-Alexei Panshin, Heinlein In Dimension (Chicago, 1968), V, 2, p. 122.
Thus, the first two of the five volumes of Robert Heinlein's Future History are set in dates that are now past, 1951-2010.
"If the time scale is the same for future as for past developments, then the first manned Alpha Centauri expedition should leave about the year 2010....
"That's counting from R. W. Bussard's original paper on the interstellar ramjet, which appeared in 1969."
-Poul Anderson, "Our Many Roads to the Stars" IN Anderson, New America (New York, 1983), pp. 261-287 AT p. 269.
("Our Many Roads to the Stars" was first published in 1975.)
Well...
Anderson does continue:
"Chances are that a flat historical parallel is silly." (ibid.)
Too right. On the other hand:
"We think it extraordinary that just sixty-six years elapsed between the first powered flight at Kitty Hawk and the first manned landing on the moon; yet my mother was around for both of them."
-Poul Anderson, "The Discovery of the Past" IN Anderson, Past Times (New York, 1984), pp. 182-206 AT p. 200.
We have lived through our own future history and are still in it. The Future History had "THE CRAZY YEARS" in the 1960s and '70s. Anderson's Technic History has the Chaos in the early twenty first century. We have...
2 comments:
At some point, even the very cheapest labor can’t compete with machinery. A big garment factory in Bangladesh recently announced it was going to invest heavily in automation...
Kaor, Paul!
In that "Discovery" essay of his, Anderson argued the study of history can be fun, that it's more than just dry dates and facts. I agree! And I think reading translations of actual historical texts from the past can stimulate pleasure as well. I cited the works of St. Gregory of Tours and St. Bede the Venerable as examples in another combox.
History can and should be studied seriously as well, in attempts to learn from the past what WORKED, in politics, society, economics, etc.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment