Possible Optimistic Futures

This neat article by io9. examines science fiction stories presenting optimistic futures which may still come to pass.  Examples include The Jetsons, Back to the Future Part II, Mass Effect, and Babylon 5, which present flying cars (something I really, REALLY want), robot maids, planetary colonization, pre-natal genetic engineering, and a hyper-efficient legal system.  However, there are arguments to be made that those last two aren’t exactly good things.

When discussing how “the justice system works swiftly in the future now that they’ve abolished all the lawyers” from BTTF II, the article points out how this isn’t exactly “optimistic,” or at least is open to debate.  From the way some of these futures are described, as “post-scarcity” wonderlands in which no one is poor or wants for necessities, it could be possible that a society without a need for lawyers or the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments could one day exist, but that is a highly unlikely outcome (though I’d say the same about the post-scarcity society as well).

All in all, a fun read that creates some hope for the future.