Future of the 70s: Sanzhi Pod City

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March 5, 2013 by nextsimulacrum

The middle of the 20th century was probably more futuristic than the beginning of the 21st is. I guess, it’s because back then people still didn’t have such a tight bond with technology as they do now. They were still trying to tame the technological progress, they had to adapt. Now people just get along with it, in a way they are the one with it – in Donna Haraway’s vision, technology becomes an extension of human: just think about what kind of role in person’s life is taken up by his laptop or his mobile phone. It has already been a long time since science fiction of the past started to overlap with reality of the “present” (which has also already become the past for the present us). Even though the US government didn’t agree to build the Death Star.

Now people are much less thrilled by new inventions than they used to be, it’s almost impossible to make them actually surprised, they take new creations for granted, sceptically, maybe, but without much wonder. You could even say that it’s unfashionable to be amazed easily, it means you’re weak and lack of experience in life. It means, even if you ARE surprised, you don’t show it. So now the future comes to us naturally. We might not like where we think it leads us, but we don’t need to try hard to adapt to changes, we automatically do. No need to try to mimic the future in order to keep up with its pace (just to make it laugh later on at our futile attempts). The more you try, the more often you fail, I guess?

Sanzhi Pod City

Now, one of the futuristic projects of the past, which was never to see that future come: Sanzhi Pod City, or UFO houses in Taiwan. It was originally planned as a resort complex for American military personnel posted to East Asia. It was started to be built in 1978 but was never finished: there was lack of investment, it is said that one of the companies which initiated the project went bankrupt.. and several mystified car accidents happened in the area.

There are a few urban legends about it: apparently a dragon’s sculpture nearby was damaged while widening the road, and this was the revenge they got. Others said that some Dutch soldiers were buried in the site and their ghosts definitely didn’t want to be bothered. Thus, some believed that the Sanzhi city was haunted. Anyway, the area was abandoned for almost 30 years, from 1980 when the project was stopped until 2008 when it was decided to demolish it and to build a modern sea-resort complex instead. There was an online petition, asking to keep one of the buildings as a museum, but guess if it worked… It’s a shame.