Ray Bradbury, an outstanding science fiction writer, anticipated the emergence of many modern technological devices in his works, such as headphones, flat-screen TVs, ATMs, and even social networks.
Ray Bradbury was not only a writer, but also a prophet.
The day before yesterday in Los Angeles died an outstanding science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, who lived to be 91 years old. The classic of world literature was not only a writer, but also a prophet. In his works, the author anticipated the emergence of many modern technical devices, the Washington Post writes, quoted by TSN.ua.
Headphones
The characters in Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 wore spigot radios called shells. They are a direct prototype of modern headphones and portable players, the first model of which appeared only 26 years after the release of the novel.
The Wall Street Journal is sure that we should also thank Bradbury for the invention of the Bluetooth headset.
In the same fantastic dystopia, Bradbury writes about “walls” – state-of-the-art televisions, with the help of which the characters communicate with each other at a distance. Later, the creators of the social network Facebook called this a communication node through which users can send and receive messages.
Flat screen TVs
The members of the futuristic society described in the book Fahrenheit 451 are just as obsessed with material goods as many modern people. In particular, the novel mentions the characters' love for wall-sized flat-panel TVs.
Vehicles with artificial intelligence
Ray Bradbury's short story "Pedestrian" features a "smart" car that itself arrests the protagonist and takes him to a psychiatric hospital. Such cars have already appeared on US roads as part of the Google project. Of course, they do not carry any sinister mission, as in the Pedestrian, and are much less perfect than Bradbury's fantastic cars.
I saw, I heard, I knew...
Raymond Douglas Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920 in the American city of Waukegan, located in Illinois. He was born in the 11th month of his mother's pregnancy, and perhaps it was precisely this circumstance that led to the fact that he had an exceptional memory all his life. “I remember the circumcision of the umbilical cord well, I remember the first time I sucked maternal breast. The nightmares that lie in wait for a newborn are listed in my mental cheat sheet from the very first days, ”Bradbury wrote.“ I know, I know that this is impossible, most people do not remember anything like that. Doctors say that children are not born fully developed, only after a few days or even weeks gaining the ability to see, hear, know. But I - saw, heard, knew ... "
Interestingly, he received his middle name Douglas in honor of the famous actor Douglas Fairbanks, who was idolized by his mother, Swedish Marie Esther Moberg, who belonged to an old family. His father was also a kind of American aristocrat, a descendant of the first settlers who arrived in the New World as early as 1630. However, this origin did not promise wealth and position in society: Leonard Bradbury worked as a simple telephone technician.
Monster
The Bradbury family had to go through a lot of grief. Ray had an older brother named Leonard after his father. Together with him, his twin brother Sam was born, who died at the age of two. And when Ray was six years old, his sister Elizabeth was born, who also died soon after. The boy was shocked by these deaths, which in the future gave his work a tragic touch ...
The early departure from the life of children made Marie Esther treat Ray with special attention, she took care of him even in small things. Here is how the future writer recalled his childhood: “I go up the stairs and see a terrible monster waiting for me on the last step. I scream and run with all my might to my mother, and we climb the stairs with her. The monster immediately hides - mom never saw him. At times I was offended that she lacked imagination for this ... For the first ten years of my life, various ghosts, ghosts, skeletons and other childhood fears constantly lived in my head.
Rollerblading to Hollywood
Ray did not grow up in the most best conditions During those years, the Great Depression began in the United States. The father lost his job, and the family, in search of a better life, moved to California in 1934, to the famous Los Angeles. Perhaps a certain role in the move was played by Ray's parents' passion for cinema. The boy was also captivated by the magic of cinema, and when he became a famous writer, he enjoyed talking with directors and writing movie scripts.
Once in Los Angeles, Ray and his brother often went to Hollywood to roller-skate and stare at famous actors. Sometimes they succeeded. One day, Ray not only saw, but also met the film star Louella Parsons, who liked the inquisitive little boy so much that she sent him home in her limousine.
