Why Are We Tormented by the Future?

Not long ago, my six-year-old son was in the bath, building cities out of colorful foam blocks. One metropolis, on the tub's outside edge, was supposed to be based in the present day; another, closer to the wall, was a future city. A third was constructed on a purple rectangle that floated in the water. "It's a fresent city," he said. The fresent--does that sound like a nice place to be?