The future isn’t what it used to be. Some of the dystopian ones were close. The big plot twist was how fast computers got small & how expensive it is to get even low earth orbit.
I don’t think that in the past they were too concerned about the “environmental” issues of today…look at all the flak Elon is getting, the only person who is actually trying to get to Mars. All the govt agencies are after him.
At the beginning of Eric Frank Russell’s 1956 alien-invasion sf novel Three to Conquer (IMHO really good), set around the 1980s, the main character is driving and musing about how wrong past predictions about the future had been:
“They had two or three moving roadways in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York; there were also six airtight stations up on the Moon. But except for rear engines and doped-alcohol fuel, motorcars were little different from those of thirty years ago.”
Even for a future-set piece debunking past predictions, the predictions in the novel have fallen short after almost seven decades—sure, we have electric cars now, but those moving roadways and Moon stations?
Cpeckbourlioux 28 days ago
Nice one. Reminds me of Craig Ferguson; “Tomorrow’s just a future yesterday.”
ChukLitl Premium Member 28 days ago
The future isn’t what it used to be. Some of the dystopian ones were close. The big plot twist was how fast computers got small & how expensive it is to get even low earth orbit.
Nighthawks Premium Member 28 days ago
the notion of flying cars in the future is starting to become another comics cliche
drivingfuriously Premium Member 28 days ago
Two astronauts still stranded on the International Space Station. They are going to miss Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.
"It's the End of the World!!!" Premium Member 28 days ago
And yet George Orwell was pretty spot on about the future.
Lennia Machen Premium Member 28 days ago
“What can be, unburdened by what has been”
Robert Miller Premium Member 28 days ago
I don’t think that in the past they were too concerned about the “environmental” issues of today…look at all the flak Elon is getting, the only person who is actually trying to get to Mars. All the govt agencies are after him.
cherns Premium Member 28 days ago
At the beginning of Eric Frank Russell’s 1956 alien-invasion sf novel Three to Conquer (IMHO really good), set around the 1980s, the main character is driving and musing about how wrong past predictions about the future had been:
“They had two or three moving roadways in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York; there were also six airtight stations up on the Moon. But except for rear engines and doped-alcohol fuel, motorcars were little different from those of thirty years ago.”
Even for a future-set piece debunking past predictions, the predictions in the novel have fallen short after almost seven decades—sure, we have electric cars now, but those moving roadways and Moon stations?