Book Talk: Which Sci Fi Author was right?

[TrueDave]

Lately I'm really leaning on Bradbury.

He has teh advantage of having written more stuff and hes more modern.

The story about the world where noone left thier apartments was scary. Only deliverymen and repairmen used teh roads anymore.

[Nostalgiabuff]

I think Arthur C Clark will ultimately be the one who had the foresight. Not to take anything away from Bradybury or Aasimov.
also, gotta say it, Gene Roddenberry......guy predicted cellphones, laptops, medical scanners...

[TrueDave]

I think Arthur C Clark will ultimately be the one who had the foresight. Not to take anything away from Bradybury or Aasimov.
also, gotta say it, Gene Roddenberry......guy predicted cellphones, laptops, medical scanners...

I dont think he predicted them, I think we are just using it as a template . Ever since the Enterprise rolled out on the runway I know we are TRYING to become Star Trek.

Lets keep it to books.

Clark? I admit I have only read 2001. It was good, nice premise and not at all confusing. ( Like the movie d'oh BOOK TALK ONLY! )

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

Gibson was pretty close.

Don C.

[Bo8a_Fett]

Harry Harrison (plus a few others), certainly seemed to get the overpopulation of the planet spot on in 'Make Room, Make Room' made into the movie 'Soylent Green', I think where a lot of predictive science fiction comes into play is more social trends or the state of the planet rather than tecnology. Arthur C Clarke had more than a hand in developing satalitte communications systems and early warning radar systems as well as writing science fiction.George Orwell and the 'big brother' concept of cctv everywhere springs to mind also from '1984'.
On the technical side though, H.G.Wells's 'World Set Free' states the use of atomic bombs when written in 1914 and even offers how they work using radio activity, he also predicted the use of aircraft in war in 1907 in 'The War in the Air' and not only predicts WW2 in the 1933 book 'The Shape of Things to Come' but also predicts it as sttarting in 1940 between the Germans and the Polish, Submarine launched ballistic missiles and the Pacific campaign. In other books he predicts the use of tanks, modern trains, cars and biological warfare.
Robert A. Heinlein also deserves a mention for 'waldo' using mechanical hands, 'Stranger in a Strange Land', which has a waterbed and many more.

[Brazoo]

I think Arthur C Clark will ultimately be the one who had the foresight. Not to take anything away from Bradybury or Aasimov.
also, gotta say it, Gene Roddenberry......guy predicted cellphones, laptops, medical scanners...

Yeah, I was going to say Clark too. He invented the idea that satellites could be used as telecommunication devices and came up with actual concepts about how it would work, and not just as part of a fictional story - he wrote a genuine scientific paper about it - so he genuinely invented and advanced the idea.

His non-fiction work was recognized by naming the geostationary orbit above the equator "Clarke Orbit". He was a pretty amazing guy - though I have to admit - he's not exactly my favourite sci-fi author.

[Brazoo]

Harry Harrison (plus a few others), certainly seemed to get the overpopulation of the planet spot on in 'Make Room, Make Room' made into the movie 'Soylent Green', I think where a lot of predictive science fiction comes into play is more social trends or the state of the planet rather than tecnology. Arthur C Clarke had more than a hand in developing satalitte communications systems and early warning radar systems as well as writing science fiction.George Orwell and the 'big brother' concept of cctv everywhere springs to mind also from '1984'.
On the technical side though, H.G.Wells's 'World Set Free' states the use of atomic bombs when written in 1914 and even offers how they work using radio activity, he also predicted the use of aircraft in war in 1907 in 'The War in the Air' and not only predicts WW2 in the 1933 book 'The Shape of Things to Come' but also predicts it as sttarting in 1940 between the Germans and the Polish, Submarine launched ballistic missiles and the Pacific campaign. In other books he predicts the use of tanks, modern trains, cars and biological warfare.
Robert A. Heinlein also deserves a mention for 'waldo' using mechanical hands, 'Stranger in a Strange Land', which has a waterbed and many more.

Good one - H.G. Wells had an astonishing imagination - just incredible. Especially when you think about when he was writing. Jules Verne too, of course.

