Needed something to explain the odd juxtaposition of possible futures and actual outcomes. Came up with this.
Because in 1984, we were worried about George Orwell’s warnings of the impending arrival of Big Brother and endless war (“Ingsoc is at war with Oceania. Ingsoc has always been at war with Oceania.”), yet our space program was running strong and, with Arthur C. Clarke’s vision, we were able to dream beyond our world toward living in space. In 2001, endless war arrived in the form of the War on Terror, and by now our space-fairing capability is all but scrapped while we wait on the private sector to catch up.
Interesting swapparoo, don’t you think?