Unfinished Worlds: Predictions of Technology and Nature in America's Future, 1930-1980

In the mid-twentieth century, popular predictions offered bold visions of what life would be like in the future. In the 1930s and 1940s, scientists and engineers predicted an imminent synthetic age unlimited by the bounds of organic materials and natural resources. After World War II, public intellectuals warned of a much darker future brought about by technological hubris. In the decades that followed, an environmental consciousness inspired visions of a future based on sustainable product...