Progress and the Losses Incurred Thereby

Lights came on to illuminate the stage opposite the speaker. On it stood a bewildered horse, an distracted turkey, a stoic mule, and a guinea pig in a cage.
"There are the guests of honor folks, but what's this? Party crashers?"
While the crowd laughed, another of each species came out (the guinea pig had to be wheeled by an assistant). The animals were of course kept separate to prevent incidents.
"There they are, and don't they all look lovely? Just like the real thing. In fact, they are real! The cloning process is as good as it's going to get and cheap too. That means, heh, we don't need to keep these fellows around! Get your bibs on!"
Thus began the feast to commemorate the first four species people decided to get rid of on purpose, not that there were many more, for few species are so easy to replace and to cook both.
Finis

The Whig Theory of Entertainment

Behold, the future! Look at that couple, both in perfect physical condition. If you had a way to check, which our technicians most certainly do, you would find flawless genes as well. Eugenics? No, just a few therapeutic sessions.
Where are they going with such sure strides? A restaurant no doubt, you say as dwellers in the past. Not at all. Food became too delicious. Everyone wanted to do nothing but eat. Food is now banned. To a movie theater then? Those all shut down after the perfect movie was made twenty years ago. Everyone owns it for private viewings in their private theater setups, which are superior in visual and audio quality to the professional establishments of the past. To a comedy club for a few laughs is your next guess. They exist, certainly, as do comedians. Those are no longer allowed to tell jokes. Too many audience members laughed till they died.
So where? There is one thing, friends from the past, that we still have not quite got the hang of. Yes, it's just what you think it is: cyberpunk! Cyberpunk novels, cyberpunk TV, cyberpunk games, cyberpunk resorts, and cyberpunk radio dramas are all alive and kicking, and they will continue to be allowed to do so as long as they never actually predict the future or get good.
By that we mean, of course, future good. By the standards of your day, those entertainments are without exception fantastic. So, people of the past, we encourage you to keep looking forward . . . to the future!
Finis

The Next Step Forward

Now we need to develp prenatal fantasy to prepare the population for a lifetime of reading wizard books.

It's just a guy saying, "Don't expect too much," over and over.