It's funny because after having watched a bit, it' easier to imagine sinofuturism than ranchpunk or whatever tf we’re doing in this country. Sinofuturism feels plausible because it taps into a lot of present-day realities: mass production, AI, surveillance, digital labor—all things people already associate with China, for better or worse. It builds a future out of clichés, but those clichés already have one foot in reality.
Meanwhile, Americana futurism often feels… stuck. Either it’s a cowboy reboot in space (The Mandalorian), or it’s nostalgia-porn for an idealized past (Fallout, Westworld, etc.). There’s a hesitation or even inability to imagine a future that’s not just a remix of the ’50s or the frontier myth.
So in a weird twist, Sinofuturism ends up being more “believable” because it doesn’t need to pretend it’s heroic or centered around special people. It’s bureaucratic, emergent, decentralized. It doesn’t care about cowboys—it cares about the server farm. 0 reply
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