WAVE OF THE FUTURE

Tim Appelo accurately paints a picture of declining enthusiasm and hope in our culture (“The Future Isn’t What It Used to Be,” Jan. 4). This trend is prime fodder for the debate as to whether Hollywood and the arts community reflect societal attitudes or create them.

Nevertheless, the author seems to slightly deride the Disney view of a great big beautiful tomorrow as passe and irrelevant--a perspective that couldn’t be more off the mark. Philosophies, faiths and self-help gurus around the world know that “without vision a people perish,” and you generally get what you expect.

Walt Disney and Tony Baxter and his crew of visionaries (although leashed and held back by corporate accountaneers) realized that stimulating the imagination feeds dreams and ideas that lead to all our tomorrows--and Disneyland is still a kingdom where young minds, of any age, can dream of creating hope for the future.

NORM LYNDE

Redlands

Most of us realize that the future has never been as bright as in Tomorrowland nor as bleak as in “Blade Runner.”

What bothers me is that it has become fashionable to consider “optimistic” synonymous with “naive” and “cynical” with “sophisticated.”

The lesson of the 20th century has been that technology--no matter how awe-inspiring--is but a tool, inherently neither good nor evil, but capable of being employed to either end. It is worth remembering that H.G. Wells, Jules Verne and other eminent futurists built their lasting reputations not only upon flashy predictions for technology but also upon humane advice for society.

DOUGLAS DRENKOW

Arcadia

I’m not going to take issue with Appelo’s equating of Disney’s audio-animatronic automatons with “robots,” referring to the “Star Wars” droids and “a robot grandma” with the same word, causing a bit of confusion in this longtime Disney observer.

However, Appelo says that “the only one upset about the Star Tours ride’s near-collision with a toxic waste truck is the robot C3PO spluttering at R2D2.” Every time I have taken that trip on the Starspeeder, the truck is labeled “FUEL” in big red letters. And the guy in the control booth who looks at the impending collision and dives under his console may not be “upset,” but he’s certainly “concerned.”

CARLO PANNO

Tarzana

Past and future seem to be reversed in your graphics. “The Empire Strikes Back” was released in 1980, not 1977, and a vision of tomorrow it was not. Remember, it happened “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”

FRANK COLLIER

Long Beach