Son of Jules Verne
But gradually the boy abandoned rollers and outdoor games. A new hobby appeared in his life - books. He read everything, from comics to Dostoevsky's novels. Ray's education ended with the end of high school, but the books turned out to be his "universities", giving the young man knowledge in many areas of life. And they inspired him to become a writer, to create his own fantasy worlds. “Jules Verne was my father, HG Wells was my wise uncle, Edgar Allan Poe was my cousin. Comic book heroes Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers are my brothers and comrades. That's all my relatives," he admitted. "I'll add that my mother, in all likelihood, was Mary Shelley, the creator of Frankenstein." Well, who else could I become, if not a science fiction writer, with such a family.
The most best wife
And Bradbury took up the pen. He did not have a special opportunity to devote himself entirely to creativity, because from the age of 18 he worked - he sold newspapers. But in free time wrote stories and read great writers. It was published in cheap editions, Bradbury's early works were very weak and largely imitative.
Everything changed when Ray met his future wife Margaret, with whom they started a family in 1947. She idolized her husband and believed in his great future. An intelligent woman, a connoisseur of literature, she found in her husband's stories a grain of real talent. Together they lived for 56 years, until the death of Margaret in 2003. She bore her husband four daughters.
Ray left work, and Margaret worked from morning to night so that he could write without being distracted by making money. Such dedication paid off - Ray began to create things that serious publications bought with pleasure. Gradually, fame came to Bradbury, and immediately worldwide. His The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451 became cult novels.
Burn the books!
It is interesting that Fahrenheit 451, written in 1953, has turned into a harsh reality these days ... Grim forebodings did not deceive the creator of the novel. It is worth reading a few fragments of the work - and marvel at the author's ability to look into the future. “Magazines have become a kind of vanilla syrup. Books - in sweetened slop. The reader knew perfectly well what he needed, and, whirling in a whirlwind of fun, he kept the comics for himself. And, of course, erotic magazines. Now you can always be happy: read comics for your health, various love confessions and trade and advertising publications. “Colored people don't like Little Black Sambo. Burn her. Whites don't like Uncle Tom's Cabin. Burn her too. Someone wrote a book about smoking predisposing to lung cancer. Tobacco manufacturers are in a panic. Burn this book."
Note that in several US states there is a ban on "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Moreover, Bradbury's own books are also banned there.
“Arrange different contests, for example, who can remember the words of popular songs better, who can name all the major cities in the states, or who knows how much grain was harvested in Iowa last year. Stuff people's heads with numbers, stuff them with harmless facts until they feel sick. Nothing, but it will seem to them that they are very educated. They will even have the impression that they are thinking that they are moving forward, although in reality they are standing still. Or this: “Give us entertainment, parties, acrobats and conjurers, desperate stunts, jet cars, helicopters, pornography and drugs. More of the stuff that triggers the simplest automatic reflexes!”
Drink beer and watch TV shows!
But other predictions of Bradbury did not come true ... He dreamed of cities on Mars, but they have not yet appeared there. When the writer was asked why this did not happen, he replied: “Because people are idiots. They did all sorts of stupid things like dog costumes, an advertising manager position, and things like the iPhone, all for nothing but a sour aftertaste. But if we developed science, explored the Moon, Mars, Venus... Who knows what the world would be like then? Humanity has been given the opportunity to surf space, but it wants to engage in consumption - drinking beer and watching TV shows.
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August 22 is the birthday of the world-famous science fiction writer Ray Bradbury. He gave the world such works as The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine, and many others. The writer died in June 2012.
Many fantastic technologies that Ray Bradbury described in his novels became real during his lifetime.
CHANGEUA on the anniversary of the science fiction writer's birthday made a selection of the writer's predictions that came true.
virtual reality room
In the story "The Veld", published in September 1950, Ray Bradbury describes a room that uses 3D technology and stereo sound.
“Smooth two-dimensional walls ... softly buzzing, began to melt, as if going into a transparent distance, and an African veld appeared - three-dimensional, in colors, like a real one, down to the smallest pebble and blade of grass. The ceiling ... turned into a distant sky with a hot yellow sun.
The fiction of a science fiction writer has become a reality after 40 years. In the 1990s, the design of the CAVE (CaveAutomaticVirtualEnvironment) virtual reality room was developed in the USA at the University of Illinois. In this room, a three-dimensional (stereoscopic) image was projected onto each wall, calculated for a specific point where the user could be. As a result, such an image surrounded a person, immersing him in himself.
