Have you heard? The future is here! All this time, living in the now, and finally, the future is here! It’s incredible! What did those crazy scientists do this time? They put an animated display on a magazine cover. Whoo!
The most recent edition of Esquire had an E-Ink display on the cover, proclaiming the future’s presence among us. The inside cover had a Scion ad, complete with spinning wheels and realistic moving streetlights! Wow!
Well, realistic if you consider three-frame animation realistic.
Now, don’t get me wrong – E-Ink is amazing stuff. It’s useful in all sorts of applications, from flexible displays to watches to car dashboards. It is not, however, best showcased in a magazine’s gaudy advertising.
The truth is that this is still a fledgling technology, and it’s not ready for the big time. Besides that, there’s no call to put animation in a magazine.
Imagine opening your favorite rag to find not just an avalanche of subscription cards, but an avalanche of animated subscription cards. No thanks. Those are bad enough as is.
But the future! It’s here! It says so on my animated magazine! Right? The future is here, isn’t it? Guys?
The future is, by definition, not here. This is the now – a fleeting moment, immeasurable except in hindsight, the pinch in the hourglass.
Right now, I want my flying car. I want my computer to work properly. I want my phone to last more than three days on a charge. I don’t want limited technology proclaiming my unlimited potential. I don’t want reassuring words – my update is in the mail, I’m sure.
The future is all well and good, but corporations are entirely too eager to prey on humankind’s desire for anything other than what they’re currently doing.
They make the future out to be a point somewhere ahead of us, almost within our grasp. We’ll stop and stretch when we get there, kids, and we’ll tell you when we’ve arrived.
In reality, though, the future isn’t a big, single thing where all the products of tomorrow exist, where robots tend our every need and everyone has a spaceship and a diamond-encrusted rocket pony.
The future hasn’t solved any problems for less fortunate countries, which are still living in the then – for them, our now is their future, and nobody seems to have cured any more major diseases.
Why must the future be filled with marketable ideas? Why must the future forego basic needs to bring convenience? Why can’t we focus on leveling the playing field for everyone first?
Before we start heralding the new boss (same as the old boss) we should get the office in order – I don’t want to look back at our failure to bring up worldwide standards of living.
Stop selling me a better future – I want a better now.
