Zager and Evans promise of social revolution comes by way of technological advancements, for the two are rarely separated in dreams of the future. You’ll pick your son, pick your daughter too You won’t need no husband, won’t need no wife. There’s a reason that Zager and Evans’ song “In the Year 2525,” was a hit in 1969, what with propositions such as: While some speculative fiction aims to depict utopias, more often their future worlds are downright terrifying - heavy literalizations of current social capitalist fears. Modern surveillance isn’t quite as heavy-handed as that depicted in 1984, but prevailing anxieties over privacy and uninterrupted flows of information suggest that Orwell, too, might have described the right future, just not the right year. Alas, still a dream, but perhaps the date is the only thing they got wrong? Take George Orwell’s vision of 1984 that describes phenomena with which our world is still coming to terms. Hubbard in 1987 various sci-fi writers prophesized, that space colonies would exist by 2012. Meanwhile, in a time capsule created by sci-fi writer (and Scientology founder) L Ron. In his very first novel, The Sands Of Mars, published in 1951, Clarke predicted that human voyages to Mars would occur in the 90s - well, not quite, but the landing of the Mars Curiosity Rover on Monday was exciting. We’re either living through (or have already passed) many of the milestone years set out in the speculative fiction of decades past. By leaving their dates murky, writers allow their predictions the possibility of eventually coming true. Think, for instance, of the novels set in the not-too-distant ( Man Plus) or far, far future ( Ender’s Game), or perhaps a dystopic future ( Farhenheit 451, Anthem) such as, oh, after some apocalyptic event ( The Last Man, Oryx and Crake), not to mention those that follow alternate time ( Foundation series) and world systems ( Anathem) entirely. While some predictions of science fiction have come to pass, if we were to compile a calendar of future events based on speculative fiction (taking in works from both science fiction and fantasy genres), we would run some hazards - not least the natural reluctance of authors to affix specific dates to their imaginings. The likelihood that any of us will live to see a resurrected Titanic outside a James Cameron movie now seems very slim. But the year is now 2012, and the Titanic continues to sit 12,000 feet below the ocean surface, rusting more with every passing year (indeed, it’s predicted here that by 2045, only the hull will remain). Clarke’s 1990 novel The Ghost from the Grand Banks, 2012 is the year that would see the Titanic resurrected from the ocean floor.
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