Sci-Fi Writers of the Past Predict Life In 2012 179
cylonlover writes "As part of the L, Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future award in 1987, a group of science fiction luminaries put together a text 'time capsule' of their predictions about life in the far off year of 2012. Including such names as Orson Scott Card, Robert Silverberg, Jack Williamson, Algis Budrys and Frederik Pohl, it gives us an interesting glimpse into how those living in the age before smartphones, tablets, Wi-Fi and on-demand streaming episodes of Community thought the future might turn out."
Pr0n (Score:5, Insightful)
They all missed that scientists would build a worldwide, high speed network for the reliable transmission of pornography to all corners of the planet, from Communist China, to the Soviet Union to the Arab world.
No one really thinks they can predict the future (Score:5, Insightful)
No serious science fiction writer in their right mind seriously thinks they can accurately predict the future. The good science fiction writers merely use the future to explore the issues of the present and their implications (and perhaps offer admonishment, with a glimpse of what could go wrong if a particular path is followed).
Re:My prediction (Score:5, Insightful)
I predict more of the same. I also predict that people 25 years from now will still be making inaccurate predictions.
Re:My prediction (Score:5, Insightful)
you sure you don't life in the fifties? or sixties? or seventies? or eighties? or nineties? or 00's?
that's exactly the prediction all those guys got wrong pretty much.
Re:Pr0n (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Nehemiah Scudder not US president (Score:4, Insightful)
Sometimes we scare the crap out of ourselves.
Re:My prediction (Score:2, Insightful)
"No one has any idea", so let's obstruct.
"No one has been able to answer",so shut it down forever.
"That's a problem", so don't produce any energy.
"No one knows", so stop doing anything until everyone knows all possible outcomes.
"There is a lot of risk there potentially" and no risk can ever be tolerated.
"There have been some problems" and no one in the world has ever had problems before, so let's not start doing this problematic energy production.
There's "not enough oil" and therefore it's impossible to discover any. We shouldn't even look.