To my mind the old way is sometimes actually more "realistic". The future evolves in unpredictable ways. Look at all the past predictions of the future that just look like that same time period with bigger buildings and flying cars. Today's "hard" design approaches will likely evolve as poorly. Nothing is more futuristic to me than a design that is completely incomprehensible by current logic.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I like a bit of both.

Why are the space ships aerodynamic?

Style, dork, you ever heard of it?

Why do they have weird exposed engine nacelles? Isn't that a structural weakness?

Because they love to explode.

Do your weird shit and then come up with a why.

[–] drlecompte@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 year ago

Yeah, not everything is super utilitarian. The other day we were in Antwerp's old harbor, which has these big open hangars. The roofs and pillars are pretty ornamental, and these are basically 19th century industrial buildings. Built today they would be all straight lines and flat panels.

I think it's cool if people imagine a future that's not just about technological progress but also culturally very different and even disturbing. I think Dune does a fairly good job at that.