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Isaac Asimov's Vision of 50 Years Hence

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Gibson, perhaps? (Score: 1)

by songofthepogo@pipedot.org on 2014-04-22 15:18 (#154)

I don't know about current authors and predictions for the next 50 years, and I am very much looking forward to what others contribute to this conversation. When I've gone back and reread some Gibson novels years after I first read them, though, I've sometimes been surprised at how prophetic some aspects of them seem (he hardly qualifies as a utopian, mind you). The same is true of some Stross, though that's really likely more a case of catching an emerging trend and expanding on where it might logically progress.

Ok, people, hit me with a reading list. I need some horizons expanded.

Re: Gibson, perhaps? (Score: 2, Interesting)

by genx@pipedot.org on 2014-04-23 00:30 (#15C)

Nothing special comes to my mind about contemporary writers at this moment, but in a general way, I would say any book that has an oppressive or totalitarian technological setting.

For anyone who has read several SF books, what has been going on these last years can be scary :
-- Megacorps like Google who buy companies in many different tech domains.
-- Flying drones (armed or monitoring) become widespread.
-- General spying by governments, together with megacorps. They even stopped denying or justifying.
-- Personal spying devices like Google glass for a start, but sooner or later, it could be implants.
-- Genetic manipulation, or at least selection, that slowly starts.
-- Medias: hard to say how they will evolve. Anyway, their interest seems to keep the people fed with the most easy and idiotic content in order to sell the most advertisement time to corporations.
-- Worst of all : most people gladly welcoming those devices and actions.

I must forget or fail to see a few other points, but if you add the next thing coming: Internet of Things, you have almost everything you need for any dark SF.

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2014-04-23 16:31 Interesting +1 songofthepogo@pipedot.org

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