4 | DECEMBER 8 • 2022 

essay

The Future Is Now
T

he year 2023 is just days away and 
I’m sorry, but no matter how hard 
I try to wrap my brain around that 
number, I can’t come to terms with it.
Stare at it. 2023. Say it 
out loud. 2023. Now say 
it slowly … tweeeenty 
tweeeeeenty threeeeeeee. It’s 
crazy. That’s the number of a 
year better suited for, oh say, 
a futuristic work of science 
fiction, right? 
I mean, that had to be the 
mind set of author Arthur 
C. Clark and filmmaker Stanley Kubrick 
when they collaborated in 1968 on the 
creation of their masterpiece 2001: A 
Space Odyssey. 
The sci-fi, outer space thriller was a 
deep thinking, existential piece of film art 
that explored the evolution of man, the 
existence of aliens and a world dependent 
on computers. A world dependent on 
computers? Yeah right, like that could 
ever happen.
I can hear the conversation in 1968 
between Clark and Kubrick. They 
probably went back and forth discussing 
what futuristic year would sound 
believable to pick for the title of a film 
that was intended to elicit visions of, and 
ask an audience to comprehend, such a 
time so far in the distant future. Then 
bingo! They settled on 2001. Say, that’s an 
attention-grabber. 
I have to believe in 1949 that George 
Orwell went through the same literary 
thought process Clark and Kubrick did 
when he sought an imaginative hook 
for the title for his epic novel 1984. 
As summarized on Wikipedia (I’m a 
lazy researcher): 1984 is “a story that 
takes place in an imagined future when 
much of the world is in perpetual war.” 
Perpetual war? Yeah, right, like that could 
ever happen.
1984 is further described as “a 
dystopian social science fiction novel 
and cautionary tale that centered on the 
consequences of totalitarianism, mass 

 
 

surveillance and 
repressive regimentation of people within 
society that more broadly examines the 
truth and facts within societies and the 
ways in which they can be manipulated.” 
Truth and facts manipulated? Yeah right, 
like that could ever happen, said the 
creators of cable news and social media.
Then there’s the chart-topping song: 
“In the Year 2525.
” Remember that 
miserable melody in 1969 by the one-hit 
wonder duo of Zager and Evans? It spoke 
of the slow disintegration of humanity in 
intervals of thousands of years all the way 
up to the final year 9595 when the lyrics 
read: “I’m kind of wondering if man is 
still alive, he’s taken everything this old 
earth can give.” We’re taking all that earth 
can give? Yeah right, like that could ever 
happen. (By the way, wouldn’t you know 
it, I have money on the Lions winning the 
Super Bowl in 9596.) 
In his book The 52 Most Depressing 
Songs You’ve Ever Heard, Tom 
Reynolds describes “2525” as “a world 
doomed by its passive acquiesce and 
over-dependence on its overdone 
technologies.” 
Over-dependence on technologies? 
Yeah right, like that could ever happen. 
(Personal side note on the worst songs 
ever — I blast on a loudspeaker any song 
sung by Yoko Ono to keep the Canada 
geese off my lawn.) 
Let’s face it, the mayhem on so many 
issues in 2022, at home and across the 

 
globe, definitely has the makings of its 
own sci-fi movie. And that was before 
the recent announcement by Hulu that 
it’s renewing the Kardashians reality 
show for a third season in 2023. Oh, the 
humanity. 
While I’m hoping that 2023 is not the 
stuff of a sci-fi movie, there is one thing 
about the upcoming year that is most 
definitely a little unsettling for me. It’s the 
year of … my 50th high school reunion! 
Seriously, I’ve been out of high school 
for a half-century?! Every time I say or 
think about it, I hear the music from the 
shower scene in the movie Psycho. 
I’ve been to every one of my Southfield 
High Class of 1973 reunions — the 10th, 
20th, 30th and 40-year reunions. And 
by gosh if there’s a 50th, I’ll be there no 
matter how much weight I have to lose 
or how much I have to let out my suit, 
whichever comes first.
Meanwhile, here’s hoping that whatever 
transpires in the coming year, it will make 
for a feel-good movie.
Until next year, here’s wishing you and 
yours a happy, healthy New Year or as I 
like to look at it — a second shot at living 
up to the resolutions I’m still working on 
from Yom Kippur. 

Visit his website at laughwithbigal.com,”Like” Al on 

Facebook and reach him at amuskovitz@ 

thejewishnews.com.

Alan 
Muskovitz
Contributing 
Writer

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