What fictional Dystopia do you think our future will resemble?

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Netrunner, either the original or the remake. Slow increase of corporate power and political autonomy, and increase of the street level resistance in the same fashon of the civil conflicts on the mid to late 20th century. I don't foresee some great migration across the stars ... because fuck that noise. Earth will always be the grave of most humans. I also don't foresee nuclear war. I also don't foresee the state becoming omniscient. At least, not without private resistance and still the means to disappear. I still don't really foresee cybernetics being a common thing beyond necessity because ... I actually studied the subject and know the science behind it.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

That's why I'm more hopeful for businesses in that regard, colonizing Mars, for example, will yield pretty much near infinite amount of money (a whole planet of resources) and every corporation will spend vast amounts of money to be the first there. Our only obstacle is tech and energy and I'm fairly optimistic that within this decade we'll at least manage decent close range reliable space travel and maybe a space elevator.

I'm pretty sure the last thing we shouldbe doing is letting corporations claim bits of space. They already don't pay taxes. Now we're just going to wholesale just forfeit a million years worth of resources? If the whole point of space travel is; "Yay, now everybody can consume resources like that idiot who buys two metric tons worth of truck because they feel insecure..." then the last thing you're going to want is basically people doing to the entirety of space what we already do to diamonds.

Not only that, we're just transporting a problem into space. IF the whole point of space travel is to cure the resources crisis on Earth, then yeah ... but if that's not the case, and the only reason is some nebulous moral right to the stars which does nothing but culminate into taxpayer money buys potential for space liners, then corporations reap profits ... then I'd say the moral reason to go to space is already lacking in its entirety.

Particularly when thereare other objectives we can be spending money on that will actually contribute to a utilitarian good.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Shadowrun. Definitly Shadowrun. The commlinks are already here, VR is on it's way, cybernetics actually make decent progress, Corps are gettin' bigger and bigger and our data is also all over the place.

True, we may be a wee bit behind on the whole magic schedule but i'm sure we can fix that.
But once i've my cybernetic arms and a simrig in my head i can live without shootin' fireballs out of mah pooper.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

But once i've my cybernetic arms and a simrig in my head i can live without shootin' fireballs out of mah pooper.

Gah... people do understand that it takes years to learn how to use myoelectric prosthetics, don't they?

You know what will happen if you walked into a surgery and demanded a surgeon lop off both your natural, undamaged arms and replace them with myoelectric prosthesis? They'd call you a moron. That it will take you years of painful readjustment and rehabilitation. Not to mention the incredible psychological damage of losing a limb and the inherent dangers in anaesthestics in order to do so.

It's not even close to zero sum. The Soviets were the first to use the technology ... BACK IN THE 50s. Yes, technology is great, and wonderful, and will improve our lives ... but that's because there's a basis founded in reality and scientific knowledge.

(Edit) Also... your essence value dictates your magic value... so chromed mages are kind of dumb. Which always struck me as odd for a game line thst pushed existentialism and the nature of liberty, for good or ill, is the best you can rightfully own and rightfully should command with both hands. Or you could makr thd argument Shadowrun is making the proof that metahumanity is inherently no different and manufactured ideas of controlling one's destiny is merely a shortcut to making it a self fulfilling prophecy of destruction, iniquity, and the loss of comfortable normalcy for all.

Or that it's a game and they just needed to balance cybernetics and magic. Which wasn't that hard given that both magic and cybernetics since 3rd edition (though more so cybernetics in the 3rd specifically) are shit.

 

[Poetic Nova]

I genuinly think that we already more or less live the world as described in Orwell's 1984.

 

[Supernova1138]

I'd say we're well on our way to Demolition Man, which sucks because I fucking hate Taco Bell.

*BZZT* YOU HAVE BEEN FINED ONE CREDIT FOR VIOLATION OF THE VERBAL MORALITY STATUTE!

 

[Cold Shiny]

Definitely Brave New World.

People are already obsessed with drugs that don't actually improve their lives, so we have that.

People also think that the family unit is outdated and pointless, in the future we probably won't have them.

And finally, sex as an exclusive act has utterly died out completely, everyone just wants to have sex with everyone.

We have a brave new world ahead of us.

 

[DrownedAmmet]

Definitely Brave New World.

People are already obsessed with drugs that don't actually improve their lives, so we have that.

People also think that the family unit is outdated and pointless, in the future we probably won't have them.

And finally, sex as an exclusive act has utterly died out completely, everyone just wants to have sex with everyone.

We have a brave new world ahead of us.

I haven't read the book, but your description of the "dystopian" society sounds pretty chill!

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Honestly.

The worst parts of Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World with the language, informant culture, and surveillance state of 1984.

Because how can it not?

 

[Erttheking]

The Road. Let's be honest. It'll be The Road, and no mistake.

If it's a natural catastrophy on a global scale, then yes probably. No badasses, no civilisation from the ashes, just slow, merciless, and painful decay.

Yeah, and if you want the knife to get a good nice twist, The Day After and Threads also show how we will decay slowly and painfully if something utterly goes to shit (usually in a nuclear war). Threads apparently does a good job showing just how utterly the next generation would regress.

