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December 30, 2019, 1:46am
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Now that we are living in a post-Blade-Runner era, it's worth noting that the coming decade was singled out as a pivotal period by various science-fiction writers and futurologists. As we get the 2020s under way, here's a quick dive into what some...
Most sci-fi is set after 2000. Our time is Blade runner.
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finley
December 30, 2019, 1:30pm
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I love that picture of the two girls sitting at a table with their faces glued to their cellphones, not talking to each other. Hard to believe that was drawn nearly 100 years ago.
One film notably missing from that list is Idiocracy, which got a lot of things absolutely spot-on (and we haven’t even had to wait 500 years for it to happen).
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rowland
December 30, 2019, 3:25pm
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Idiocracy got buried at the time because its predictions were politically incorrect.
finley
December 30, 2019, 3:29pm
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Even more so today, surely? Witness the discussion about retards in the other thread.
yyy
December 31, 2019, 1:36am
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One of the surprising things about looking at past attempts to predict the future is how so many old portrayals of the 21st century were a lot better at envisioning the way in which human societies would develop than they were at foreseeing specific technological advancements.
Many of the works mentioned depict social conditions, economic systems, and political milieus that would seem familiar to audiences today, but we still aren’t driving around in airborne cars.
What is particularly striking is that, with a few honorable exceptions, such as William Gibson, many 20th-century future watchers failed to envisage the digital revolution, completely missing the huge impact that the Internet and social media would have on our lives. Even the futuristic world depicted in the much-lauded Blade Runner is decidedly analog in appearance, and there is not a smartphone in sight.
Nonetheless, although many of the world’s leading science-fiction writers and futurologists didn’t see it coming, this 1930 drawing from a collectors’ album of futuristic illustrations came up with something that looks very much like a camera phone, albeit not quite as sleek as today’s handheld devices:
And then they have a Soviet sci-fi gallery with, among others, these:
(Again, the precise form of the future technology is off, but the economic idea is completely accurate.)
Is that an ROC flag?
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finley
December 31, 2019, 2:18am
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Yes, I did read the article
But yeah, lots of things they got right. Aren’t Uber doing helicopter rides now?
If anyone’s interested in the opposite example (100% off-base about social development but quite prescient in a few technological aspects) have a look at some old Dan Dare strips.
If Facebook is Skynet, what is Forumosa?
finley
December 31, 2019, 3:15am
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We’re the resistance, dammit, and @GooseEgg is John Connor
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rowland
January 14, 2020, 11:58pm
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Ford’s in his Flivver, all’s well with the world.
