Why are so many visions of the future cast in cool tones? We watch science fiction movies and look at renderings tinted in blues and greys, whites and silvers. We do not imagine tomorrow in shades of yellow or red, olive or tan. Perhaps this reflects a desire for cleanliness and order, but it also points to something darker: a fusion with the machine.
Walking through the city, I try to remember how the world looked when we held books, newspapers, and maps rather than gazing into glowing screens. How quickly we’ve traded aesthetics for convenience. But nostalgia is a fool’s game. What will nostalgia look like thirty or forty years from now? I try to imagine myself as an old man, telling the kids about the good old days when every inch of public space was branded with a logo, when every street corner had a Chase bank and a Walgreens.
