Extenuating Circumstances is a weblog by Dan Hon

(Un)desirable Futures

Where would you like to live? Brighton? St. John’s Wood? Greenwich? Hackney? Or, if you’re of a more fantastical or surreal bent, the Moon? Or maybe The Tardis?

Five Futures I’d Be Happy Relocating To

1. THE FUTURE AS ENVISAGED BY THE 1979 TITLE “THE USBORNE BOOK OF THE FUTURE“
2. THE FUTURE AS ENVISAGED BY 1960S FUTURISTS
3. ANYWHERE WITH FREE BUCKMINSTER FULLER DOMES FOR ALL
4. THE “GOOD” 2015 VERSION OF HILL VALLEY, AS NEVER SEEN ON-SCREEN IN THE BACK TO THE FUTURE TRILOGY
5. THE IMPLIED REBOOT OF POST-CONSUMER HUMAN SOCIETY OF WALL-E

Five Futures I’d Rather Not Relocate To

1. THE FUTURE AS ENVISAGED BY LATE 1990S ENVIRONMENTALISTS
2. THE FUTURE AS ENVISAGED BY A NEANDERTHAL WHO HAS EXPERIENCED A DROUGHT
3. ANYWHERE WITH C-BEAMS GLITTERING
4. THE COST-BENEFIT INTERSTELLAR HAULAGE/STORAGE UTILISATION ANALYSIS DIVISION OF AMERICAN AIRLINES (SPACE FREIGHTERS), PREPARING A REPORT ON THE FEASIBILITY OF CALLING THE VALLEY FORGE BACK INTO COMMERCIAL SERVICE
5. ANY FUTURE AS REGULARLY ENVISAGED BY THE DAILY MAIL

* Inspired by a conversation with Naomi Alderman

I want to live in the year 2009 as I imagined it would be when I was 12.

I thought there would be no gender pay gap any more, men and women would be able to choose which one took the maternity/paternity leave at different times, and there would be affordable tourist trips to the moon. And the whole world would have universally decided that, as we’re rich enough already, we should just extend the weekend to include Fridays. And the genre of point-and-click adventures would have been recognised as the greatest gaming genre ever.

I’m pretty pleased with the whole TV-on-demand thing, and gay marriage, and the internet was a nice surprise, but broadly, future, you haven’t gone as I hoped.