Do speculative fiction writers predict the future? Probably not. It’s probably more accurate what Clarke said that they don’t so much predict the future as create the future? ( One of these days I’ve just got to read Thomas M. Disch’s book “The Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of.”)
Whatever is the case, it fascinates me when I read some story containing some gadget , or social trend or something that we now take for granted but didn’t even exist when the story was written. For instance, take a gander at this excerpt from the short story “The Diploids” written by Katherine MacLean and published in 1953.
“. . . people . . . passed by . . . some were listening to music with ear-buttons that touched his hearing with a faint far away strain of music as they passed.”
Now , I can’t remember the exact years of various recording device innovations . But I remember in the 60’s my father buying a new type of recorder that had just hit the market. It used cassette tapes. Then a bunch of years later I remember Walkmans becoming the rage. Now there’s the Ipod. But I’m pretty sure 1953 was way before any of this stuff.
So, do any of you have other examples of this sort of thing? And do you happen to know when they were finally invented (or at least became practical)?
(I don’ t know if there has already been a thread like this. If there has, I apologize.)
[ June 14, 2006, 02:24 PM: Message edited by: Samuel Bush ]
Posted by suminonA (Member # 8757) on :
Are you sure you want this to be the title of your thread?
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
Robert Heinlein and waldos, waterbeds and moving walkways.
I just finished reading John Varley's Red Lightning, a sequel to Red Thunder. In it, an object hits Earth at .999 of the speed of light, and tsunamis ensue. When he started writing it, his point of impact was 500 miles off of the epicenter of the earthquake that caused the tsunamis in Asia. He'd been describing all the stuff that actually happened. So he went back, ripped all that out, and had it hitting elsewhere. Most of the descriptions of the devastation were now in Florida and Louisiana. He wrote the last chapter just after Katrina hit.
Sometimes, "predictions" are just weird coincidences.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
HG Wells used moving walkways in When the Sleeper Wakes (note, there's even an edition with a snappy intro by our favorite host and author!)
Wells' version included multiple side-by-side walkways moving at different speeds, so you could jump from one to another and go faster and faster!!!
Posted by Robin Kaczmarczyk (Member # 9067) on :
Do speculative fiction writers predict the future?
Yes, of course. They help to build it.
Star Trek, anybody?
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
Bob, thanks. I didn't know that.
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
I think it's Philip K. Dick who wrote a story in which all the big sf writers were belived to be precogs. The hero went back in time to get Poul Anderson to clarify the science behind some sort of spaceship he'd written about. And...I can't remember the end. Yeah. I'm relevant to the conversation. Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
looks at my cel phone/flip phone--looks at the original Star Trek communicator.
Nope, nothing there.
looks at the internet, in particular Blogging and forums like this where political ideas are spread. Now where (Ender's Game) did I read about something like that?
Posted by Samuel Bush (Member # 460) on :
No ketchupqueen, I’m not sure. But that late at night I couldn’t think of a Shakespearian quote to twist. Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
I bet John Varley is scared to start writing a new story Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:looks at the internet, in particular Blogging and forums like this where political ideas are spread. Now where (Ender's Game) did I read about something like that?
Forums/BBs predate Ender's Game by quite a bit.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:No ketchupqueen, I’m not sure. But that late at night I couldn’t think of a Shakespearian quote to twist.
Well, maybe think of something else then, for me? I'm rather uncomfortable when I read it.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by erosomniac:
quote:looks at the internet, in particular Blogging and forums like this where political ideas are spread. Now where (Ender's Game) did I read about something like that?
Forums/BBs predate Ender's Game by quite a bit.
proof of this statement would be appreciated.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:proof of this statement would be appreciated.
A quick google search will provide all the proof you need.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Are any such systems mentioned in the short story?
If so, the first real BBS slightly postdates the story. The story first appeared in '77 (though it was of course written well before then), while the first real BBS (CBBS) appeared in early '78.
I think, however, that the BBS-like systems in the story don't appear until Ender's Game made it to novel form.
Yeah. So when the book came out, 1985, BBS were well-established.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote: If so, the first real BBS slightly postdates the story. The story first appeared in '77 (though it was of course written well before then), while the first real BBS (CBBS) appeared in early '78.
I was assuming we were referring to the novel, not the short story, since the concepts mentioned do not appear in the short story version.
Edit: I grammer gud!
Posted by Samuel Bush (Member # 460) on :
There you go. Just for you, ketchupqueen.
Wow, I didn't know one could edit the name of a thread but I guess one can.
This new one still may be a little shaky though. Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Phanto: I bet John Varley is scared to start writing a new story
He said that when the tsunamis hit, he almost gave up on the whole book. I'm surprised that he didn't question his sanity when Katrina hit.
Posted by Samuel Bush (Member # 460) on :
In “Red Planet” (1949) by Heinlein some of the characters used an oscilloscope to prove that a recorded voice they were listening to was indeed from the actual person claimed. I haven’t learned yet just when voice print technology was invented so it may predate “Red Planet.” Do any of you happen to know?
The 1954 novel “Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus” by Asimov had folks carrying around on their belts miniature computers. And if I remember correctly they were also able to link in remotely to an information network. (But I could be wrong about that detail) At any rate, I know that that predates palm pilots and even small calculators.
Another thing that is fun for me is when I manage to recognize when a writer alludes to past or present pop culture things. Like when Niven and Pournelle in “The Mote in God’s Eye” call large ocean creatures on another planet cecils. I’m guessing that comes form the 50’s cartoon Beany and Cecil the seasick sea serpent.
Then in their book “The Legacy of Herot” (co-wrote also by Steven Barns) the colonists call certain small mammals Dopey Joes. A fun nod to Heinlein’s “Tunnel in the Sky.”
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Thanks, Sam. Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Ketchupqueen, what was wrong with the original title*? When I saw your first comment about it I thought that it must have been in reference to something that Sam had already changed by the time I got to the thread. Looks like that wasn't the case though.
*Honest question here--it looked completely innocuous to me.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
"Prophets, seers, and revelators" are the powers and positions of the leaders of our Church. It just gave me an uncomfortable feeling to see that being taken so lightly; I assume that Sam is LDS, since I know I had never heard the phrase until I came in contact with the Church, and from his response, he's a faithful Saint. We are taught not to take sacred things lightly, and that too much irreverence towards them is not proper. It was on the border of "too irreverent" for my tastes, and so I was uncomfortable reading it. Sam, who probably has a slightly higher irreverence threshold than I do, kindly changed it to accommodate my lower threshold.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
In “Red Planet” (1949) by Heinlein some of the characters used an oscilloscope to prove that a recorded voice they were listening to was indeed from the actual person claimed. I haven’t learned yet just when voice print technology was invented so it may predate “Red Planet.” Do any of you happen to know?
Dunno for sure, but I do know that Heinlein was working on top secret projects for the Navy before this and one of them had to do with this new thing called radar...
About Red Lightning: I love Varley and buy his stuff in hardback on sight anyway, but I especially loved these last two because I grew up around and work in Daytona Beach so reading about these events happening where I'm walking makes it more real. Although, in this case, kinda creepy...
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I had no idea! That's so interesting. I was familiar with prophets in LDS tradition, but not with seers or revelators.
What are seers and revelators, within an LDS context?
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Not to derail the thread, I'll start a new one for you. Check back in a minute or two.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Cool, thanks!
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
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