vintage science fiction

It’s fun to read older science fiction and see its take on what the future would be like.

The novel I’m reading now, for instance, was published in 1985. In the book, humanity developed faster-than-light travel in 2013, and the characters are wondering what impact this will have on the 2016 presidential elections and are concerned about the reaction from the Soviet Union.

Heh. 2013 turned out a bit different than that.

Older science fiction seems to think the 21st century would be essentially the United Nations in space. In practice, the future is actually the Internet, really cool cell phones, and governmental dysfunction. No shiny space colonies for us, alas. Humanity is the same as it always has been, though now we have web pages.

On the plus side, my cell phone really is seriously cool.

-JM