Why retro-futurist?

There’s a reason this site focuses on retro-futurist techno-utopias, and not techno-utopias in general: Because in many cases the retro-futurist ones are already possible.

There are an infinite number of techo-utopias that are impossible—some that are only impossible now, others that will probably always be impossible. Those aren’t really very interesting. But other techno-utopias are possible, and among the retro-futurist ones the hunting grounds are rich.

What is “retro-futurist” anyway?

Anything written about the future is futurist. I use “retro-futurist” to describe things written in the past about the future they saw.

Of course, retro-futurist visions are rarely realized just as the visionary anticipates. Even so, there are many common threads of retro-futurist thinking that have come to be realized. For example, one broad category of retro-futurist techno-utopias feature technological advances that reduce the need for human labor to the point that an ordinary worker could provide for the necessities of life with only a few hours of labor per week. Those retro-futurist techno-utopias are already possible. We have the technology.

Why aren’t we already there?

If techno-utopias are already possible, why are we living in a world with so much hunger, poverty, and misery?

There are a lot of reasons, some historical, some having to do with human nature, and others with the limits of technology (and the planet). But just because we aren’t all living in a techno-utopia doesn’t mean that any particular one of us can’t choose to build a techno-utopia just for ourselves.

Helping you do so is exactly what this site is for.

Choose a techno-utopia that’s a utopia for you. Choose a retro-futurist one, to increase the chance that the one you choose will be possible today.

Then get started building it. That’s what this site is all about.