Yes, the future really WAS something that, collectively, the world used to envision and fantasize about. Take a look at these images! In the movies, in fashion, in pop culture, in science and all over the press we once imagined what the future would be like; all freaky and new and cool! (Nobody envisioned a future of looking down at our dumb phones and tripping over curbs…. but btw, those stupid smart phones accomplish about half of all that future envisioning and dreaming in the palm of your hand.) Now the fashion we wear is pretty dull and our closets, cars and interiors look more or less like they did 20 years ago. Our most popular space stories (Star Wars notwithstanding) are about being left behind, looking for a new planet or finding something TERRIFYING out there. Yeah, we were (and are) scared of the future too.

Well, the future is here and it looks kinda bleak, if you ask most people. What happened to that dreaming of a better tomorrow we used to talk about? We once sold it to our kids too. Today that talk seems to always be about how the crappy future is that we are leaving them. We can’t even agree on what the future might look like. (With climate change –which half of the country seems to dismiss entirely– it all seems kinda iffy.) Well, I say, let’s get back to that optimism of the future past. My New Years greeting for all my pals is this digital composite to the left. Here’s wishing you a SWEET ’16 and the wide-eyed optimism of a 1950s teenager, where ANYTHING was possible. It still is.