An anonymous reader writes: Just following on the heels of the "bad predictions" story of a 1981 computer magazine, I wonder why the predictions about space must never be questioned or mocked?
The space future predicted in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s is equally as laughable in retrospect. Yet many people have invested so much emotional weight to these predictions that they can't let them go. Is that because the enticing imagery was shown to us as kids and not put into context?
The various excuses are something like government interference even though government is the only agency that managed to start anything in space so far. The other great denial is that somehow, millionaires would have explored space on their own if it wasn't for that meddling government. The fact that space is empty isn't much of a barrier apparently. And mere millions are enough. (lol ya right)
None of the over-optimistic space predictions make any sense. We used to predict casting special alloys in free-fall to allow strange mixes you can't make on the surface. Yet 3D printing now allows to create just that, but right here. Perfect ball bearings cast in orbital factories! We don't need perfect ball bearings! "Good enough" ball bearings made right here seem to work just fine in the latest and greatest jet engines.
Orbiting space habitats to escape the dying Earth! Oh the Gothic doom and gloom and romance! Yet if we had the technology to sustain a completely isolated biosphere, we'd damn well have the technology to fix the one we already have right here! Right? Because technology always gets better, remember?
Why does advancing technology somehow make technological predictions laughable, except the space predictions that are immune to this skepticism? What's the world-view behind the overly optimistic 1960s space predictions? And why is it so bad to dream about a realistic future for everyone right here on Earth?
