Why did society lose interest in space and sci fi in the early 2010s?

[Vahe231991]

I think this is a silly premise for a thread, and since I was born in the 50's I have the historical perspective to know. 

First of all "American society" has never been monolithic and limited to just a few topics. The vast majority of people have their own personal lives to live, jobs to do, entertainment to enjoy, and "space" is just one of MANY topics that they are bombarded with. The vast majority of people don't "dream" of space.

Why? Because space up until now has seriously failed to live up to the hype being pushed not only by NASA, but also by the entertainment industry.

And the real applications of space, such as the International Space Station (ISS), it turns out that being safe in space makes for boring news cycles, so what is American society supposed to be excited about?

As for "the future of space", put that in the same category as "the future of work", or "the future home". So called "futurists" have been trying to imagine the future for a long time, and they rarely get it right.

So what is the "American society" not getting excited about that they should be excited about?

American society ought to be excited about privately-funded mega rockets like the Falcon Heavy, New Glenn, and Starship as well as Virgin Galactic's suborbital passenger flights, because many people don't know that Robert Heinlein became the first person to conjure up the notion of privately-funded spaceflight when he published the 1950 sci-fi novel The Man Who Sold the Moon, years before NACA was renamed NASA in 1958, and the recently completed first three commercial flights of SpaceShipTwo are the first steps in fulfilling Burt Rutan's dream of routine commercial suborbital passenger spaceflight.

[redneck]

People get excited over football games and boxing that have no connection to their own lives. People get excited over elections that feature a choice between people they've never met, and likely never will. And they dream of both with little or no connection to their day to day lives.

It is not the level of excitement or dreaming that gets things done. It is the commitment and work of the (relatively) few that moves humanity forward.

[Nomadd]

 Societies don't dream and there's never been a better time for space travel, manned, exploration and commercial. Don't push your beliefs and burnouts onto anybody else.
 Apollo wasn't the Golden Age. This is.

[Perchlorate]

Societies don't dream and there's never been a better time for space travel, manned, exploration and commercial. Don't push your beliefs and burnouts onto anybody else.
 Apollo wasn't the Golden Age. This is.

And, IM(not so)HO, it will get Goldener quickerer when we bicker and wail less and celebrate what we have in common more. 

[Coastal Ron]

American society ought to be excited about privately-funded mega rockets like the Falcon Heavy, New Glenn, and Starship as well as Virgin Galactic's suborbital passenger flights...

Let me stop you right there. Falcon Heavy and all other rockets are just forms of transportation, so it would be like requiring "American society" to be excited about delivery trucks. 

...because many people don't know that Robert Heinlein became the first person to conjure up the notion of privately-funded spaceflight when he published the 1950 sci-fi novel The Man Who Sold the Moon, years before NACA was renamed NASA in 1958, and the recently completed first three commercial flights of SpaceShipTwo are the first steps in fulfilling Burt Rutan's dream of routine commercial suborbital passenger spaceflight.

Oh, now "American society" is supposed to care about what Robert Heinlein wrote or Burt Rutan dreamed? 

Look, we are doing more in space with humans since the year 2000 than has EVER been done, and there are plans for even more activity. But other than some "Firsts", much of what has been going on is what is known as "work", and American society does work all the time, including in some dangerous and exotic locations here on Earth.

I don't think "American society" is actively ignoring "space", but I also don't think what we've been doing in space is extraordinarily worth focusing all of "American society".

[whitelancer64]

"First Man", 2018
"Apollo 13", 1995
"The Right Stuff", 1983
"Hidden Figures", 2017
"The Martian", 2015
"Interstellar", 2014
"Gravity", 2013
"Salyut-7", 2017
Documentaries like "When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions" 2008
and "IMAX Hubble", 2010

3/4 of those were released in the 20teens. Most of them did very well in theaters, even winning major awards. And there are many other space-related movies out there. This indicates a significant US cultural interest in space.

"I even found an obscure anime called "Planetes". 2003-2004

Ah, a true man of culture.

"Imagine living a world where the American government was much more competent"

That's your first problem right there.

"and cared much more about inspiring the next generation of American youth"

Your second mistake. That hasn't been a priority since the 80s, at best.

"Wouldn't advancing further as a society be the ultimate middle finger to the people with middle ages beliefs who attacked us?"

Another problem: There are a ton of people in Congress with very similar middle ages beliefs.

[zubenelgenubi]

Moderator:
I merged two very similar (repetitive?) threads, both started by the same member.  I did not merge the threads' titles.

Member, personal opinion:
Thread title(s) could be "Why did (fill in name of OP) lose interest..."

[JulesVerneATV]

Neuromancer set in Tokyo wrote in the 80s and they will have a show on it.
I don't think the Star Trek style and retro-futurism optimism is over, think its currently in a pause, the era of upbeat scifi with spaceships is on a bit of a hiatus, lull, maybe its all the super hero comicbook stuff, maybe its looming cuts, the economy or the political left vs right and right vs left, maybe its the movies that want to be 'Toys' or based on random 'Video Game' topics...some people blame AI as we get closer to the Gray-Goo 'Technological Singularity'

AppleTv is looking for their next cashcow, Scifi is still here but its more Dystopian again

and they are making 'Neuromancer' its East meets West, a Cyberpunk world before Matrix, before Dark City there was a book Neuromancer, its basically the plot of 'The Matrix' movie or its very Blade Runner, a tv show based on the book by American-Canadian author William Gibson



Apple Tv, some think it will be a good show. Others might say the fun is in old books and video games, currently society too cynical. William Gibson is widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk but he influenced by a world around him that was sometimes disturbing like Philip K Dick experiences, was old fashioned using traditional typewriter method, William Gibson would work with a Soveit rock musician, he attempted collaboration with Japanese filmmaker Sogo Ishii in 1991, they planned on shooting in the Walled City of Kowloon an old over crowded gray part of old British Hong Kong until the city was demolished. He seemed to comment on a blog where he sometimes made political or social comments, a photo of William Gibson with REM's  Mr. Stipe https://web.archive.org/web/20071121223044/http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/blog/2006_07_01_archive.asp#115354123358489417 William Gibson has wrote for the tv show X-files, he never really had a 'hit' and had limited success with Johnny Mnemonic and New Rose Hotel .