A hundred years of progress, they think we all believe
The planet swarms with people who live to 54
They’re healthy, happy creatures except for hate and greed
Food supplies are plenty in Mozambique and Gdansk
While war’s a distant memory if you’re living underground
There’s no shortage of new power for the rich who own a tank
Those silly windmills all came down, now nuclear plants abound

The space age has re-opened after NASA closed its gates
So man will soon be on the moon, in truth, this time they say
In terms of global warming the temperature’s cooled down
Last year in Hanoi City, less than five degrees in May
Our wildlife is thriving since they moved it all indoors
Though medical research has shown you might not want to bet
We have a cure for cancer, still the side effect’s slow death
But hospitals are clean and bright, the ones not steeped in debt

Geography is on the move with countries changing hands
Japan just bought Hawaii and Holland’s rented Guam
Our leaders never argue now or so the papers state
A shame we don’t know who they are, it may instil more calm
Careers are on the up and up, it really is the rage
Super models, football stars, the choice leaves you amazed
But if you’re feeling sad or blue and looking for a friend
A cell phone’s there to talk to, your confidante and sage

Computers run the whole shebang without a single glitch
There are quite frequent crashes but these, of course, are tests
Waste disposal has improved since France became a tip
And cars are not a problem now that roads have all ‘gone west’
World currencies are uniform, just bars of gold and arms
The poor are well looked after if they live to twenty one
Older folks just fade away, to where is not quite clear
But children are our future: that’s why I’ve bought a gun

I hope you liked this lesson, I know I surely did
It’s tragic, though, we have no books of 1966
Before our present era, times were more than strange, it seems
But friends I know have sometimes said that love was quite a fix
That in fact we’re worse off now than ever in the past
And soon if nothing changes our future’s all but gone
Two men will shortly come for me and then this lesson’s done

from The Binary Log collection

Conspiracy... Debate...

Devastation... Plague...