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It’s a little unrelated but I always thought it was odd that people looked to things like science fiction for glimpses into possible futures rather than into th

by devjab 2y ago

It’s a little unrelated but I always thought it was odd that people looked to things like science fiction for glimpses into possible futures rather than into the more social and political genres such as cyberpunk. Because cyberpunk basically got everything right. Unfortunately.

ericjmorey 2y ago
What examples of getting everything right do you know of?
- snozolli 2y ago
  Not GP, but Cryptonomicon stands out as predicting a lot about markets around cryptography, and the relationship between nations and technology. Stephenson didn't predict Blockchain and Bitcoin specifically, but he got closer than anyone I know of. More generally, the Gibson style of "independent hackers versus the corporate overlords" seems increasingly accurate.
- burningChrome 2y ago
  William Gibson - Neuromancer (1984) Writing in F&SF in 2005, Charles de Lint noted that while Gibson's technological extrapolations had proved imperfect (in particular, his acknowledged failure to anticipate the impact of the cell phone), "Imagining story, the inner workings of his characters' minds, and the world in which it all takes place are all more important."[18] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer#Literary_and_cultural_significance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer#Literary_and_cultu...
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- narrator 2y ago
  Bruner's "Stand on Zanzibar"from the 60s and "The Shockwave Rider" from the 70s predicted a lot of social trends. Most millennials and younger won't be able to stand them though because of the different cultural norms of those eras embedded into the books
KineticLensman 2y ago
Personally I started reading hard SF in the early 70s so it was all I had then for glimpses of the future, and a lot of near-future SF then was based around post-nuclear situations, or robots, or similar, albeit with some superb exceptions from authors such as Roger Zelazny, John Brunner and others. Cyberpunk didn't really get consolidated as a genre until the 1980s although dystopias had been written about before then. It was in the 80s that the core cyberpunk themes of computer hackers and evil corporations really came together in their current dystopian form.
wslh 2y ago
Not only from the cyberpunk movement, but also from history and the classics! Societies should rethink formal education entirely and focus on connecting the dots between different sciences and activities. I'll play the contrarian here regarding the article: it's likely that many people did actually predict the future, but they lacked the platform to broadcast their message.
barrkel 2y ago
SF has always been about the present time of the writer, and is usually most interesting when it perturbs some element of reality to expose something interesting about the present.

by devjab 2y ago

ericjmorey 2y ago

What examples of getting everything right do you know of?

snozolli 2y ago
Not GP, but Cryptonomicon stands out as predicting a lot about markets around cryptography, and the relationship between nations and technology. Stephenson didn't predict Blockchain and Bitcoin specifically, but he got closer than anyone I know of. More generally, the Gibson style of "independent hackers versus the corporate overlords" seems increasingly accurate.
burningChrome 2y ago
William Gibson - Neuromancer (1984) Writing in F&SF in 2005, Charles de Lint noted that while Gibson's technological extrapolations had proved imperfect (in particular, his acknowledged failure to anticipate the impact of the cell phone), "Imagining story, the inner workings of his characters' minds, and the world in which it all takes place are all more important."[18] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer#Literary_and_cultural_significance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer#Literary_and_cultu...
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
narrator 2y ago
Bruner's "Stand on Zanzibar"from the 60s and "The Shockwave Rider" from the 70s predicted a lot of social trends. Most millennials and younger won't be able to stand them though because of the different cultural norms of those eras embedded into the books

KineticLensman 2y ago

Personally I started reading hard SF in the early 70s so it was all I had then for glimpses of the future, and a lot of near-future SF then was based around post-nuclear situations, or robots, or similar, albeit with some superb exceptions from authors such as Roger Zelazny, John Brunner and others. Cyberpunk didn't really get consolidated as a genre until the 1980s although dystopias had been written about before then. It was in the 80s that the core cyberpunk themes of computer hackers and evil corporations really came together in their current dystopian form.

wslh 2y ago

Not only from the cyberpunk movement, but also from history and the classics! Societies should rethink formal education entirely and focus on connecting the dots between different sciences and activities. I'll play the contrarian here regarding the article: it's likely that many people did actually predict the future, but they lacked the platform to broadcast their message.

barrkel 2y ago

SF has always been about the present time of the writer, and is usually most interesting when it perturbs some element of reality to expose something interesting about the present.