> -----Original Message----- > From: Marsel // Nomorewords.net [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 21 April 2004 10:47 > > i guess, a part of it could be because the year 2000 has passed?
In the run-up to the year 2000, the idea of the "future" was already fading in popularity as far as I could tell. My theory at the time was that people trying to look forward from the late 1990s saw the year 2000 as a kind of mirror, preventing them from seeing any further forwards and instead presenting them with images of the past. The hope I had was that once the 2000 milestone came and went people would be able to think about the future properly again, without this huge barrier in front of them. Ultimately, though, I turned out to be wrong - the year 2000 actually seemed to have been an inspiration for future-minded thinking rather than a barrier (or maybe it was both?). Since we passed it, there have been a lot of ways, and not just music/cultural, in which this obsession with the past and lack of interest in the future have manifested themselves. Once we get past 2050 and the year 2100 is starting to loom, it'll definitely have some effect. But it's too hard to predict now what that effect will be, particularly because we've got no idea what life will be like in 2050 and therefore can't predict how people of that time will comprehend and perceive their possible futures. Brendan
