this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2025
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TBF they really thought we'd uncover technologies such as:
Electro Aviation - up until the 1980s-ish a lot of people including researchers believed Magnetic Levitating Aviation was possible.
Infinite Nuclear Power - Nuclear power plants use decaying nuclear materials, fission, to heat water to turn turbines. Another type of nuclear energy is called Fusion, it's the process behind the Atomic Bombs that leveled Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and Bikini Atoll. Cold Fusion, a type of theoretical fusion completely contained via electromagnetic field or advanced materials, was expected to happen at any moment in the last 60 years.
Faster than Light Travel - With nearly infinite power and nearly infinite thrust and therefor speed, we should have been able to go anywhere in the universe.
Sadly, all of it was wrong. Chances are, at the rate we're going, all habitable systems' stars will completely die out before we ever catch a good glimpse at them, a part of space we refer to as "the local group" is a portion we could theoretically reach before the end of the universe and it's quite limited.
Sorry to be pedantic, but the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were fission, not fusion bombs. The first fusion bombs weren't developed until the 1950s.
To add to this, a lot of this fiction was created during the space race, when America was heavily invested in space and Americans were captivated.
When public interest started to wane its importance as a political talking point dried up, removing it from priorities, and minimizing funding.
If the US government kept its eye on the ball we could be more advanced.
It’s too busy rolling back rights for women and deporting legal immigrants for that. Oh and protecting a pedophile.
Rights for women ? They already have more rights than men. (E.g: Not getting conscripted + Affirmative action + crimes against women having stricter punishments)
I'm sure Big Oil had their had in these alternate energy sources too
Makes me wonder if maybe in the far future, we nudge the orbit of the sun through the galactic disk so we can carefully manure Earth into the habitable zone of a red dwarf.
Doesn't matter how carefully you manure Earth, it's still a shitty plan.
Aliens: "Wow, such a young species already building a dyson sphere?"
Human: "Huh? Oh, that? No, thats our Galactic Parabolic Orbit Slingshot Array, AKA ye ol' sun nudger to get earth closer to another usable star."
Aliens: "..."
Humans: "You ok?'
Aliens: "If you can maintain fragile habitability while you move stars why not just turn your planet into a space station?"
"Because it already is? A living ecosystem can usually outperform and absolutely outlast any sort of machine fabricated environment. Throw a gas giant at the distant edge of your dwarf system and it'll sort out nearly all the deadly rocks. Why fix what isn't broken?"