History of the Future

1. History of the Future 7: The Future in the 1960s

2. The 1960s • Not that different from the 1950s • Woodstock, etc. are late and marginal • Continuing trends • Cold war, nuclear build up • Push for civil rights • Economic prosperity • Politics centrist (if sometimes bitter) • Kennedy elected 1960

3. Foreign Crises • Kennedy gives open ended commitment to world-wide defense of freedom • Cuban Revolution – 1959 • Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1961 • Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 • Closest approach to nuclear war • Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 1963 • Vietnam

4. Vietnam • US involvement escalates slowly • Influenced by fear of “Domino Effect” • Early 60s – Advisors, Technology, Green Berets • US bombing from 1964 • 40,000 regular troops in 1965 • By 1968 there are 468,000 troops • Public tiring of war • Johnson privately considered unwinnable

5. Great Society • Collection of ambitious social programs • Passed by LBJ as legacy of JFK • Civil Rights (Voting Rights Act) • War on Poverty • Medicare (elderly) • Medicaid (poor) • (at same time) Tax Cut • Record mixed • Great success for elderly

6. Liberal Reform • Strongest in Supreme Court • Miranda ruling in 1966 • Creation of new “right to privacy” • Removal of censorship of pornography • Catholic and other churches modernize

7. Sexual Revolution • Glorification of playboy lifestyle • Playboy magazine, 1953 • James Bond films • Oral contraceptives • Kinsey reports increase public discussion • Present homosexuality as common • Women’s Movement • The Feminine Mystique, 1963, Betty Friedan • Both sexes hurt by crushing domesticity

8. The New Left • Students for a Democratic Society (1960) • Campus based movement • Sex, love, drugs, radicalism • Free speech • Anti-war activism • Racial equality • Shifts towards radical violence in late 60s • Fringe terrorist groups such as Weathermen

9. Counterculture • Fairly marginal in reality • Can be seen as continuation of Utopian tradition • Personal lifestyle as political statement • Drugs • LSD (Popularized by Timothy Leary – Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out) • Some seize on as revolution • Music • Early 60s: Rock music is new mainstream of pop • Late 60s: Woodstock, Summer of Love, psychedelia

10. Stealth Conservative Revival • Barry Goldwater defeated in 1964 • Rout of conservatism seems total • Origins of neo-Conservative movement • Reagan elected CA governor, 1966 • Nixon wins in 1968 • Pledges to get America out of war • “Peace with honor” • Domestic policies are not a major shift • Upsurge in Evangelism

11. 1968 – The End of the 60s • Violence and Social Disruption • Race Riots in US cities • riots at Democratic Convention in Chicago • Martin Luther King killed • Bobby Kennedy killed • Students occupy Columbia campus • Nixon wins Presidential election • South shifts to Republicans

12. Mysticism • “Eastern Spirituality” • The Maharishi (Transcendental Meditation) and other gurus • Zen • Carlos Castaneda • Series of allegedly factual reports on wise mystics

13. Environmentalism • Origins in Progressive era • Teddy Roosevelt, Sierra Club, National parks • Emphasis on rational resource management • Becomes mass movement in 1960s • Sierra club has 100K members by 1970 • The Silent Spring, Rachael Carson, 1962 • Illuminates threat from pesticides • Humans as part of nature

14. Science Fiction in the 1960s • Role of magazines begins to decline • Surge in paperback book publication • Some books break through to bigger audience • SF ideas seep into mainstream • Films, TV – eg Star Trek (1966-9), 2001 • Shift away from technology • Less interest in near-future space flight • More interest in sociology, spirituality

15. The Future Gets Darker • Overpopulation • Environmental disaster & Ecology • Nuclear war (continuing theme) • Vietnam • Assumptions of straightforward progress increasingly challenged • Especially consumerism • Entropy becomes popular metaphor

16. SF Loosens Up • Reflects, rather than leads social shifts • Sexual revolution • Women’s liberation • Emergence of superman is big theme • Visible in Dune • Use of mythical resonances • Many Messiah figures, some ambivalent

17. Campus Bestsellers • Qualities • Philosophical • Tackle the “big questions” • Challenge/escape existing social order • Pass them on to your friends • Perennial favorites • Ayn Rand (Fountainhead, 1943) • Jack Kerouac (On the Road, 1957)

18. Appeal Turns to the Fantastic • Campus favorites included • Steppenwolf (1930s) • Lord of the Rings (early 50s) • Catch 22 (1961) • Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) • One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962) • Dune (1965) • The Magus (John Fowles, 1965) • Slaughterhouse Five (1969)

19. Stranger in a Strange Land • Heinlein, published 1961 • Superman founds new religion • Based on superhuman powers (was raised on Mars) • Works miracles, “Groks” the world • Lots of sex with followers • “Disincorporates” enemies, eats followers • Science fiction as spiritual movement • Heinlein later develops incest fixation

20. The “New Wave” in SF • Originates in Britain, mid-1960s • More literary & experimental approach • Darker and more pessimistic • Sex, drugs, pop-culture • New Worlds magazine • JG Ballard, Brian Aldiss, Michael Moorcock • Thomas M. Disch, Samuel R. Delaney from US • Leaves SF with more attitude & style

21. Dangerous Visions • US Anthology • Published 1967 • Edited by Harlan Ellison • Launch of “New Wave” in US • Hipper style, more sex, more religion • Revolutionary claims just hype • Writers like Ellison, Roger Zelazny start scooping up SF awards