A few possible explanations:

1) Population explosion takes up all open space, subsequently making sea level polluted and uninhabitable. 2) Nuclear fallout 3) Massive sea level rise 4) Being up high is cool

I like all of those answers and have decided to adopt them all.

1 led to a war that led to 2, which melted the ice caps and led to 3, which, obviously, led to 4.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know that I haven’t added anything worthwhile to this blog in months (ever?), but is this what we’re at now?

I sorta like this direction.

How did you come up with this topic?

(I believe that the population just grew to such a point that the Jetsons-era folks were forced to build straight up, therefore increasing the inhabitable surface area. If you looked straight down from their building, I bet you’d see ground at some point…)

“If you looked straight down from their building, I bet you’d see ground at some point…)”

Are you high?

thoroughly baked.

i just don’t think the earth was completely uninhabitable…it was probably just crowded.

how high was thomas when he thought of this? he must have still been high when he posted or it probably would have occurred to him how odd this topic is…

What’s odd about this topic? I have no real desire to write about politics as long as the quixotic bickering continues in the Democratic race, and the only thing to write about regarding McCain is that he seems to have gone so far off his moderate rocker to the right that he wants Dwight from “The Office” as his running mate.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/05/mccain-no-clint.html

Which, granted, is a pretty suave publicity stunt, even for the guy who always talks and jokes with the press. Who doesn’t think about The Office and smile?

Anyway, I’ve always wondered about The Jetsons living conditions, and I find it thoroughly fascinating in light of the world we live in with numerous fears of destroying the planet. I saw something about The Jetsons the other day, and it brought back all of my questions about the show.

This is way too long. I’m ashamed to post it, but i’m going to anyways.

I want to point out a few things i’ve noticed about the the Jetsons Future universe that actually suggests something far different and far more sinister than what you guys are talking about.

1. Jetson Future (JF) buildings are horribly space inefficient. Notice how the wide saucer-shaped apartments are supported by skinny poles, not additional living space built into supporting superstructure like 20th century skyscrapers.

2. Also note how far apart the buildings appear to be – in a world of overpopulation one would think the buildings would be extremely close together. This is not the case – buildings appear to be several miles apart.

3. Additionally, unless the Jetsons live at the literal top of the food chain in the JF, then one could argue that this is the elevation at which most people live (give or take a few thousand feet). Notice you never see towers that rise high above the Jetson apartment, this despite George Jetson’s single income in the middle management of a manufacturing firm (hardly a top salaried position).

If the buildings are always far apart, all around similar elevations, and space inefficient then this actually suggests the population in the JF is quite SPARSE. If anything there has been a great depopulation. Further evidence:

1. The Jetsons have a Robot Maid - in a society dealing with overpopulation, labor would be extremely cheap and would allowing for an affordable, better-functioning human housecleaner at a cheaper cost with lower maintenance fees.
2. The Jets have a large dog – Astro was always depicted as having a sizeable appetite. In a world struggling to feed billions of people a large dog such as Astro would be considered a shocking luxury.

So the world is most definitely smaller than it used to be. Then why not live on the ground? A lot of people have brought up the spectre of global flooding and nuclear war as the reasons the people of the JF have abandoned the Earth for the troposphere. But here’s the thing – the advanced level of technology suggests otherwise. A few points:

1. I remember an episode where Spacely Sprockets had a shrinking machine. This incredible, physics-violating technology was used for the mundane purpose of reducing shipping costs.
2. Interstellar travel is treated the same as air travel is treated today – this suggests an extremely well-developed mastery of faster-than-light spacecraft.
3. George has a flying car that is incredibly un-aerodynamic and fragile, yet can propel a vehicle in high altitude at incredible speed, despite the fact it is comprised of 90% clear acrylic.
4. The buildings I the JF are precariously balanced on thin support columns that possible stretch for miles to the ground below – yet are never affected by high upper-atmospheric winds. This suggests super-strong, readily available building materials probably created through advances in nanotechnology.

Any society that can master what the people of the JF have created should have no problem defeating issues of radiation or global warming. No, the people of the JF have abandoned Earth for another reason. Here’s my theory.

The Jetsons represent the elite ruling class of the Earth, who reside above the mass of “lesser-evolved” humanity down below on the terra firma. Much like HG Well’s depiction of the future in “The Time Machine” its possible that humans evolved in different directions. Notice all the people of fair complexion. Do you remember any black people in the Jetsons? Exactly. In order to avoid contamination of their gene pool by the “lesser” peoples below. they chose live in this “higher earth” to ensure the purity of their race.

The people of the JF have embraced eugenics, racism, and class structure in the hope of building an ideal society. Thus I come to my conclusion - The world of the Jetsons is an alternate future in which the Third Reich conquered the Earth and enslaved all non-white peoples. Strong class systems created two distinct worlds on earth – one privileged, one forced to live in ignorance and poverty. Over hundreds of years the groups then evolved differently, separately, until they reached point we are at now where both species (and they are now different species) cannot possibly coexist. When you look at it this way, it makes perfect sense why the Jetsons live in the sky.

You’ll never look at Elroy the same way again. Because he’s Space Nazi.

Also I thought of this when I was 10.

Did you just posit that George Jetson is a “space Nazi”?

You really have proven Godwin’s Law.