How We Lost The Future

A talk about taking responsibility for the present.

Transcript

1. How we lost the future Leila Johnston Friday, 7 September 2012
2. “ ” Is this the way they say the futureʼs meant to feel, or just 20,000 people standing in a field? ...and tell me when the spaceship lands, ʻcos all this has to start to mean something. – Sorted for Eʼs and Whizz, 1995 Friday, 7 September 2012
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5. Nothing is named after the Millennium anymore We’ve re-set to zero Friday, 7 September 2012
6. We’ve re-set to zero Friday, 7 September 2012
7. The Millennium (1960-2000) http://www.flickr.com/photos/pandora_6666/ Friday, 7 September 2012
8. “We live in the future” Friday, 7 September 2012
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10. The future’s gone Friday, 7 September 2012
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12. Is this the way they say the futureʼs meant to feel? Friday, 7 September 2012
13. Is this the way they say the futureʼs meant to feel? Friday, 7 September 2012
14. After the moon landings, we believed we'd be holidaying on the moon by the Year 2000. The media deceives, and progress is often slower than we think. We romanticise the past, look forward to significant dates in the future, and dismiss the present. – Nick Pope, former MOD ʻUFO investigatorʼ “ ” Friday, 7 September 2012
15. Some future is needed to prevent the past being our only influence. If we drill down into the present we always find situations that cannot be allowed to continue. The best future will arise out of realising the worst present must be negated, not the binding of past to future, smoothing over the present. – David Trotter, Screen Media and Naturalism lecturer “ ” Friday, 7 September 2012
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17. I should let you in on a little secret. No one likes you in the future. This time period is looked at as being full of lazy, self-centred, civically ignorant sheep. You eat poisoned food, buy manufactured products no one needs, and turn an uncaring eye away from millions of people suffering and dying all around you. – John Titor, 21st Century time traveller “ Friday, 7 September 2012
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19. We have grown up in anticipation. We feel deserving. Putting a time limit on The Millennium & trying to forget it reinforces our impression that weʼre special ʻfuture peopleʼ. The future we may be losing is an attainable one which we have to work towards. The solution is increased awareness of the present. This can be achieved by considering the possibility of no future, and through a humility and realism about our present. Friday, 7 September 2012
20. Leila Johnston @finalbullet Friday, 7 September 2012