Why were the early 2010s more vapid?

[AstroCadet69]

I was just a young idealistic college student back then.

During the Summer between my Freshman and Sophomore year of college in 2014 a friend showed me a video game called "Mass Effect" and I was blown away by the universe, story, and characters that was created in this video game. As a "Cod bro type gamer" I also never seen a video game quite like it before. Role playing combined with cinematic storytelling. That blew me away as well. They were also playing the movie "The Fifth Element" on TV a lot during this time as well.

Another game that blew me away was this indie game called "To The Moon".


Before space and sci fi had absolutely no appeal to me. Mass Effect gave me a sense of wonder of what might be out there in space. I also find out about an astrophysicist becoming more famous named "Neil Degrasse Tyson" and he only added fuel to that fire. Maybe "To The Moon" contributed to igniting this interest as well.

For some strange reason I associate space exploration and sci fi with the optimism of the 90s. Could nostalgia play a factor?

I end up finding out that Mass Effect was inspired by sci fi like "Babylon 5", Battlestar Galactica", "Firefly", "Farscape", and "Star Trek". I end up binge watching those. I then find out about all the space opera novels. I devoured space opera novels like James S.A. Corey's "The Expanse" and "The Culture" by Iain M. Banks.

I remember watching a video with a speech by Neil Degrasse Tyson where he lamented that society has not just lost interest in space but lost interest in dreaming of a better future.

I also get into games like "Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager" and "Kerbal Space Program".

2014 was really a cosmic year for me. That combined with "Cosmos" and movies like "Guardians of the Galaxy", "Interstellar", and "Big Hero 6".

I also remember the early 2010s as a vapid time. Most of my fellow students as well as wider society seemed more interested in reality shows, materialism, and partying.

Sadly I lost interest in space around 2016. During the quarantine I check out this show on Apple TV out of boredom and curiosity and it ends up reigniting my interest in NASA and space exploration.

There was a load of other astronaut themed stuff on TV last year.

FAM and Challenger were the best of the astronaut stuff we got.

Why did young people feel more of a need to conform during the early 2010s?

Not to say that the vapidity of the early 2010s was an entirely bad thing but why not be athletic, fun loving, and yet smart like these badass people called astronauts?

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

To me it just seemed to be an inevitable bounce-back from the cynicism of the '90s and the general shell-shock of the 2000s, a case of mental fatigue and a desire to be distracted by shallow, shiny things.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I remember watching a video with a speech by Neil Degrasse Tyson where he lamented that society has not just lost interest in space but lost interest in dreaming of a better future.

I think large parts of society woke up and realised we're not going to get the great future we used to like dreaming about.

 

[Hades]

To me it just seemed to be an inevitable bounce-back from the cynicism of the '90s and the general shell-shock of the 2000s, a case of mental fatigue and a desire to be distracted by shallow, shiny things.

And now we're straight back to cynicism.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Shrug. People's experiences are pretty subjective. Materialism, partying and shit TV have been a staple of society for a while now.

 

[Worgen]

I don't know about the 2010s being vapid, but if your into scifi stuff you should check out The Expanse on amazon prime.

 

[Hawki]

So, this is me arguably projecting - most of the people on this site are in the US (I think), so I can't really speak for a specific experience there so much, but I don't recall the early 2010s being much of anything per se. If anything, this was when Mass Effect was at its height (to use your own example). Still, I'd posit that there's been a chain of events dating back to the 90s, where you got "the end of history," and that brief period between the end of the Cold War and 9/11. A period where you got optimistic sci-fi such as TNG, or even arguably Stargate: SG-1. However, since 9/11, what's happened? Well, two decades of war that accomplished nothing in Afghanistan, a disastarous invasion of Iraq and its aftermath, the GFC, wage stagnation, etc. This, coupled with ever-increasing political polarization, and general skepticism towards science on both the right and left, just in different matters. Right wing is anti-evolution, whereas on the left there's antipathy towards science and modernity, seeing both through a racialist lens. Top it off, the US is back to having serious competition on the global stage with China, isn't in a good place generally, oh, and climate change. It's all well and good to dream about exploring space when our own planet is on fire. And even space exploration itself has arguably become corparatized via Space X for instance, which while having dragged down the cost of space exploration, arguably has removed some of the romanticism of space travel.

So, yeah. Living in Oz, I've been spared a lot of the shit that's gripped places like the US and UK, but from afar, that's my thesis. Things went bad, things kept getting worse, and while I'm very lucky in the global sense, even national sense, I can't say I'm optimistic for the future myself. And science fiction does tend to represent the era it's conjured up in. Star Trek is a golden example of this, with TOS representing the Cold War, TNG the 90s, Enterprise the aftermath of 9/11, and Discovery the overall political climate. Lack of optimism in sci-fi mirrors the lack of optimism in the real world.

 

[Gergar12]

Because Barrack Obama and George W Bush were cunts who robbed the American people blind. They forced us into a rat race. Young against old, smart against dumb, one college major against another. All thanks to the recession that one started by invading Iraq, and another by not having a large enough stimulus, and not passing public option.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Well, we basically shut down and privatized NASA, handing the reins of space exploration to morons who's major claim to fame is taking credit for the work of others, shown at every opportunity to be shallow, vapid dickheads; most western countries are literally crumbling at the foundations as we desperately fight for stock prices and bonuses for corporations. We've wasted millions of lives fucking over powerless people for the sake of...fuck all? Corporate defense profits? National dick waving?

Hate to say it, but as far as sci fi narratives to, we're trending into "dying precursor race" as opposed to valiant explorers. The early 2010s were the lull. Massive, sustained demonstrations in the back half of the 2010s should show that we're entering the revolutionary phase, despite the media bending over backwards to ignore it