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Four Sci-Fi books that get projections right: * 'Paris in the Twentieth Century' by Jules Verne * 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley * '1984' by George Orwel

Four Sci-Fi books that get projections right: * 'Paris in the Twentieth Century' by Jules Verne * 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley * '1984' by George Orwell * 'The Space Merchants' by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth (1952) Verne predicts correctly many technologies and changes they cause in the society. Probably the most accurate future projection overall. The three other books: The Brave New World, 1984 and The Space Merchants neatly complement each other. Our reality is a mix of the three themes represented in these books. Some people think that 'Stand on Zanzibar' should be mentioned.

egypturnash 9y ago
god yes, Space Merchants is the most prophetic fucking thing I ever read as a kid devouring SF in the 70s. It seemed like such broad, impossible parody back then, but here we are with ads invading every single possible surface of our lives and corporations flouting regulations with impunity.
pinewurst 9y ago
'Stand on Zanzibar' is a work of genius, truly.
- narrator 9y ago
  'Stand on Zanzibar' is absolutely eerie in how good it predicted the future. In the non-fiction department, Zbigniew Brezinski's "The Technetronic Era" is also disturbingly prescient.
sideshowb 9y ago
adding space merchants and Zanzibar to my reading list The article's discussion of corporations also reminds me of Snow Crash, which is not so old and also pretty light hearted but full of good food for thought nonetheless
romwell 9y ago
"A Logic Named Joe" has predicted the Internet and many of our current problems in the mid-40's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Logic_Named_Joe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Logic_Named_Joe https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/19/a_logic_named_joe/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/19/a_logic_named_joe/
- Rapzid 9y ago
  One of my favorite "X Minus One" episodes: https://archive.org/details/OTRR_X_Minus_One_Singles/XMinusOne55-12-28031ALogicNamedJoe.mp3 https://archive.org/details/OTRR_X_Minus_One_Singles/XMinusO... .
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
Apocryphon 9y ago
'Player Piano' by Kurt Vonnegut- but only half of its premise (sadly, the more hopeful half)
pdkl95 9y ago
The film Sleep Dealer[1] jumped straight to 1the top of my favorite cyberpunk fiction when it was released in 2008. It offered a different perspective on modern corporations and how they are using technology that is very different from the usual narrative told in (usually white, usually >= upper middle class) more privileged areas. After the drama at Uber over the last ~yearSleep dealer, Sleep Dealer's now seems surprisingly prescient. (warning: the trailer[2] is terrible and leaves o9ut ~2/3 of the movie's themes, which also include a criti8que of drone based warfare in parallel with it's discussion of Uber-style corporations optimizing labor) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbJGQl-dJ6c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbJGQl-dJ6c

egypturnash 9y ago

god yes, Space Merchants is the most prophetic fucking thing I ever read as a kid devouring SF in the 70s. It seemed like such broad, impossible parody back then, but here we are with ads invading every single possible surface of our lives and corporations flouting regulations with impunity.

pinewurst 9y ago

'Stand on Zanzibar' is a work of genius, truly.

narrator 9y ago
'Stand on Zanzibar' is absolutely eerie in how good it predicted the future. In the non-fiction department, Zbigniew Brezinski's "The Technetronic Era" is also disturbingly prescient.

sideshowb 9y ago

adding space merchants and Zanzibar to my reading list The article's discussion of corporations also reminds me of Snow Crash, which is not so old and also pretty light hearted but full of good food for thought nonetheless

romwell 9y ago

"A Logic Named Joe" has predicted the Internet and many of our current problems in the mid-40's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Logic_Named_Joe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Logic_Named_Joe https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/19/a_logic_named_joe/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/19/a_logic_named_joe/

Rapzid 9y ago
One of my favorite "X Minus One" episodes: https://archive.org/details/OTRR_X_Minus_One_Singles/XMinusOne55-12-28031ALogicNamedJoe.mp3 https://archive.org/details/OTRR_X_Minus_One_Singles/XMinusO... .

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

Apocryphon 9y ago

'Player Piano' by Kurt Vonnegut- but only half of its premise (sadly, the more hopeful half)

pdkl95 9y ago

The film Sleep Dealer[1] jumped straight to 1the top of my favorite cyberpunk fiction when it was released in 2008. It offered a different perspective on modern corporations and how they are using technology that is very different from the usual narrative told in (usually white, usually >= upper middle class) more privileged areas. After the drama at Uber over the last ~yearSleep dealer, Sleep Dealer's now seems surprisingly prescient. (warning: the trailer[2] is terrible and leaves o9ut ~2/3 of the movie's themes, which also include a criti8que of drone based warfare in parallel with it's discussion of Uber-style corporations optimizing labor) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbJGQl-dJ6c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbJGQl-dJ6c