A look back at a better time

In a story told not long ago in a galaxy not far away, a young space pilot named Luke Skywalker guides a high technology fighter plane on a last chance mission to destroy the forces of evil. He must thread his rocket through a nearly invisible opening, while speeding at full power. A targeting computer, which updates the ship's firing controls on a microsecond basis, is Luke's only hope.

Suddenly, at the crucial moment, he hears a voice from the past saying, "Use the Force, Luke. The Force is an energy field created by all living things. Trust your feelings, not the computer." Coming up hard on the target, he hesitates, switches off the electronics and—when it feels right—squeezes the trigger.

Below him the enemy explodes in a blinding nova, like a thousand suns...

That cliché-packed episode was, of course, from last year's movie blockbuster, Star Wars acclaimed by many as the ultimate technology film. What did you feel when Luke switched off the computer and flew by intuition? A surge of pride—or perhaps relief—when he actually out-gunned the machine? Then you got the message: "Don't worry about all those intellectually threatening computers, a human being can still outperform a machine any day of the week." It's a reassuring tune—whistled in the dark.

From Zen, Technology and the Split Brain, by Thomas Hoover (pg 123)

Still from Star Wars

Forty-seven years ago, when I was just about to turn the incredible age of sixteen, I was in the grocery store with my mother in the small mid-Ontario town where we lived. I was fifteen, and in a grocery store, so I was bored. I wandered over to the slim little magazine rack, and there I saw the bright red OMNI title sticking out. It was the first issue, and I wondered (at the time) if this was going to be anything like that NOVA magazine I'd heard was coming. Turns out, this WAS the NOVA magazine, with a last minute (and far better) name.

At a time when my mother was complaining about the 35-cent cost of my comic books, the $2.00 cover price elicted a scowl of disapproval, but I dug out a $2 bill (yes, we still had them back then) and paid for it myself...despite that being the equivalent of damn near six comic books.

I devoured that magazine when I got home, and continued to devour it for the next five years or so, until poor student finances forced me to dial back on some expenses. I never grew disenchanted with the magazine, and I loved the mix of current science, projected science, and the fiction by both upcoming and established authors.

I remembered my friend at the time saying, "It's okay, but it really focuses on 'gosh!' stuff, doesn't it?" And while I couldn't disagree, I had to admit that I didn't care. I liked the "gosh!" stuff!

There came a point where I sold off all my comics and magazines, including my treasured OMNI collection (they were great, but my god, five years of issues takes up a lot of space).

Flash forward to last May (2025). I'm in Kitchener, Ontario, and I'm poking around one of those large, barn-like spaces that offer up all sorts of antiques and old books and knick knacks and other stuff that makes a guy like me feel really old because, where most may think, well, isn't that a cool look back, I see it as the things I used to use on a daily basis. But I digress...

In one of the spaces, there were tons of books and magazines, and I happened to stumble on a large stack of... yup... OMNI magazines. Including the very first issue. And yes, I paid ten times the amount to own the very same issue, liberating not a toonie (our coin replacement for the $2 bill now gone thirty years), but a $20 bill.

I almost didn't want to read it again, because, while I knew it'd be interesting, it would also be sad, because I have such fond memories of that particular year. It was that perfect moment in time for me, where I was in a new town, I was finding new friends (one of which remains a friend to this day), my parents were happy and happily married, we lived in a nice house with a beach and lake in our back yard, and I had a new dog... The world was a simple, wonderful place, full of promise.

Photo by Gaspar Zaldo
(No, that's not me or my dog in the photo)

And here we are now, that Star Wars movie now just the first of many movies and television shows and comics and games. The internet, and social media, and AI are all in our daily lives, and we rarely look at the world anymore, unless it's through the lens of our phone screen.

Re-reading this magazine from 1978, and seeing all the hope, seeing the bright plans for the future was nostalgic, heartening, and I have to admit, it left me a little sad. That projection of solar power alone... we should be at 25% ...or more. But no. Not even close.

And that quote I started off with? The one about those computers that we can still outperform? That article's angle was to be like Luke, and to shut off that damn computer and trust your intuition. I think, in 1978, that was still a possible dream.

Six months ago, I shut down all my social media, and to be frank, mentally, I'm far better for it. But when someone asks me for my social media tags, or sends me something from one of the platforms that I can't watch because I'm not on there, I get such looks... They don't say a lot, but the look says it all: are you unwell?

Shut off the computer (and the phone, and the tablet) and trust your intuition?

I don't think it is anymore.

And that makes me sad. The future ain't what it used to be.

The Council on Environmental Quality projects that by the year 2000, 25 percent of our energy needs may well be met by solar energy.
From Sun Rights, Continuum section (pg 45)

What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source?
Solar: 3.9% (as of 2023)
From U.S. Energy Information Administration website (https://www.eia.gov)