Though there’s very little chance, apparently, of accurately predicting the future, it seems we’re hardwired to try.  History, reason, and desire seem to be the main tools in this quixotic venture. It helps if you don’t go too far, as The Economist does. But for longer visions, the results are often, in hindsight, hilarious.

I don’t think that will accurately describe tomorrow’s lecture, Tomorrowland: Space Age Cities of the 1960s, by author and Allen Room writer-in-residence Rosemary Wakeman. However, we are talking about the 1960s. Combine optimism, a sense of liberation from the past (vanitas, vanitatis), and the threat of atomic destruction, and you get a “wild assortment of Utopian visions of the city that symbolized both fantasies and fears.”

Anyway, hoping to see you there. As always, mention this blog post for a free and utterly unremunerative gift.