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Just Chat! / Has society become too materialistic and risk averse to advance?

« on: 13/05/2022 03:58:11 »

It seemed like from the 2000s-early 2010s there was an great increase of risk aversion.

https://practicalfreespirit.com/2011/09/06/to-infinity-and-beyond/

"Sometime in the last few months, I read someone’s Tweet about space travel. I don’t remember who it was, but they said something to the effect of how science fiction set in space felt irrelevant or dated to them. Like it was nostalgia and nothing more."

Human spaceflight and space themed sci fi, a anachronism? What a sad mindset!

The events of the 2000s has given society the right to be risk averse and more cynical for the future but is this risk aversion holding humanity back?

There also seemed to be an increase of materialism as evidenced by the reality show craze of the late 2000s/early 2010s. Interesting it happened during the financial crisis.

Large portions of society still struggle after the 2008 crash but it seems like there is a portion of society that is well off and doesn't seem to care.

Nice house in a safe suburban neighborhood, German made car, cushy office job, nice vacations each year, etc.

Life is good enough already, so why dream of a "Star Trek" like future?

That is the reality show demographic.

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Just Chat! / How much is vapid materialism to blame for the loss of interest for space?

« on: 23/03/2022 05:16:53 »

How much is vapid materialism to blame for the loss of interest for space and the future?

Reality TV was all the rage.



 Passionate sci fi fans throughout the internet were vocal about the decline of sci fi.

https://practicalfreespirit.com/2011/09/06/to-infinity-and-beyond/

https://www.impossiblepodcasts.com/2012/02/rayguns-and-rocket-ships-can-books-save.html

https://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012/06/mind-meld-has-space-opera-lost-its-luster/

https://ricochet.com/226027/archives/the-death-of-the-space-opera/

https://gizmodo.com/why-we-need-more-space-adventures-5837047

 Around the same time a speech by Neil Degrasse Tyson was circulating throughout the internet proclaiming that we stopped dreaming.

But how much of this is due to society becoming too comfortable and/or materialistic?

A large part of society struggled after the 2008 crisis and still are to this day but there also seemed a be a large part of society that were perfectly comfortable with the status quo. The Suburban Class.

Big house in a safe suburban neighborhood, a nice family, vacations to places like Disney World or the Bahamas each year, etc. Life on Earth is good enough already, so why dream and expend energy working towards a "Star Trek" like future?

That is the reality show demographic!

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Just Chat! / People in rural America don't dream and aspire to a better future

« on: 13/02/2022 00:19:31 »

Obsessed with building prisons and perpetuating a cycle of misery and stupidity.

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/02/10/rise-and-fall-of-a-prison-town-queen

They should aspire to intelligence. They should be inspired by science and space travel.

And the a big budget space adventure should take the place of their usual reality show for at least a month.

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Just Chat! / Why do rich Californians tend to have "anti science attitudes"?

« on: 15/01/2022 23:11:38 »

I wish California was mostly middle class people who believed in science and space exploration.

https://i.imgur.com/1XGl33A.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/FxPk57K.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/wEhFlZ2.jpg

I want humanity to dream again! I want humanity to aim for the stars again! The power of spaceflight and space exploration shouldn't be in the hands of a tiny few who are super wealthy!

I wish the rich aspired to be more like astronauts rather than act like reality show stars. America needs a cultural shift! Perhaps COVID is that forcing function that will facilitate this cultural shift.

I want a future where no one was afraid of GMOs and vaccines.

I would love to build a next generation nuclear power plant designed by Bill Gates right next to them and watch them squeal.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/25/bill-gates-nuclear-power-will-absolutely-be-politically-acceptable.html

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Just Chat! / Why are TV show producers less interested in producing "gritty sci fi"?

« on: 27/10/2021 07:59:39 »

There are plenty of "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" shows on right now but where is our gritty sci fi futuristic war saga?

I grew up with games like "Command & Conquer" and "Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri" in the 90s.

It would be awesome if they could make a show about a group of humans who travel off to a far off solar system and then split off into unique factions.

"Command and Conquer" was the first fictional universe I fell in love with and it could make for an awesome future war show.

Where is our sci fi equivalent of "Game of Thrones"? We need more powered armored super soldiers on our TV screens!

Has the depressing state of the world cause society to gravitate for more fantastical settings like superheroes and fantasy?

Or since we already live in the future with computers and space travel we desire these more fantastical settings?

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Just Chat! / Is science fiction and fantasy becoming mainstream a good thing or bad thing?

« on: 19/10/2021 11:32:23 »

I remember back in the late 2000s and early 2010s most people preferred reality TV, doctor soaps, and police procedurals.

Most of society saw fantasy as something only "people who live in basements" watched. The success of "Harry Potter" and "LOTR" greatly contributed to ending the stigma against fantasy but "Game of Thrones" blew the door wide open.

What do you think of fantasy and to a lessor extent sci fi becoming mainstream?

Is it a good thing or bad thing for society?

I have just gotten into "The Expanse" and it is one hell of an exciting mystery and action adventure. One part of the story have the bad guys infecting a space station with some sort of bioweapon. The bioweapon is this blue goo that uses humans to grow larger. The bad guys packed innocent people into fallout shelters and injected them with the virus through the guise of a "vaccine".

https://expanse.fandom.com/wiki/Protomolecule

 I used to think science fiction could be used to promote interest in science but could that type of "sci-fi" lead to distrust of science and vaccines? I already know one person who compares the COVID vaccine to the vaccine that turned people into zombies in the Will Smith movie "I Am Legend".