Today, virtual reality is no longer surprising. In large cities of Ukraine, special establishments are increasingly being opened, which, based on VR technologies, arrange various quests.
Automated home
Ray Bradbury has repeatedly described "smart homes" in his works. They first appear in the pages of The Martian Chronicles in 1950. The robotic house from the story continued to function, preparing food and putting things in order, even when the owners left it long ago.
"Technically flawless house continues to take care of the owners even after their death as a result of a nuclear war."
In our world, the concept of "smart home" began to be actively developed only in the 90s.
Headphones
The characters in Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 wore spigot radios called shells, the prototype of today's headphones and players.
"In her ears are tiny shells, tiny thimble-sized radios, bushings."
Interestingly, the first headphone model appeared only 26 years after the release of the novel - in 1979.
Flat screen TVs
Members of a futuristic society, the heroes of the novel in Fahrenheit 451 had a rabid love for flat-panel televisions, the size of a wall.
“And it will be even more interesting when we have a fourth TV wall. How long do you think we will still need to save up in order to make a TV wall instead of a simple wall?
In our world, large flat screen TVs appeared in 1997.
Social media
In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury also mentions the so-called "walls" - ultra-modern televisions, with the help of which the characters of the work communicate with each other at a distance. This is the prototype of future social networks, which began to develop actively in our world only in the middle of the 90s, that is, more than 40 years after the publication of the novel.
Vehicles with artificial intelligence
Ray Bradbury's short story "Pedestrian" features a "smart" car that itself arrests the protagonist and takes him to a psychiatric hospital.
Well, today, automated cars are also starting to appear on US roads as part of the project. Google. Of course, they do not carry any sinister mission, as in the Pedestrian, and are much less perfect than Bradbury's fantastic cars. But will it still be.
ATMs
In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury writes about machines that strongly resemble modern ATMs. According to the book, users of these devices have 24-hour access to their finances.
“…he had the money in his pocket (he had already been to the bank, which was open all night – he was served by mechanical robots).”
In the real world, the first cash dispenser was installed 14 years later, in June 1967, in London at a branch of the British bank Barclays. It was invented by the Scot John Shepard-Barron.
Mobile phone
In the story "The Killer", Ray Bradbury describes radio bracelets for communication, which in function resemble a modern mobile phone.
"My wife and friends call me every five minutes"- the hero of a fantastic work lamented.
For reference: the first prototype mobile phone was released in 1973 - 20 years after Bradbury's story.
The ubiquitous video surveillance
The hero of the same novel Fahrenheit 451, firefighter Guy Montag, is fleeing from police persecution. His chase is shown live with the help of cameras installed on the streets. Reporters follow the chase with cameras on the helicopter, and millions of viewers are glued to the screens in anticipation of the denouement.
"Our television company is proud to be able to follow the mechanical bloodhound with a TV camera mounted on a helicopter."
Widespread use in the real world of satellite tracking and incriminating surveillance began in the 60s, that is, ten years after Bradbury wrote about it.
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Ray Bradbury, one of the greatest science fiction writers of the 20th century, was born on August 22, 1920. He foresaw the emergence of many of the technical devices that we use today. The editors of the site remembered the writer's seven predictions that came true.
3D image
Televisions in the novel Fahrenheit 451 show the image "in color and volume." And if color television had already appeared in the United States in the year the novel was written, then there were still no traces of images in 3D images.
Tracking Devices
The hero of the same novel, firefighter Guy Montag, flees from police persecution. His chase is shown live with the help of cameras installed on the streets. Reporters follow the chase with cameras on the helicopter, and millions of viewers are glued to the screens in anticipation of the denouement. Bradbury also described a communication bracelet that monitors a person every minute and does not leave him any personal space. “My wife and friends call me every five minutes,” the hero of the story “The Killer” lamented.
In the same fantastic dystopia, Bradbury writes about the so-called "walls" - state-of-the-art televisions, with the help of which the characters communicate with each other at a distance. Later, the creators of the social network Facebook called this a communication node through which users can send and receive messages.