OT: *Sigh* Hard to say. There could be a bit of all of it. The government surveillance from 1984 is already a big thing, the easy, shallow entertainment from Fahrenheit 451, the emphasis on happiness over facing reality in Brave New World. And nearly every other story like this. All of these stories had a point.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Can't really think of an example off the top of my head, but any dystopian future where the world is run by companies instead of actual governments.

Kind of like Space Dandy, but not quite that far-fetched.

 

[pookie101]

Why go to the future? We already live in a cyberpunk future, with 80's sci-fy technology present in our daily lives, with corporations bombarding us with distractions from the real world problems, and people shaming (and even cyber-attacking) those who disagree with corporations or who try to analyze things too closely for their comfort.

Real World: stranger than fiction.

i grew up in the 80's and was introduced to cyberpunk. i never thought i would see it in my lifetime but yeah cyber wear isn't there yet and corporations haven't officially received extraterritorial powers YET but we live in a cyberpunk future already.

i also didn't expect all the things the USA used to condemn the soviet union for now being common US practice. abduction people and jailing them without trial, torture, assassinations, mass monitoring of the population, etc

 

[PapaGreg096]

Definitely Brave New World.

People are already obsessed with drugs that don't actually improve their lives, so we have that.


And finally, sex as an exclusive act has utterly died out completely, everyone just wants to have sex with everyone.
.

Those two things have been with us since the dawn of man

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Honestly, assuming Americans don't go insane and willingly vote for Trump, I think that we might be heading to a future not too different from the one portrayed in Almost Human.

Advancements in technology, tighter surveillance, a surge in cyber crime, and a human-android police force, as well as a forgotten struggle that has forever segregated parts of the country with large walls could all be possible realities in the next 30 years.

The development and advancements of AI will surely be completely dependent on the need and demand for it, though.

 

[Mister K]

I think we are headed towards future shown in Transmetropolitan. Nothing will change, except for technology and what humans accept as norm.

 

[Kyrian007]

As much as it's not really actual dystopia as much as frontier lawlessness, I'd have to go with something like Trigun, Firefly, even Fallout. Basically with the increasing polarization of the population of major world powers, the disappearing of cooperation and the rise of governance via obstruction... government is growing more and more powerless. I see most falling apart rather than becoming totalitarian dystopias. Leading to lawless wastelends with more heavily populated centers being heavily defended totalitarian city-states. And maybe some mega-corporations remain alive and increase their power. But large, federal type governments... naa, that's gonna fall.

Unless there's a gamechanging technology advance. Something along the lines of Clarke's "The Light of Other Days."

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

But once i've my cybernetic arms and a simrig in my head i can live without shootin' fireballs out of mah pooper.

Gah... people do understand that it takes years to learn how to use myoelectric prosthetics, don't they?

You know what will happen if you walked into a surgery and demanded a surgeon lop off both your natural, undamaged arms and replace them with myoelectric prosthesis? They'd call you a moron. That it will take you years of painful readjustment and rehabilitation. Not to mention the incredible psychological damage of losing a limb and the inherent dangers in anaesthestics in order to do so.

It's not even close to zero sum. The Soviets were the first to use the technology ... BACK IN THE 50s. Yes, technology is great, and wonderful, and will improve our lives ... but that's because there's a basis founded in reality and scientific knowledge.

(Edit) Also... your essence value dictates your magic value... so chromed mages are kind of dumb. Which always struck me as odd for a game line thst pushed existentialism and the nature of liberty, for good or ill, is the best you can rightfully own and rightfully should command with both hands. Or you could makr thd argument Shadowrun is making the proof that metahumanity is inherently no different and manufactured ideas of controlling one's destiny is merely a shortcut to making it a self fulfilling prophecy of destruction, iniquity, and the loss of comfortable normalcy for all.

Or that it's a game and they just needed to balance cybernetics and magic. Which wasn't that hard given that both magic and cybernetics since 3rd edition (though more so cybernetics in the 3rd specifically) are shit.

Pff, now look at you silly. Comin' in here with your logic and stuff. I want cybernetic arms and i want them now! How else am i gonna lift trucks and punch people through walls?

To the edit: chromed mages can actually be really friggin scary, but it needs lot of minmaxing. I've played multiple such characters. Mages with higher grade reflexboosters or just payin' 1 essence to cram your head full with utility upgrades can be more than worth it.

Plus: Dafuq, since when are cybernetics shit? Except for super broken technomancers (depending on the GM) the cybersam is probably one of the strongest archetypes. Though i agree magic has need tricks but is pretty weak in many battles. You're to slow, to squishy and keepin' up with the +20 dice from the start cyberdudes or adepts is usually not possible.

 

[warmachine]

Judge Dredd without the aliens and less amazing technology. As automation make many people jobless and global warming throws ecosystems into chaos, people will migrate to massive megacities. Agriculture will mostly be hydroponics and meat growth vats you don't want to look at. With little work to provide purpose and stuck in concrete jungles, most people will stagnate with brainless entertainment or become violent. The police will become super trained and puritan with the authority of instant judge, jury and, if they deem necessary, executioner. The police's saving graces will be puritanism and sense of duty, caring only to keep a lid on the violence, not caring about race or wealth accumulation.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

This one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_to_the_Future

Just jumping on the bandwagon, I'm sure. Uncanny though, that they called it 15 years ahead of time.

A few decades after that? Probably Snow Crash. We already have the 'Oriental mega-corporations more powerful than any government' thing, as well as virtual reality.