Many older readers recall America’s circa-1963 optimism about the future: The moon could be reached and poverty eradicated, both within a decade. Walt Disney’s original Tomorrowland welcomed visitors to a friendly future with moving skywalks, futuristic Muzak, and well-behaved nuclear families. During this “golden age” of space-opera science fiction, the future was all about high-tech rocket ships, intergalactic civilizations, limitless scientific progress, and peace and prosperity through social engineering—assuming, of course, nuclear war could be avoided.
