Way of our world today will lead us to our destiny, some variation on Margaret Atwood's theme of Oryx and Crake.

At different times in history the way of the world points in different directions yet always to the future, bleak more often than not. Some recent examples will support this assertion.

Metropolis

Fritz Lang's 1927 cinematic masterpiece Metropolis pointed to a future society sharply divided between an effete oligarchy and a lumpish proletariat that relied upon machinery to support their existence. However this mechanical future was also the now; it showed the effect of change from an agrarian to an industrial economy.

1984

George Orwell's look into the future was incorrect only in the year. All technology to track and control population exists. We engage in hate and newspeak via ubiquitous television. We are told what to think and most persons do as they are told.

On the Beach

Nevil Shute's 1957 novel On the Beach was prompted by fear of nuclear war and the post apocalyptic consequences. Now an Oryx and Crake scenario is more likely.

Brazil

Terry Gilliam's film Brazil shows how someone can get caught in the machinery of a police state. More likely now after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center at New York.