tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-544924080300827163.post2498308880322447411..comments2024-03-12T01:19:19.445-07:00Comments on Beloved Stranger: The Future Has This TendencyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14238443632454897835noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-544924080300827163.post-49573254019887850392010-06-20T22:52:01.052-07:002010-06-20T22:52:01.052-07:00Looked into the arrival of Microsoft and it was in...Looked into the arrival of Microsoft and it was in the 70s well before Neuromancer was written, but a nice nod to a new cutting edge company that the author could imagine lasting a very long time. <br /><br />Here are a few technologies that were in some way predicted by fiction writers..<br /><br />Video Communications (I imagine like Skype) Jules Verne "In the Year 2889" published 1889.<br /><br />Briefcase computers: James P. Hogan "Inherit The Stars" 1977<br /><br />Flip cellphone: Star Trek<br /><br />At any rate, Paul used to say that Science Fiction is a genre that uses a disguise to talk about the present. Any predictions are the exception.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14238443632454897835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-544924080300827163.post-8464263878204898092010-06-20T10:56:38.483-07:002010-06-20T10:56:38.483-07:00Thanks Jamie, For setting the record straight. Acc...Thanks Jamie, For setting the record straight. According to Wiki the first commercial telefax service happened 11 years before workable telephones! <br /><br />Funny I remember discussing this example with Paul many years ago and he too thought Clarke had predicted the use of Fax's. <br /><br />I'll ask him today if he remembers which Sturgeon story has the fax description, he still has a pretty good memory for old information.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14238443632454897835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-544924080300827163.post-65515973401407615502010-06-20T06:06:46.783-07:002010-06-20T06:06:46.783-07:00The speed of the future is what I love and hate ab...The speed of the future is what I love and hate about working as a computer programmer: there's always something new to explore, I know I'll never get bored, but most of the knowledge I accumulated 15 years ago is deadwood.<br /><br />Facsimile transmission over phone and telegraph wires was widely used well before the 1950s, though I don't think most people were aware of it. Allegedly Jules Verne predicted faxing. And I remember a Ted Sturgeon story that described a very modern fax machine in some detail, right down to the red light on the console, but I don't remember in which story it appeared. It may be in one of the wonderful volumes your husband has edited!Jamie McCarthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13314142963769139491noreply@blogger.com