[mym1990]

I get caught up in this kind of thinking a lot! To me, everywhere I look, there is so, so, so many cool things being created on a daily basis, if you have thought of an idea, it has most certainly already been tried. I sometimes think of people in previous centuries and how they had so much innovation ahead of them.

But they also didn't know what was ahead of them, just as we don't know what is ahead of us. Then I think of all the amazing tools and cross-specializations that can create novel endeavors for our time, and it is very exciting. What helps me is trying to imagine a world 20 years away and then thinking about the steps that can be taken to get there. Also, reading science fiction!

[germinalphrase]

And yet - our public culture feels, in many ways, so trapped in discussions about the past rather than creating positive visions for the future. Even much of our popular science fiction appears trapped in pessimism or soulless, futurelessness.

[mym1990]

I do think public discourse is often rooted in either people or events, which are a product of the past(even current events/living people). It does take special types of people to discuss and dissect ideas and think about the future.

In fiction writing I think happy-go-lucky stories don't evoke that much of a response. There needs to be conflict and resolution, or some kind of tension. On that note, I just watched the new Dune movie and would love to read through the series now!