PRINTBooks that predicted the future
Futuristic fiction makes far-fetched fortunes feel feasible
August 9, 2012 | 12:00 a.m. CST
If George Orwell and Stephen King were fortune tellers, their clients might panic. Both authors have written books foretelling tragedy for the world. Orwell’s 1984 and King’s The Stand were set in decades that happened much differently than the novels speculated. Luckily, we haven’t turned out the way Arthur C. Clarke predicted either. None of the authors pegged the future perfectly, but a few got close.
2001: A Space Odyssey
By Arthur C. Clarke
Published: 1968
Set In: 2001
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Clarke’s pre-moon-travel novel is laudable in its predictions of reaching the crater-surfaced satellite that orbits Earth. However, the book missed reality by a few decades by sending Dr. Heywood Floyd to the moon in 1999 instead of 1969. But the details of space travel in Dr. David Bowman’s 2001 journey to one of Saturn’s moons is believable — not that many of us are experts. Despite Clarke’s efforts, the concept of extraterrestrial intelligent life sucking a human into another world and turning him or her into a Star Child is (hopefully) a distant reality.
1984
By George Orwell
Published: 1949
Set In: 1984
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1984 has one of the most plausible story lines of the novels on this list. The famous Big Brother-ruled society of Oceania is devoid of freedom in almost every way and has deemed negative thoughts about The Party criminal. Winston and Julia try to fly under the radar with their illegal affair, but when the Thought Police catch them, the true omniscience of The Party becomes real. The fear of totalitarianism has stood the test of time, as have the rebellious attitudes of the protagonists. Although the idea of Thought Police seems far-fetched, who’s to say we’re not already brainwashed?
I, Robot
By Isaac Asimov
Published: 1950
Set In: 2035
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Isaac Asimov’s portrayal of the future is crowded with robots that control an eerie amount of human life. In the first of Asimov’s nine short stories that make up I, Robot, a young girl befriends a robot assigned to be her nursemaid. As the stories go on, though, the continuing presence of robots creates conflict between the machines and humans. Asimov’s depiction is slightly reminiscent of our society’s dependence on technology, but it is still shy of believable. The tale gives iPhones and televisions the next 23 years to develop arms and legs.
I Am Legend
By Richard Matheson
Published: 1954
Set In: 1976-79
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A classic post-apocalyptic story, I Am Legend failed to predict the ’70s by a long shot. Matheson, an MU alumnus, deserves credit for latching onto a genre that still boasts popularity, though. The story of Robert Neville nullifies the veracity of the novel considering that he’s the only survivor of a global pandemic that turned the population into vampires. Somewhere between Elvis’s death and the invention of the Sony Walkman, Matheson’s disease-infested vampires forgot to take over the world. And frankly, that’s OK.
The Stand
By Stephen King
Published: 1978
Set In: 1980
List Price: $8.99
In the aftermath of a fatal disease that spreads across the globe, two colonies of American survivors fight the timeless good versus evil battle. One, led by the elderly Mother Abigail, strives for a new democratic society, while the other, under Randall Flagg and his supernatural powers, begins to build a weapons program. Although an epidemic is believable, the story line is inaccurate in telling the future. Flu scares are very real today, but modern medicine has put up a pretty good fight so far.
