The Future Has Arrived

"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow
Shining at the end of every day
There's a great big beautiful tomorrow
And tomorrow is just a dream away!"

Such are the words sung throughout Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress, a lasting tribute to the technologies borne out of man's efforts throughout the 20th century. Rotating around the unique theater, the audience follows an American family as they progress through the years and highlight the brand new inventions of each era. Each slow rotation brought the audience to a younger era in which life was a little simpler and easier thanks to the latest technology.

The show captured Walt's enthusiasm for tomorrow perfectly. He was a firm believer in progress, that is, the development of new technologies and ideas. He also recognized the sorry state of our world and believed that progress was the key to making the world a better place to live. With this dream in mind, Walt foresaw an advanced world, unified in peace. Had he lived a bit longer, he would have been able to complete his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, or Epcot for short, an experimental city that would have served as the testing ground of new ideas for better societies.

So what exactly was Walt's vision for tomorrow? Better, easier lifestyles so mankind can slow down and enjoy himself more as well as the company of others. In the Carousel of Progress, the Mother of the family makes this evident throughout the different periods. When we first see her at the turn of the century, she is doing the laundry, a task that used to take two days but is now reduced to but five hours thanks to her new "wash day marvel". As progress moves on, however, exhausting chores such as this are reduced greatly by the new technologies being created every day. By the time we reached the 1940's, Mother has much more time free from chores and is able to perform extracurricular tasks around the house, such as creating a "rumpus room" for Father. Finally in the present day she is free from all work and joins Father at last to showcase progress in the modern age. Technology has made her life much easier and much more relaxed so now she has time for the things she enjoys doing.


Progress has moved on since Walt's day, and there is no doubt that mankind has an even easier, more relaxed lifestyle today. Digital technology has done for us what electricity did for the inhabitants of the early 20th century, and thanks to computers and the Internet we now have easy access to unlimited resources. We can quickly look up a piece of information thanks to Google, chat with friends whenever and wherever via Facebook, and order almost anything we need or want through Amazon.com. These tasks have never been easier than they are today. An easier lifestyle? Certainly. A better world? I'm not so sure.

Part of Walt's vision for tomorrow was world peace and unity. Not only did he hope man would have more time to enjoy himself but also to enjoy others. Where was Mother when she was finally free of all work? Right next to Father. Yet more and more progress seems to be encouraging us to do the opposite. Digital technology helped things move a lot more quickly partly by removing the middle man. You don't need to go to a library and deal with a librarian any more. You just need access to Google. The technology that has made our lives easier so we have more time with others has merely made us more alone, though we are all somehow more unified through the world wide web.

Is this a problem? You betcha! Humans aren't made to function alone. We all need the companionship of others in order to survive emotionally. Yet this companionship is becoming less and less practical every day, and in a world that's moving more and more quickly, anything that's not as practical as the next thing is quickly cut. Rest assured the human race will survive for a long time in the midst of digital technology, but it may not continue as we once knew it. In the absence of companionship, the human heart grows colder and colder. Slowly we will turn into nothing more than robots of flesh and blood, living lives of utter practicality with little emotion and little sensation. And thus will begin the end of the world.

"It's better for you
and it's better for me
It's better than everyone thought it would be
The future has arrived."

Tim Higley