[Bo8a_Fett]

Clarke actually wrote a secret paper on the subject in 1945 titled 'Extra-Terrestrial Relays — Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?' and worked on the Ground Controlled Approach radar system during ww2.
H.G. Wells is exactly as you say Brazoo...astonishing...he was a bachelor of science, teacher, writer of 'Little Wars' which is recognised as the first recreational wargame (miniature war gaming, not chess or such), artist as well as a prolific writer. He could also be predicting lasers in 'War of the Worlds' as he describes the heat ray as "an almost noiseless and blinding flash of light." Genetic experimentation in 'Dr Moreau', moving walkways and automatic doors in 'When the Sleeper Wakes', also in 'Shape of things to Come' he predicts (but gets the time zone more than slightly out), bombing raids by aircraft, ariel dogfights (ok both of these existed during ww1 but no one knew how much modern warfare was going to use them to such an extent), air conditioning, videotape, commercial television, global television broadcasts and liquid foods.
It makes you wonder whether 'The Time Machine' was an autobiographical work rather than a bit of fiction....

[TrueDave]

read a book of Wells most important work while sick in bed not long ago. LOVED it.

What I am surprised by is not one Dytopia or Utopia ( Herland, Brave New worls, 1984) I have ever read about what teh true downfall of man might be . Not Aliens or facism but Wal mart, ( like in Wall E No MOVIES)

Teh political correct insanity of Kurt Vonnegut is good. Harrisson Burgersion.

Make Room Make Room was spooky It was suppossed to be set in 1999 and I read it last year.

[ctc]

>What I am surprised by is not one Dytopia or Utopia ( Herland, Brave New worls, 1984) I have ever read about what teh true downfall of man might be

Apathy; but it doesn't make for good reading.

Don C.

[TrueDave]

>What I am surprised by is not one Dytopia or Utopia ( Herland, Brave New worls, 1984) I have ever read about what teh true downfall of man might be

Apathy; but it doesn't make for good reading.

Don C.

I think apathy is a survival mechanism is a "modern" world.

I wish I was . I'd get less worked up. Less often.

Maybe they couldnt imagine a world where peole no longer care.

Reality out strips fiction again.

[ctc]

>I think apathy is a survival mechanism is a "modern" world.

Hmmmm.... I don’t think you’re wrong; but I don’t think it’s new. It’s a geezerism, and it’s probably been with us forever. “Times were SO MUCH better way back when!” Check out some of the sci-fi and journalists of the mid to late 1800's: lots of talk of the new urbanization and it’s dehumanizing effects on the masses. And most of it remarkably familiar....

People don’t like new. They never did. There’s a tiny window when folks are kids where you can slip “new” in on ‘em, but after that forget it. And as kids we’re usually protected from the worst of things. So we all grow up thinking “way back when” was SOOOOOO much better than now. Not because it was, but because we were unaware of the downside and our cognitions developed accordingly. Go back farther and we were probably regaled with even more sanitized versions as kids. So being a knight in medieval times seems more cool than Black-Death-y.

Stupid Comics

Apathy happens because things get tougher as we get older, so “now” seems a lot tougher than “then;” and we tend to ascribe this to external things. The kids today with their stupid fashions and horrid music.... and society has no respect any more.... and things are out of hand.... and we shut down; lost in our past because the future seems indominable.

I think that’s why I no longer see tales of oppressive governments and evil super-corporations as inevitable. The REAL downfall happens from within, when folks are too caught up in themselves to care; or notice, anything going on. (“Fahrenheit 451" touches on this, when we find out the hero’s wife only cares about getting a new, bigger tv.) The oppressive governments and evil corporations in real life will be symptoms, not causes.

If you REALLY want to see a plausible dystopia, I recommend the film “Idiocracy.”

Don C.

[knight errant00]

>If you REALLY want to see a plausible dystopia, I recommend the film “Idiocracy.”

A funny, funny movie that gets more disturbing as you think about how *really* plausible it is in *so many* ways . . .

[Bo8a_Fett]

Idiocracy is actually more predictive than most films set in the future....there is also a book called incompetance by Rob Grant (half of the duo who wrote Red Dwarf) that is similar but deals more with the political correctness gone mad scenario, such as a policeman who has anger management issues but is allowed to carry a gun because of political correctness ...it's a very funny read but makes you think about the direction we as a species are going at the moment.

[samurainoir]

^^^
I'll have to check that one out. Grant's books are great satire, although I was always struck by how much more depth of character the Red Dwarf books seemed to have over the more general farce of the tv show.

Cory Doctorow usually has interesting things to say in his books, as does Douglas Rushkoff.