On the other hand Apple TV's "For All Mankind" has gotten me interested in space exploration and even space science. I didn't know space had stuff like "solar storms".

Should the TV show producers make an exciting space adventure show that sends the message that humanity will never reach it's full potential unless humanity embraces science?

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Just Chat! / Why is there a growing movement to deny reality in America?

« on: 19/09/2021 20:47:01 »

It seems like society is going backwards. It seems like each passing year more and more people believe in a fantasy reality. A fantasy reality that believes in outlandish things like "vaccines are the devil" or that "space is fake".

This mindset has even infected physically healthy people.
https://i.imgur.com/oefnJow.png
https://i.imgur.com/bSKKc4w.png
https://i.imgur.com/T2nRyhf.png

There was a time when these type of people aspired to be astronauts.

What has happened to society? We aren't just turning away from science but from reality as well.

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Just Chat! / Why were the early 2010s so vapid and anti intellectual?

« on: 10/08/2021 17:04:26 »

It seemed like much of society was more interested in reality shows and materialism. It seems like an interest in science was mocked.

https://twitter.com/joshbridges12/status/543900025848594432

Why did society become dumbed down in the early 2010s? Should we aspire to push ourselves both mentally and physically again?

How do we smarten up society? Should astronauts become role models again?

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Just Chat! / I now find the history of spaceflight much more interesting than any sci fi!

« on: 27/09/2020 12:19:36 »

I usually enjoy sci fi like Mass Effect, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, and The Expanse but thanks to this show on Apple called "For All Mankind" the real space race fascinates me much more than any sci fi universe could have.

While I enjoyed Star Trek Picard as a popcorn watch I must say that "For All Mankind" has been my favorite quarantine watch. Immediately after finishing FAM's first season I dived into movies like "The Right Stuff", "First Man", and "Apollo 13" as well as "Interstellar" and "The Martian".

Did the quarantine make astronaut stuff much more relatable? Or are my tastes maturing?

I am excited for the Fall! There is a lot of astronaut stuff coming up! Disney+ and Nat Geo's remake of "The Right Stuff", S2 of "For All Mankind", and Netflix's "Away".

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Just Chat! / Was the religious right responsible for the horrible school bullying in the 80s?

« on: 08/09/2017 07:10:18 »

Was the religious right responsible for the horrible school bullying and the hate against nerdy stuff in the 80s?

In the 50s people like Buzz Aldrin and John Glenn played sports and enjoyed Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

In the 1980s however it would be unthinkable for High School students like them to enjoy those stories.

Did the religious right declare it unChristian and unAmerican for the mainstream to enjoy "geek" stuff?

Did they say only misfits and Satan worshipers enjoy "geek" stuff?

Were they responsible for the horrible school bullying against people considered "nerds" because they declared DnD players evil?

Or was it the capitalists? People would rather become millionaires, actors, and athletes rather than soldiers, scientists, and astronauts?

Or was it ex athlete principals that allowed bullying against nerds because they were afraid or jealous against anyone who was intelligent?

I am glad to know several athletes and military personnel who enjoy stuff like Guardians of the Galaxy and Mass Effect! They are intelligent, compassionate, and in peak physical condition!

Dungeons & Dragons is still being sold!

The religious right has failed!

How do you feel about that?

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Just Chat! / I think I'm superior to these people!

« on: 16/07/2017 09:15:21 »

I have heard about a group of popular students from my High School who are now successful. Their parents paid for their college. They live in gated neighborhoods with nice houses. They party. They have office jobs , presumably provided by their parents connections. They were not nice to the Muslims and Sikhs.

I doubt they would be be the kind of people to have enough courage to enter the void to colonize other planets to allow humanity to survive.

I think Donald Trump is the genetic combination of an orange and an ogre.

Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Bob Iger, and Bill Gates are the only rich people I like!

We will show the world the power of modern freedom, democracy, technology, and science!

The rich or rural working class can't stop the progress of freedom and democracy!

The Russians will pay for a future space humanity united under freedom, democracy, science, technology, and tolerance!

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Just Chat! / What happened to space opera?

« on: 10/11/2015 05:14:44 »

Back in the in the 90s and early 2000s we had a glut of space operas like Babylon 5, Star Trek, Firefly, and Battlestar Galactica. I used to see a lot of commercials promoting the Battlestar Galactica TV series back in 2004-05. Unfortunately I did not get into the genre until early 2014 when I played the first Mass Effect under the recommendation of a friend. I thought the Battle for the Citadel scene was epic. I was captivated. I craved more space adventure, politics, intrigue, science, and laser battles. Did the network execs decide the genre was dead? Considered too intellectual by the general population? Should this genre be revived? Ever since Battlestar Galactic ended its run back in 2009 there was no TV show, on any network, featuring people on spaceships.

It was long thought that fantasy was a genre once thought reserved for geeks but Game of Thrones has garnered a huge audience. Perhaps a well written space opera with a huge budget could appeal to a diverse audience. Perhaps the success of LOTR and Harry Potter also contributed to fantasy becoming mainstream. I hope an space opera equivalent of LOTR and/or Harry Potter to be successful at the box office.

I want an high quality epic space opera to become the sci fi equivalent of GOT! I want something that will make the genre mainstream!

13

Just Chat! / Cheerleaders

« on: 03/08/2015 17:18:36 »

What do you think of cheerleaders? Should cheerleading be considered a sport? If you had kids would you let them join a cheer squad? Cheerleaders are stereotyped as snobby and dumb. Have you ever met an intelligent cheerleader?