2001 is over already, and as a society we missed a golden opportunity. We missed the chance to reflect on how different (or similar) our world is from the world envisioned in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The last time there was a year like this was 1984, and every few weeks “20/20” or “60 Minutes” would run a show with a title like: “Orwell’s Vision: How Much Does Orwell’s 1984 Resemble Our Own?”
I’m still waiting for the 2001 media blitz. I’m still waiting for “Kubrick’s Vision: How Much Does Kubrick’s 2001 Resemble Our Own?” But at this point, I’m sure it’s not going to happen. Why not? Too boring? Too obvious? Sure, maybe. But when has being boring ever stopped anyone from doing anything? Refraining from doing something because someone else might find it boring… well, if that happened, what would become of televised fishing, for example? Or antic comedians? Or mixing records? People wouldn’t be able to talk about their pets or their computers anymore. They couldn’t compare the driving habits of the state they live in now to the state they used to live in.
No, being boring shouldn’t have stopped us being inundated by hundreds of news specials comparing the fictitious 2001 to the present 2001.
So, it wasn’t fear of boring the public, what was the reason?
In 1984, it was safe to compare our society with George Orwell’s 1984 because we came out favorably. True, many societies do, compared to the one in Orwell’s book, but in 1984 we could go on a bit about ubiquitous surveillance cameras and identification devices, and then in the end reassure ourselves that things aren’t that bad yet.
Compared to Kubrick’s vision, our 2001 might seem pretty grubby. There’re no pristine ivory space shuttles with crisp flight attendants taking businessmen to open Dairy Queens and Piggly Wigglys on the moon. This year, the only commercial space traveler paid millions for the privilege, and that was for coach on a foreign airline (I heard the in-flight meal was terrible, too – bah-dum! And his luggage was lost – bah-dum! Thank you folks I’ll be here all week). Our own space travel resembles Kubrick’s 2001 in other ways: long, tedious, and probably much more enjoyable under the influence.
Yet on the positive side, I’ve yet to find a computer that wanted me dead. There have been a few that I’ve felt had in it for me, but they’ve limited their malice to freezes and the occasional crash. I’ve never felt in danger of actual bodily harm; in fact, they were the ones running the risk of physical damage.
The truth is, our own 2001 is nothing to sneer at. Everyday, many of us benefit from the sort of technology and medicine that would have seemed miraculous less than 20 years ago. We may not acknowledge it, we may take it for granted, and we may denigrate its importance by sarcastic comparisons to movies. We may jump up and down like a golden ticket winner in Willy Wonka screaming “This is 2001 and you give me a scooter?! Where’s my jet pack? Where’s my personalized hover craft?” But the truth is, in many ways we’re living the future that was predicted for us 40 or 50 or 60 or more years ago.
It’s pretty amazing if you think about it, yet the ironic thing about technological advances is that they’re probably best when you don’t think about them. If we all stopped for a minute to smell the scientific developments, everything would probably come to a halt.
Still, if there was ever a time for reflection on scientific development, 2001 was the opportunity, even if we only thought about it for a short time. Our space shuttles may not have business class yet, but it would have been an excellent chance to realize all we do have, the kind of odyssey we’ve been on that’s got us to this point.
But, we blew it. 2001 and the time for reflection has passed us by. We’ll continue our headlong rush into the future, hoping our jet packs and TV wristwatches are just around the corner (actually, they probably are). Let this be a lesson for us to remember when 2525 rolls around.
In all seriousness, with sarcasm and “we-think-we’re-so-smart” commentary aside: have a wonderful New Year and thanks for reading inSync. Make great music in 2002.
inSync will be busy watching Bowl games tomorrow, but we’ll back here with or regularly scheduled programming on Wednesday. See you then.