In the novel Fahrenheit 451, rooms have half-wall TV screens showing stupid reality shows and mind-boggling ads. In the story "The Killer" everything is so infuriating that he decides to destroy it.
ATMs
In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury writes about machines that resemble modern ATMs. Users of these devices have 24-hour access to their finances.
Headphones
The characters in Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 wore radios called shells. They are a direct prototype of modern headphones and portable players, the first model of which appeared only 26 years after the release of the novel - in 1979. The Wall Street Journal is sure that we should also thank Bradbury for the invention of the Bluetooth headset.
Flight to Mars
More than half a century has passed since the writing of The Martian Chronicles - and humanity has finally prepared an expedition to a distant planet. And the writer had long since made his first contact with extraterrestrial civilization, albeit mentally.
On June 5, 2012, Ray Bradbury died in Los Angeles, in his house, stuffed with books to the very roof. The writer who wrote about space travel last years hardly left the house. "What for?" - he said, - "I'm a science fiction writer: I can close my eyes and imagine myself on Mars."
The great science fiction writer hated cars and computers
The American writer, master of science fiction Raymond Douglas Bradbury (he is better known to Russian readers as Ray Bradbury), who died on June 6 at the age of 92 in Los Angeles, in addition to dozens of books, left us prophecies, many of which have already come true.
Unlike Arthur C. Clarke or Robert Heinlein, Bradbury never claimed to be a serious futurist. However, in the genre to which the author of The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451 devoted most of his work, it was impossible to do without global predictions.
Bradbury became a classic during his lifetime, he is considered a poet of the space age, but he himself did not like such definitions and said that he simply wrote about people. And although half a century ago the writer predicted the emergence of plasma TVs, virtual reality and social networks, he admitted that he hated cars, computers and the Internet: “They prevent us from living, they take away our time. People work too much on computers, they talk too much instead of listening and hearing each other.”
Fortunately, unlike the world described in 451? Fahrenheit", today books are not banned and are not dead. However, paper volumes are gradually being replaced by book readers (electronic books), where, if desired, you can upload an entire library. Bradbury himself until the last was against the fact that his works were published in digital format.
It remains only to rejoice that today not all of Bradbury's predictions have come true. Of the global unfulfilled forecasts, one can note the colonization of Mars in 1999-2026 (the novel The Martian Chronicles, 1950) and the widespread use of anthropomorphic androids in the 1990s (the story The Puppet Corporation, 1949). We hope that the world nuclear war described in the story “There Will Be Gentle Rain” (1950) will not come true, which, according to the author, will completely destroy earthly civilization in 2026.
According to sources: ria.ru, 1tv.ru, wired.com
Ray Bradbury Predictions
60 years ago, the writer predicted the emergence of a number of devices that have become a reality today.
The story "Veld" (1950)
Immersive room
“Smooth two-dimensional walls ... began to melt, as if going into a transparent distance, and an African veld appeared - three-dimensional, in colors, like a real one, down to the smallest pebble and blade of grass”
The story "The Killer" (1953)
radio bracelet
“... and the main instrument of torture is a radio bracelet; wife and friends call me every five minutes"
Automated home
“My house, you know, is a miracle of technology: it talks, sings, purrs, reports the weather, recites poems, retells novels, tinkles, rattles, hums a lullaby when you go to bed”
Novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
"Shells"
“In her ears are tightly inserted miniature “Shells”, tiny, thimble-sized, bushing radios ...”
TV walls
“Do you think we still need to save up for a long time in order to make a TV wall instead of a simple wall?”
Omnipresent electronic surveillance
“Our television company is proud to be able to follow the mechanical bloodhound everywhere with a television camera mounted on a helicopter…”
24/7 banking service
"...the money was in his pocket (he had already been to the bank, open all night - he was served by mechanical robots)"
Telecast of someone else's life
“We will include “relatives”, we will laugh and have fun”
virtual reality room
1992
Mobile phone
1983
The concept of "smart home"
1990s
In-ear headphones ("droplets")
1990
Large flat screen TVs
1997
Satellite tracking, street video surveillance
1960s
ATMs
1980s
TV series and reality shows
1980s
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