The Future is Now

     The Future is Now was written just after World War Two, during the cold war era. It touches on a few different topics that deal with human nature. The first of which occurs when Porter ponders why people spend their time and effort on things that are seemingly futile, such as the young man polishing the tabletop. She then realizes the solution to this when a young girl tells her 'the future is now,' allowing Porter to realize that people don't only look at the now, but also the then. She then changes gears, and looks at the greater picture of humanity as a whole, and states that "The pride of Lucifer, the recklessness of Icarus, the boldness of Prometheus, and the intellectual curiosity of Adam and Eve," (Porters, 196). Porter realizes that man has expanded way past what it can handle, but then questions herself, imagining that humanity is not falling apart, but instead it hasn't put together in the right combination yet.

     

     Katherine Anne Porter is a well-respected, Pulitzer-Prize winning writer, known for her insights, meaning that she has a credibly background in writing. The reason that Porter wrote this article was most likely to draw attention to humanity's massive amount of progress through the two World Wars, and that humanity needs to slow down and fix smaller problems, such as trash collection in major cities, before we try to reach the stars. She also directed the essay toward a college-aged audience, especially with the title, in order to convince the people who will control the future what needs to be done. The details in the essay also help the enhance the purpose, because it makes everything seem more 'real.'

Technologies that originated from NASA programs
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     Overall, I believe that Porter only partially achieved her purpose. She attempts to convince the reader that technology needs to be more focused in at home. While this is true, it is also true that doing things such as sending rockets into space also helps to improve life back at home, because the technology used to accomplish such a feat trickles down into our everyday lives, such as simpler water purification, one thing that Porter mentions she wishes was more widespread. I feel as if Porter fails to acknowledge the importance of this trickle-down, overall preventing her from completely achieving her purpose.