I think of Flash Gordon's bigscreen tv and Dick Tracey's wristwatch 2-way radio and I see there is a long wait for such technology to appear. In general, fiction writers are always a bit optimistic timewise. However, I'd posit it is the fiction writer's IDEA which sparks the forward motion on bringing to fruition the technology itself. The modern cellphone is mighty close to what Captain Kirk was using. As far as I know, nobody anticipated the portable PC. Computers (in the early days) were hulking mammoths with blinking lights and a paper feed (for answers.) But, rockets to the moon certainly worked out and trips to Mars. The only problem is the idealistic idea that it would be worth the risk. Residual trickle down technology came from the moonshot even if we didn't garner much treasure from the surface itself. What are the biggest hits and misses in fiction? What are the simple predictions which have yet to reach us in a realized form? Laser weapons, certainly. We have laser-guided weapons, but; no rayguns as such. Ideas anyone?
THE (predicted) FUTURE vs the ACTUAL FUTURE (in fiction)
by Terry 10 Replies latest jw friends
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Warlock
Computers (in the early days) were hulking mammoths with blinking lights and a paper feed (for answers.)
Don't forget the test tubes, magnetic tapes and the punch cards.
My step father worked for a company the had a 'main frame' which took up a whole floor. I think it was the first in operation.
Warlock
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Clam
What are the biggest hits and misses in fiction?
Hit - I'd go for Arthur C Clark's predictions for communication satellite possibilities.
Miss - The fictional magazine The Watchtower's prediction for a 1975 Armageddon.
Clam
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CaptainSchmideo
Stephen King (as Richard Bachman) wrote the book "The Running Man" which showed a future of an incredible divide between rich and poor, where desperate people sign up for game shows where they risk their lives for prizes and money (People with heart conditions play the game "Treadmill to Bucks"), and the ultimate game is "The Running Man" where you are the target of a nationwide manhunt, and the longer you stay alive, the more money you make. (Don't compare it to the awful (but fun) AHNULD movie from years back).
When "Survivor" and "Fear Factor" started showing on TV (not to mention "Jackass"), I knew that the future had arrived. I figure before too long, we'll have gladiator games again (as long as FOX continues to provide their wonderful programming).
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Leolaia
Once I was reading a newspaper from around 1904 and there was a cartoon captioned at the top as "New York City -- 2005" that depicts what the city would look like in a hundred years. There was a skyline that had nothing but skycrapers (most buildings were below 5 floors in those days, and a 10-story building was considered a skyscraper; these were enormous skyscrapers like today). No horse traffic on the street at all. There was a woman walking her dog on a city street, and people were wearing odd plaid clothes. Nearby there was a construction crew excavating a site to build another high rise. The joke of the cartoon is that a man watching the construction says to another person: "They've excavated about 30 feet, and have yet to find a layer of dirt".
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Hoping4Change
The ray guns are slowly a-coming .... http://www.eurekalert.org/features/doe/2002-04/dlnl-bff053102.php
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Blueblades
A person coming back from the dead and hanging around for more than 40 days, Jesus, it may or may not have happened. ( Lazarus not included, as that account could be fiction, we know it is hear- say information. ) Fiction has posited the dead coming back to life, however, it is always put in a context of horror. Conquering death could it become a reality?
Blueblades
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Warlock
Where are the flying cars?
Warlock
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lost_light06
The Moller Skycar. I heard about this a few years ago. Kinda scary when you think of every day average Joe's flying around over you house.
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gaiagirl
It seems as if we are quite close to having humanoid robots. I want a robotic teddy bear such as the one in "Artificial Intelligence". Lasar rays are possible now, even some the size of a writing pen, however the power consumption required to use them as a weapon makes them not very practical. Home computers were predicted in Childcraft books (a division of World Book Encyclopedia) way back in the '60s, and they hit the nail with their illustration of a machine which kids could use to look up information and do homework. Even earlier in the 50's, Issac Asimov wrote a story about a man living in the future who was surrounded by telephones and intercoms in his home and at work, and eventually begins having a nervous breakdown because he had absolutely no privacy. This sounds very much like the current situation in which cell phones keep people in constant communication. Also in the 50's, Mechanics Illustrated imagined giant motor homes used for vacations, just like a self-propelled travel trailer