Our obsession with our future is leading to a bleak outlook for humanity
The serial entrepreneur Elon Musk is celebrated for his bold ideas about the future. He's just one of the many people today determined to "own the future." In fact, you could say, that's the mantra of our times. But cultural critic Hal Niedzviecki joins us to knock off our rose-tinted spectacles.
It seems everyone, from NBA teams, to the U.S. president, to countless Silicon Valley start-up entrepreneurs, are all focused on the future, and "winning the future," whatever that might really mean.
It's an obsession with the future that the Canadian cultural critic and novelist Hal Niedzviecki has been noticing everywhere he looks these days.
And one that's left him less than optimistic about our future.
In fact, he says today's rampant "futurism" could be doing some real harm to the way we live.
Hal Niedzviecki has written a new book called, "Trees on Mars: Our Obsession with the Future." He joined Kelly Crowe in our Toronto studio.
This segment was produced by The Current's Karin Marley.