Janet has stumbled across this old post, I Miss the Future, which led to this one, Blade Runner vs. 2001. A conversation has begun, and since those posts are not visible on the main page here I thought I'd just provide this anchor for the discussion. Janet says:
When I was in my late teens and early twenties I read lots of Science Fiction. In fact, I probably was not reading anything else. A couple of years ago, I decided to reread Asimov's Foundation and Robot series which I used to really love. I was so disappointed, although I think the Foundation series poses some interesting questions. They seemed very flat to me. Maybe it's because I was reading them at a time when my faith was at it's lowest ebb and they offered a kind of futuristic hope. Now my hope lies in a different direction and the mask is off their promise–which, I suppose, just repeats what Maclin said. I still like Bradbury, though I see his work in a totally different way now.
WRT the anachronisms in older sci-fi, you really notice that in Benson's Lord of the World. In his future (which is set in our past) they use a lot of asbestos. They can fly, but they don't have air conditioning. Still, while his scientific predictions miss the marks sometimes, his observations about the direction of materialist thought are pretty much on par and his ultimate hope in the Church and the Eucharist are, of course, absolutely on target. The last scene of LotW reminds me a lot of a scene in Mr. Blue. Have y'all read Mr. Blue?
No, I haven't read Mr. Blue, or Lord of the World, either.
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