historical fiction shows how life was different in the past;
sf can show that life will be different in the future;
contemporary fiction can show how life is different for different sections of global society right now;
a long past-and-future historical sequence, with or without immortals or time travellers, might bring everything together;
a far future narrator would be able to comment on everything.
Poul Anderson's fiction takes several steps in this direction - without becoming one big series, of course.
We notice the absence of mobile phones in most, not all, future histories. In Poul Anderson's Fire Time, Captain Dejerine's com buzzes while he is conversing with an Ishtarian. Taking the flat case from a pocket, he presses accept and converses with one of his Lieutenants. After he has clicked off and started the return journey to base, he calls Mayor Hanshaw and is relieved to find him at home. Thus, Dejerine's "com" is part of his Naval equipment, not a standard item for every citizen. We have become so used to mobiles that we might not notice this difference.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, here and there in Anderson's works we will come across "omissions" that makes some of them seem a bit dated. But I am also glad he never tried to tie up all his series into one giant series. The characters, ideas, conflicts, problems, etc., in them are best examined separately.
Ad astra! Sean
Of course there is the well known case of Heinlein's story "Between Planets" (IIRC) written in the 1950s which starts with a major character riding a horse when his phone attached to the saddle rings.
There is a phone in a hand bag in the Future History.
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