This is quite an American centric response!
> IMO the worst thing is government surveillance, and our lack of true democracy.
Agreed on the lack of democracy, although it is really nothing new. Gerrymandering has been an issue for decades now. Corporate lobbyists have been openly bribing bureaucrats for quite a while too. The 1980s are, on this regard, not that different from the present.
This is also compatible with a cyberpunk-esque world, though.
> Just look at the opening sequence of Blade Runner (staged in 2019?), and tell me we really live in that world.
Apart from the flying cars, I can think of several metropolis that look almost the same, including the pollution levels.
I was in Beijing five years ago, around September. Out of four days, I think I saw the blue sky only once, the day of my arrival, and it was because the authorities banned the circulation of 2.5 million cars for two weeks in August. I believe it was something related to a national holiday, but I'm not quite sure.
LA is not that far from it either.
> It's definitely not the case that economic inequality is "just accepted". Yes, it's a part of our lives, but the social justice moment is also huge, and sometimes misguided.
No comments on the "misguided" bit.
To be blunt, economic inequality is accepted, especially in the US. The ideas of the Protestant work ethic and the Prosperity theology, so deeply rooted in the American psyche, revolve around it. There is no movement that would change that in a generation or two, because too much is at stake.
Gay marriage took centuries to be legalized, and it wasn't until 2003 that SCOTUS ruled sodomy laws unconstitutional. Women's suffrage in the US was legalized in the 1920s, over a century after the country was founded, and still women struggle to enjoy full autonomous rights until quite recently. Many people of color couldn't vote until the mid 1960s! Or have the same access to essential services as other citizens.
My point is, these movements need to exert a constant pressure on society, for decades if needed, to achieve results. And, on the other hand, it may only take a few months or years to undo everything. I'm pointing here to the 1970s and 1980s, when many individual protections were repealed, and corporations of all kinds took advantage of that.
In summary, I respect your optimism, but a cyberpunk world also has electric cars and demonstrations on the streets.