life of Pi. It was the early days of Game of Thrones, I read the books around 2012 and dreamed of being a writer like GRRM.

I'm not American but the Obama presidency felt like an optimistic time if you were following American politics which, let's face it, a lot of people in the Western World do.

I too dreamed of a Cyberpunk future. In fact I was playing a tabletop RPG called Eclipse Phase with my friends which really fired up the imagination as to what the future could be.

Anyway I think it all started going downhill around 2016.

[Phylum of Alexandria]

I know I'm a broken record on this stuff but: in the early 2010s, social media was barely a thing. Certainly the viral sharing mechanisms and engagement algorithms that stoke daily rage were not in place. The world transformed seemingly over night. Or at least, our perception of it did. And we've all been a lot less happy ever since.

[Larry of the Lawn]

2 hours ago, Madame deVenoge said:

You haven’t seen the fine movie Spaceballs. There are space herpes.

I'm a mog.  I'm my own best friend.  I gave myself space herpes.

[Kalbear]

35 minutes ago, Larry of the Lawn said:

I'm a mog.  I'm my own best friend.  I gave myself space herpes.

 

 

[House Balstroko]

Nostalgia is a powerful tool. Almost every generation likes to reminisce about the “good old days”. I was in my early twenties back then. 
 

I started reading ASOIAF after the first season had ended, though before watching it.
 

Gaming was more or less the same as it is today, with online being a major fixture and patches already becoming a huge pain in the ass. Many franchises were already transitioning to an open world formula. 
 

Politics has always been a shitshow, so there’s no real change on that front. 
 

Space exploration is picking up steam.