Posted on 12/27/2011 12:24:17 AM PST by Windflier
In the February 1952 issue of Galaxy magazine, Robert Heinlein offered his verdict on the conclusion of the twentieth century. He would later revisit these predictions in the 1966 short story collection The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein and discuss the challenges of predicting the future. Here's what the author gathered, six decades ago:
So let's have a few free-swinging predictions about the future. Some will be wrong - but cautious predictions are sure to be wrong.
1. Interplanetary travel is waiting at your front door — C.O.D. It's yours when you pay for it.
2. Contraception and control of disease is revising relations between the sexes to an extent that will change our entire social and economic structure.
3. The most important military fact of this century is that there is no way to repel an attack from outer space.
*Needs fixing*
We won't know until humans have fully explored grocked the place.
*Fixed*
In a sense, Heinlein predicted this in Starship Troopers, though it occurred in the past in the book. The result was that citizenship and voting rights required military service. You didn't have to serve, but you couldn't vote otherwise.
You might read a few of James Hogan's books if you can find them. A few of his books cause you to think outside the box on this subject.
Right you are! Good one!
Not to quibble too much, but a digital device could be constructed mechanically and most definitely can be and were constructed using vacuum tube technology. Digital implies only the underlying circuitry exchanges information at a binary level (on/off) as opposed to analog (continuous spectrum with an infinite number of intermediate values). Machines like ENIAC were digital, although tube based.
Here’s an interesting Heinlein quote:
“Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.”
“Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.”
Heinlein is so under-appreciated. Had he been born just 20 years later than he was, he'd still be with us, and might well have become a leading voice for conservatism and common sense.
An old high school teacher introduced me to Heinlein’s books shortly after he died. My favorites are Star Ship Troopers (which I’d actually read before the into, just wasn’t aware of the author’s stature) and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
I like his “small change can often be found under seat cushions.”
I don't remember how I was introduced to Heinlein, but I read a bunch of his books when I was in high school. At the time, I thought he was the greatest writer on earth. Now that I'm pushing 60, I realize that I wasn't far off the mark. The man remains one of the best American authors of all time.
I'm gonna need a couple more cups of coffee to grok that one.
Actually, from a whole list of what I call quasiquidity from Lazarus Long in Time Enough for Love. Grok.....wow..haven’t thought about that for a long time. From SISL, Micheal? The Half Martian? It was trendy and probably what RAH is most noted for...I ended up being underwhelmed by it all when his friends (Jubal? et al) ended up eating him.
I completely agree with that sentiment. He receives none of the credit he truly deserves as a writer and thinker and inspiration. America barely remembers him yet he inspired a generation of engineers, entrepreneurs, and writers.
There’s a program on the science channel, “prophets of science fiction” that will feature RH feb 16. They mostly focus on movie/tv adaptations as far as I have seen on the show (tuned in for the Clarke and Dick episodes).
Freegards
America was propelled to the moon on the dreams of Robert Heinlein.
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