In many ways Neuromancer was among the most prescient - not in terms of specifics (everybody blows those a thousand times more frequently than they get the occasional gadget or date right) but in the general vision of how computer and communications technology would transform the consumer/social landscape in the west.
Most prescient works of science fiction
- Thread starter TalkieToaster
- Start date
Guy got it right on the money.
Dos.
While neither Brave New World or 1984 are exactly correct in terms of specifics, they are correct about an ever growing government and bureaucracy entangling itself into every element of human life.
Brave New World has both soma drugs and electronic amusements to distract people from the unhappiness and dissatisfaction of their lives, and to ensure that they don't think or question.
1984 has government whose statements and actions, no matter how illegal, immoral, or absurd cannot be challenged, and a media that is the propaganda arm of that government, rather than its watchdog.
Brave New World has both soma drugs and electronic amusements to distract people from the unhappiness and dissatisfaction of their lives, and to ensure that they don't think or question.
1984 has government whose statements and actions, no matter how illegal, immoral, or absurd cannot be challenged, and a media that is the propaganda arm of that government, rather than its watchdog.
Brave New World has a caste system based on fetal alcohol syndrome.
1984 takes places in 1948, when totalitarianism was actually a threat to the average Westerner and a plausible temptation for Western governments.
Of course, they weren't supposed to be prescient. They were dystopic, metaphorical, and over-the-top cautionary tales. Generic elements from those novels can be taken to be recapitulated in real life, but the more salient features can't. When was the last time the government put a rat cage on your head for reading a book? When was the last time you were on the receiving end of a witty barb from your local World Controller because you wanted to have sex with someone more than once? Probably not recently.
And in any event, taken literally Brave New World wasn't so bad. Huxley and legions of critics alike have failed to convince me that John the Savage's ridiculous sexual repression and emo self-flagellation comprise a response to the Problem of More Than Two People which is identifiably superior to a nice gangbang with Lenina.
1984 takes places in 1948, when totalitarianism was actually a threat to the average Westerner and a plausible temptation for Western governments.
Of course, they weren't supposed to be prescient. They were dystopic, metaphorical, and over-the-top cautionary tales. Generic elements from those novels can be taken to be recapitulated in real life, but the more salient features can't. When was the last time the government put a rat cage on your head for reading a book? When was the last time you were on the receiving end of a witty barb from your local World Controller because you wanted to have sex with someone more than once? Probably not recently.
And in any event, taken literally Brave New World wasn't so bad. Huxley and legions of critics alike have failed to convince me that John the Savage's ridiculous sexual repression and emo self-flagellation comprise a response to the Problem of More Than Two People which is identifiably superior to a nice gangbang with Lenina.
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No, neither Brave New World or 1984 were prescient in the sense of making an actual prediction of the future, specifically with regard to technology, and its social consequences, which I think is what the original poster was looking for. You're right they are parodies of their own time, even more true now than when written.
Western governments do far worse than put rat cages on enemies of the state, the definition of which can be changed at any time if defined at all.
Neither monogamy nor meaningful sexuality is not encouraged by this culture.
The world of Brave New World was absolutely horrifying. A completely empty, meaningless existence designed and controlled by experts and bureaucrats. A type of existence we increasingly see today, and one that, like the people in the book, that many today seem to be happy with.
I don't believe the character living outside the system was supposed to be seen as superior to it, merely an alternative that would develop.
Western governments do far worse than put rat cages on enemies of the state, the definition of which can be changed at any time if defined at all.
Neither monogamy nor meaningful sexuality is not encouraged by this culture.
The world of Brave New World was absolutely horrifying. A completely empty, meaningless existence designed and controlled by experts and bureaucrats. A type of existence we increasingly see today, and one that, like the people in the book, that many today seem to be happy with.
I don't believe the character living outside the system was supposed to be seen as superior to it, merely an alternative that would develop.
