Spider Robinson - The future ain't what it used to be

In the The Globe and Mail terrific science fiction writer Spider Robinson wants his future back.

I want my money back. War, plague and pestilence (think SARS) -- this millennium sucks

We were living in the Golden Years, for a while there [1989 -2000.] Instead of savouring it, making sure that half a century of that kind of forward progress would continue, we decided, for a minute, that it was safe to coast. We yammered about the End of History, and invented "reality TV." We thought we could afford to let dimwits take the reins of power. How much damage could they do?

I choose to believe that the true Golden Age lies always ahead of us, never behind. But some years, it's harder than other years.