What a glorious time to be free

 Scientists named July 1957 until December 1958 the International Geophysical Year, a worldwide symposium of some of the earth's greatest thinkers to discuss their universally positive predictions for the future.  They discussed things like flying cars, cures for all diseases, world peace, stellar and interstellar space travel, colonization of Mars, and emerging artificial intelligence.

I wasn't born a deconstructionist, but I became one, partially due to my education, partially due to my naturally sanguine nature, partially by what I saw on the news, but also, in very large part due to the art that bled through my senses into my inner mind.  

From the mid-fifties until the mid-seventies, there was a period of unbridled optimism in science and science fiction.  The post-war optimism made us believe we could do anything, and the scientific leaps forward born of the war tended to prove it.  The war gave us radar, computers, jet engines, rockets, and dependable helicopters; science fiction gave us ideas like Robby The Robot, the Wheel in Space, and sentient computers.  

As the 70s drew to a close, it was becoming clear that this bright vision of the future might have been a pipe dream.  There were no flying cars, no free energy, no permanent space stations, and no bases on the moon.  Science fiction started to turn toward ideas of a dystopian future.

In 1982, Donald Fagan of the album-oriented Steely Dan released a solo album titled "The Nightfly."  One of the songs on this album was IGY, International Geophysical Year, where he deconstructs mid-century optimism.

Standing tough under stars and stripes
We can tell
This dream's in sight
You've got to admit it
At this point in time that it's clear
The future looks bright
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
Well by seventy-six we'll be A-OK

What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free

Get your ticket to that wheel in space
While there's time
The fix is in
You'll be a witness to that game of chance in the sky
You know we've got to win
Here at home we'll play in the city
Powered by the sun
Perfect weather for a streamlined world
There'll be spandex jackets one for everyone

What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free

On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
(more leisure for artists everywhere)
A just machine to make big decisions
Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision
We'll be clean when their work is done
We'll be eternally free yes and eternally young

What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free