Lofty Goals

2006.11.15 - Wednesday

I found myself wondering the other day what sort of things inspire kids today. I'm not talking about the usual answers, like professional athletes, or when they're really young, "Mom" or "Dad". I was just wondering if, from a child's point of view, Western civilization appears to have any lofty goals. Often I wonder if what seems like an increasingly introverted society is raising a generation who really will take us forward.

When I was growing up during the late 80s and 90s, there really was a sense that we had made it. The Cold War was drawing to a close, and then was over. Technological progress was enormous. I can still remember what some things were like before the internet, which, by the way, was supposed to "change everything". The most popular sci-fi show on television was "Star Trek: The Next Generation", who's unwavering confidence in humanity pointed the way to what seemed like an inevitable future, lacking in hateful, corrupt people and destructive wars. By contrast, today's most popular sci-fi show, "Battlestar Galactica", focuses entirely on hugely destructive conflict and people who seem to be nothing but selfish, corrupt zealots.

Of course, it's possible that the 80s and 90s were simply naive years which produced what could be argued as the wimpiest, most amoral generation the West has seen, well, ever. The jury is still out on that one, though the evidence is becoming difficult to ignore. If guys like Mark Steyn are right, and the way to ensure the Western culture survives is to raise generations of adults who are proud of it, how would you do that? I have a hard time believing that having history's largest governments and least accountable citizens is the way to go. It's awfully hard, as a child, to be impressed with welfare and health care systems, or with safe injection sites and free urban housing for the poor. It's easy, however, especially for a child, to be proud of being part of the culture that gave us the car, the airplane, the rocket, the moon landing, the computer, and the internet.

With a media and intellectual elite that's increasingly willing to cast the West as the bad guy, a popular culture seemingly entirely invested in examining how awful people can be, and no large technical hurdles or challenges being put in front of them, how are children today supposed to stay positive or inspired? How are we supposed to stay positive or inspired? I saw Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, among other things, on "The Colbert Report" over the weekend talking about the future of invention in America. His hope is that through outsourcing, the rest of the world will learn to move up the technological ladder while our kids focus on the "new technologies". Will they even want to, though, without being brought up in a positive, non-limiting environment? If you ask many NASA engineers today why they became interested in science and technology, a lot of them will point to the Apollo program, and a lot of them will point to "Star Trek". Without a significant space program today, and in a world where aerospace in general is considered boring and routine, what's going to get the next generation interested?

I'm not trying to say nothing is out there for kids today, but I am having trouble finding it. Is everyone going to get jobs in either the service industries, government, or the arts? Forever? Throw me some ideas, because I want to think we're better off.