Flashback: The Smithsonian’s dreary 'Futures' exhibition is stuck in the eco-pessimist 1970s

Our society must do better at creating aspirational images of what tomorrow can be

If I had any smidgen of doubt about the necessity of this newsletter, it was forever dispelled by my visit last January to Smithsonian Institute’s new 32,000-square-foot “Futures” exhibition, which has since closed. I went in expecting to see something right out of the mid-20th Century World’s Fairs, perhaps something like the “Futurama” rides at the 19…