When is the Future?

[ralphmelton]

There are a lot of big holidays in the end of the year. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's are pretty big for me--I plan parties and family get-togethers around those times. After that, though, things taper off--Valentine's Day is significant for us as a couple and St. Patrick's day is the occasion of a big party, but big holidays become a lot more sparse.

Something similar has happened with years.
1984 was a notable year because of the book.
1999 and 2000 were really banner years for emotional significance--2000 has been a marker of "the future" since Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward in 1889. I remember that when I was in junior high, I calculated how old I would be in 2000, and that seemed like such a long way away.
2001, too, was a notable year, especially because of the movie. (I even remember celebrating HAL's birthday in 1992.)
1997 was sort of a notable year for me, because we celebrated the hexamillenial anniversary of the creation of the earth, according to Bishop Usher's chronology. But there wasn't widespread media coverage.

But now we seem to be entering a lull of emotionally significant years. What significant years are coming up? What apocalyptic years have been predicted?
When are we now predicted to have hovercars and personal jetpacks?
What year do junior-high kids look to and say "Wow, that's such a long way away"?

Comments

2112

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

2112 will be a significant year. What happens depends on whether you're a fan of Rush or John Byrne (or both).

I suspect I won't be around for it, so it really doesn't matter much to me what happens.

2038

[eub.livejournal.com]