# 20 And the Happy Future has gone

It's during a discussion with my wife that we spoke of the «Happy Future» that we were dreaming during our childhood. For us, children of the 70s, the 2000s were science-fiction years. Not necessarily with flying cars but something different from the years we were living. But the closer we got to the year 2000, the less we saw of the hoped-for discoveries. And the more the world became sad, dark, dirty, polluted, dangerous… I'm not a child anymore and I can't imagine a happy future for the next generations of Earthlings. 

Of course, as a child, I couldn't understand politics, wars and all the prophets talking about pollution and overpopulation. Do the children of today understand more ? I'm not sure but the world is perhaps less carefree than we were. Just jump into the DeLorean or a WaybackMachine and look at the early 80s. Listen to the music, .… New Wave, Hard Rock, talking about sex, parties, etc...Ok, maybe not Punk Rock, ha ha, but mainstream music. The movies were not all funny in the late 70s but the early 80s were fun. for me… not all for masterpieces. Back To the Future, Indiana Jones, Ok, but the ZAZ movies or other parody films, it was fun for kids and young adults. If I remember well, I was listening to songs that were not so fun, movies also, speaking about Cold war, end of the Vietnam war and all the traumas of this period. But after that, the future could be bright. The first doubts have came with AIDS, acid rains and the hole in the ozone layer. Disease and pollution : That was the future if we did the sa
me bullshit. Our parents, the boomer were not guilty individually, just the whole society. Capitalism was still the king to save us. Communism was about to lose the cold war. Science was still the answer to our problems. 

I don't remember how I saw the future in my dreams. My grand father told me about overpopulation. He was right but I didn't care. I was dreaming of incredible concept cars, space ships. I was dreaming of computer, 3D and holograms as screens. I was dreaming of phones who could transmit images....That's the only reality that I can use. I was dreaming of travels in the world to see the seven wonders and even more, like a modern Marco Polo,  to see the last whales or the wild animals like the Commandant Cousteau. I saw some of these things and I'm happy for that. I have realized some of my dreams but the future of my passed dreams is not a reality. I still have dreams but not the same as a young man. When I hear someone talking about the future, it's dark, it's the climate crisis, it's a hotter planet, it's wars, poverty, migration, fear of the others, fear of the unknown… Does this new generation think about a better future that they could build ? I can't answer. The paradox is with a global economy on earth
 the people are thinking more and more as individuals and not groups, earthlings or humans. They are even thinking to leave this planet for a better future, believing some gurus of a life on mars. David Bowie is now dead and it's not a Ziggy Stardust who will lead this new world. 

I could stand pessimistic for the future. I'm not going to see a brighter future during my life and when I'm thinking about the Human History, I know that a peaceful decade is so rare. Look at what happened just after World War II with so many conflicts with influence of the cold war, millions of death in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Irak, Lebanon....and prosperity for western people in the same time. Our vision of the future is not the same in Europe, America or in some growing countries in south east Asia. The most optimistic countries are in Scandinavia. The people thinking that living conditions will get better are in Kenya, Nigeria, India or Senegal. France is always pessimistic, as are Japanese now. It's simply the sign than world is changing and not only for climate. I'm often thinking about the living conditions of my grand parents and their grand parents, etc... Sometimes it was very hard periods but they did it. They have lived happily without all that we have for our comfort. They have lived witho
ut cars, without computers or Internet. So it always remains to the question : What is happiness ? It's so subjective. 

If the future was simply different than our passed dreams to be happy ? I should ask other people than me, younger people. I have read that 25% of the teenagers in France are dreaming to become an influencer... But the other ? I hope that they have most interesting dreams and different from me, from us.

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