Who would have thought that a man who seemed so able to envision the future could have so completely missed the meaning of the internet. It is not meaningless or a mere distraction; it is a tool as powerful as the printing press once was. It changes everything, and we are living at the time when it was born.
“Who would have thought that a man who seemed so able to envision the future could have so completely missed the meaning of the internet. It is not meaningless or a mere distraction; it is a tool as powerful as the printing press once was. It changes everything, and we are living at the time when it was born.”
Well, Bill Gates (who REALLY should have known better) admitted that he didn’t see it coming, either. But I’d say that at 88, Bradbury’s a bit set in his ways now. I met him once in his late 70’s, still a pretty dynamic guy.
I was on the internet, with a PC, in the early-mid 90’s; it took a good amount of money, hard technical skills and sacrificing a goat to get it work (Windows 3.1 had no TCP/IP stack out of the box, as I recall). And when I saw what it could do, I thought that it (and HTML) were the greatest inventions since fire. Too bad I didn’t capitalize on them much.
That wouldn't Bradbury, was never a hard SF writer. Or even a painter of "a more different than you imagine" future (that would be Cordwainer Smith).
He hasn’t written anything worthwhile in almost 40 years now, plus he’s become a bit of a luddite.
IIRC, he’s never had a driver’s license.
I agree.
It’s amazing when you can be right there in real time experiencing the demonstrations in Tehran ... and respond back to someone who is right there in the streets.
Even astronauts Tweeting from space to anyone who has a connection in real time.
I’m surprised Bradbury has missed it.