Who has the most realistic 'future'?

[Mister Fandango]

Are you saying it isn't in a better place now than it was during Rome, Crete, the Mayans, the Toltecs, or Easter Island?

 

[sojourner]

Are you saying it isn't in a better place now than it was during Rome, Crete, the Mayans, the Toltecs, or Easter Island?

I'm saying that people in those civilizations most likely said "thing have never been better than they are now and can only improve".
Just because you're standing at the top of a mountain does not mean you won't encounter any more valleys..

 

[Kelthaz]

Are you saying it isn't in a better place now than it was during Rome, Crete, the Mayans, the Toltecs, or Easter Island?

I'm saying that people in those civilizations most likely said "thing have never been better than they are now and can only improve".
Just because you're standing at the top of a mountain does not mean you won't encounter any more valleys..

I never said there aren't valleys. Obviously there's a lot of shit going on in the world today and hundreds of millions of people are not going to have a happy ending, but overall humanity is and has always been trending upwards in regards to health, tolerance, peace, prosperity, and wealth.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Her has a lot of viable near-future elements in it.

Oh yes, people falling in love with their own computers' operating systems, which happen to talk and act like Scarlett Johansson? Very realistic, that.

I mean, I find Mac OS X easy to use, but I wouldn't want to marry it.

 

[Skellington]

^ Shhh. You'll hurt its feelings.

 

[Runetouch]

Star Trek, as Earth is largely portrayed. The future's only gotten better and better with each passing century. Don't see any reason that's going to change, especially if we ever develop a means of nearly infinite clean energy and the ability to replicate/produce food for everyone.

At worst, overpopulation will be a problem.

This.

 

[the G-man]

Idiocracy

We have a winner.

Mods, close this thread.

 

[jayceee]

The Aschen society from the Stargate SG-1 show, but without any stargates/transporters.

http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Aschen
http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Aschen_technology

 

[Sean_McCormick]

The anime series Planetes.

 

[C.E. Evans]

At best (if we're lucky):
2001: A Space Odyssey (if you add sixty years to it).

At worst (if we're screwed):
The Road Warrior

 

[publiusr]

I'm going to say Wild Palms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Palms

 

[TerraNovan]

Firefly, hands down.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

There's been a lot of great suggestions in here, but I have to agree with Firefly. It makes the point that Human 'progress' is mainly technological, not ethical - people generally more or less stay the same with the exception of certain specific cultural trends that come and go. Also, it gives a real sense to the vast emptiness of the universe and the fairly high likelihood that, even though it is a near certainty that aliens exist somewhere, we may very well never be in a position to actually meet any.

 

[TerraNovan]

There's been a lot of great suggestions in here, but I have to agree with Firefly. It makes the point that Human 'progress' is mainly technological, not ethical - people generally more or less stay the same with the exception of certain specific cultural trends that come and go. Also, it gives a real sense to the vast emptiness of the universe and the fairly high likelihood that, even though it is a near certainty that aliens exist somewhere, we may very well never be in a position to actually meet any.

As someone that is on the autistic spectrum, I dont understand what people expect from your average human.

I really think many sci fi writers have a poor understanding of the human condition.

They also tend to see problems with behaviors such as group think. When it seems to be an entirely healthy part of the human consciousness.