The Futures We Were Promised, The Futures We Were Denied

The Futures We Were Promised, The Futures We Were Denied

I laughed to myself reading the description of Johnny Mnemonic. The movie is set in 2021—what a joke. How could anyone have been so naïve as to think that we, as a people, as a society, as a world, would be as advanced as the imaginations of the 20th century?

Sure, we’ve come a long way. But in truth, we’ve barely moved an inch. As a human collective, we could already be living among the stars. Instead, we are trapped—limited by thought, chained by outdated systems. The archaic idea of capitalism, the endless parade of “isms,” the greed, the hate, the war—these are the anchors keeping us grounded when we could be soaring. We could be healing the earth—or maybe, in an alternate reality, we wouldn’t have poisoned her to begin with.

This world is still polluted with a colonized mentality. Every person is taught to be out for self, while the greater good rots. Humanity’s worst players have always been the same: the colonizers, the pillagers, the ones with no desire for kinship, unity, peace, or oneness. They are the architects of our stagnation.

Take The Jetsons. That shiny cartoon future takes place in 2062. That’s only 37 years from now. And tell me—do we look anywhere near that? We’ve got hoverboards, but do we really? We’ve got planes, jets, and sleek war machines—but teleportation tunnels? Rosie the Robot? Please. My Roomba can barely stay charged. Humanoid robots? Don’t get me started. Even Total Recall, set in 2084, imagines a future far more ambitious than our reality is on track to deliver.

Then vs. Now: The Futures We Were Sold vs. The Futures We Got

• Rosie the Robot (The Jetsons, 1962): a sharp-witted, humanoid housemaid.
  Reality: a Roomba that gets stuck on the rug.

• Hoverboards (Back to the Future II, 2015): sleek levitation tech.
  Reality: fire-prone scooters and TikTok wipeouts.

• Precogs and personalized ads (Minority Report, 2054): predicting crimes before they happen, ads that know you inside out.
  Reality: glitchy algorithms pushing ads for stuff you already bought. Police? Still reactive, not predictive.

• Cryo-prisons and instant rehab (Demolition Man, 2032): freeze criminals, thaw them into reformed citizens.
  Reality: mass incarceration, private prisons, and zero rehabilitation.

• Cybernetic cops (RoboCop, near-future Detroit): a half-man, half-machine law enforcer built to protect the people.
  Reality: police forces armed like military units, but with none of the accountability.

• Dream-sharing espionage (Inception, 2010): manipulating entire realities inside the human mind.
  Reality: lucid dreaming TikTok hacks and overpriced “sleep pods” at airports.

• Blood wars & enhanced bodies (Ultraviolet, 2078): superhumans with advanced abilities.
  Reality: wearable step counters and protein powders marketed like they’ll unlock immortality.

• Memory implants, Mars vacations (Total Recall, 2084): realities swapped at will.
  Reality: Meta’s VR headset—heavy, headache-inducing, and buggy.

• Black Mirror futures (various): social-credit systems, digital afterlives, robotic “companions.”
  Reality: Instagram likes as validation, AI bots writing clickbait, and humans lonelier than ever.

Yes, there are sparks—beautiful, fleeting sparks. Aquatic toys, advanced crafts, whispers of AI. But they pale in comparison to what we could have built if we weren’t so busy fighting, hoarding, and tearing each other apart.

Because here’s the truth: humanity will never see those imagined futures until we learn to dismantle and destroy the colonizer mindset. Until we shed the systems designed to divide. Until we reject everything that hinders growth, wellness, and collective abundance.

On a small scale, there are dreamers—people like me who still believe in more. People who want the good, the kind, the ones who push humanity forward instead of dragging us back. But dreaming alone isn’t enough. It’s time for the collective to wake up, to imagine bigger, and to finally align our future with what we once dared to believe was possible.

The future we were promised is not lost—it’s waiting. But we’ll never touch it until we decide to become more than colonizers with shiny toys.

👉🏾 Some folks bring smoke, we bring sage. If you’re done with broken systems and want to imagine new futures built for the greater good, come get fed inside The 83 Society.