Life remains turbulent in Britain and around the world. Will the twenty-first or twenty-second century bring forth:
a World Federation (Robert Heinlein's Future History);
a Solar Union (Anderson's Psychotechnic History);
a Solar Commonwealth (Anderson's Technic History);
a nuclear war (Anderson's Maurai Federation etc);
a global political dictatorship (some Anderson short stories);
ecological collapse (happening now);
alien invasion (highly unlikely!);
an American theocracy (also the Future History);
humanoid robots (Asimov; one Anderson short story);
regular space travel (in much sf but long delayed);
post-organic intelligences (Anderson's Genesis);
the completely unexpected (certainly)?
What we definitely will experience is a single as yet unknown future.
4 comments:
I'm skeptical of a world federation, unless it was imposed by force. Political cultures tend to be too different.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: You overlooked the United Commonwealths of Anderson/Dickson's Hoka stories. And the World Federation of THE STAR FOX/FIRETIME.
I am not so totally skeptical of alien invasions--but that's my paranoia speaking!
I don't believe one bit in the theocratic dictatorship Heinlein speculated had taken over the US in REVOLT IN 2100. That was the prejudice he had against evangelical Protestants showing up. To say nothing of Christianity, as such, is such poor, thin, stony ground for theocracy.
It is my ardent hope Elon Musk and his competitors finally inaugurate that age of regular, relatively cheap space travel!
Mr. Stirling: I agree, any kind of global unification of the world is far more likely than not to come about by force, either by a single Power or an alliance of powers. Hloch, the "editor" of THE EARTH BOOK OF STORMGATE, stressed that the rise of the Solar Commonwealth was "long and terrible," strongly implying the use of force.
it is my strong hope any such unification of the world, which I believe is a basically good idea, will be achieved by an alliance of the most powerful Western/Western oriented nations.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: yeah. Mind you, other people can be democratic -- Taiwan, and post-1945 Japan are examples.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, I had nations like Taiwan, S Korea, and post-1945 Japan in mind as being some of these Western oriented countries. And a few others, here and there around the world.
Ad astra! Sean
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