In a short time I have become a HUGE fan of Disney's Tomorrowland movie. I was a big fan before it opened, and became an even bigger fan after I saw it. I am looking forward to seeing it again, many times. Even though it surprised me with where it went (Disney did a great job of keeping a lid on the story until it released.) Why am I such a big fan? Because I really want to be optimistic about the future, hopeful for humanity, yet we live in a culture where that has become more and more difficult. We live in a doomsday, apoplectic culture. From religious people prophesying end times and the return of Jesus, never mind that the Bible says in Luke 21:32-33 "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away." and it's been over 2000 years! (Wake up to the difference between ancient myth's and reality folks, PLEASE!) To nut jobs predicting alien attacks, and real legitimate, science based concerns about climate change, species extinction and more that is being fed by post apoplectic visions in popular culture like The Hunger Games, Mad Max, Planet of the Apes, and well actually this list could go on for pages, we are inundated with it. As Neil deGrasse Tyson says in this video, we have stopped dreaming. I agree with every comment Mr. Tyson makes in this video. But to have a better tomorrow it will take far more than NASA. It needs to be part of our cultural psyche again like, as he states, it at one time was. And I think that is, yes largely driven by fear it is also hugely driven by popular media. That is largely why I am so jazzed about this movie!
It posits that the future is not set in stone, that it does not have to be an end of the world apoplectic collapse. That it can be better. And there is good reason to believe that it can be better, it's called history. History shows that life has in fact gotten remarkably better. A couple good resources on that are The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker and The Moral Arc by Michael Shermer But a blunt reality is also that most of our wonderful progress since the industrial revolution is also destroying the environment that we depend on for our very lives. But there is a realistic and optimistic hope that we can change that, and we are on the verge of changing that. One person in particular has recently given me much hope that we can change that is Jeremy Rifkin he is an American economic and social theorist, writer, public speaker, political adviser, and activist. I highly recommend that you watch some of his talks on YouTube and read some of his books. Disney's Tomorrowland movie also comes with a message of optimism that I feel is badly needed in this culture and I feel that a shift in cultural attitude has to be driven by cultural story tellers such as Disney. Much more so than by the scientists and researchers who I have previously mentioned. At one time (when Walt was still alive) the Disney company really helped to drive the cultural optimism about the future, from film, to TV, to the Tomorrowland's at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, but sadly after his death the company lost his vision. I hope this movie is a signal that they are getting it back. As one Character in the movie says "We like apocalyptic futures, because they ask nothing of us" That is sadly right. What will tomorrow bring for the human race? That depends on us. Will we ask nothing of ourselves and ensure an apoplectic future? Or will we rise to the challenge progress forward and help bring about a great big beautiful tomorrow? Are you the optimist that we are looking for and need?
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