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Science Fiction Authors Are Modern Prophets

A Christian Sceptic

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A Christian Sceptic
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Any of you ever read about current events and think "Why the hell are they doing that, didn't they see ________ (fill in science fiction movie)?"

I thought that when I read about the attempts to clone a wooly mammoth. (Jurassic Park)

I just thought about it today when I read about the South Koreans who cloned and genetically altered a puppy to glow red. (Actually - the book Frankenstein came to mind first)

I thought this recently when I read about some of the attack robots some of the governments are working on. (Terminator, Matrix)

And this latest swine virus has me thinking about The Stand and I Am Legend. :)

Regardless of whether you think prophets actually receive some sort of message or knowledge from God - they seem to generally serve as a warning to cultures about excesses and such and often predict what will happen if things don't change. In that light - I sometimes think many of these science fiction authors and directors serve (often intentionally) as a warning against excesses and general overall arrogance of a culture. (Some of the best movies IMHO (Best as in fun to watch but often terrible production!) were in the 70's - they often combined environmental messages for some funny horror / science fiction movies.)

I'm sure it's not just science fiction movies - but these, by the nature of the genre, are often more free to be speculative.
Can anyone think of other movies that seem to warn and predict any other current events?
 
I certainly think that the achievement of machine intelligence is the secular rapture.

However, the SF authors I know have been very down to Earth about their predictive capacity. They candidly admit that they are just telling stories as plausibly as possible.
 
westprog said:
I certainly think that the achievement of machine intelligence is the secular rapture.

However, the SF authors I know have been very down to Earth about their predictive capacity. They candidly admit that they are just telling stories as plausibly as possible.
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I agree - I'm not saying they are claiming to be prophetic - they usually seem to take an idea and run with it often to the extremes to create an exciting story. Although some of the environmental horror movies from the 70's I think were people intentionally warning against what they believed would happen if people don't change. (The movie Prophecy is a blatant example, Frogs was a bit more subtle. haha.)
 
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Much of it may be just logical projection of current technological trends into the future, hell I've written some crappy short stories projecting technology.

I'd suggest there's an element of predictive programming in some modern sci-fi and other fiction, that certain factual and current research ideas regarding the future of technology and humanity in general is purposely couched in fiction to reduce it's credulity to the general public.

I Am Legend and The Day The Earth Stood Still looked at critically here
http://predictiveprogramminginmovies.blogspot.com/


Children of Men
28 Weeks Later
Soylent Green
Johhny Mnemonic
The Kingdom
The Invasion
Shoot Em Up
Minority Report

..to name just a few more.
 
Ray Bradbury is a reallty good social critic.

Shackley sort of predicted reality-tv. (The prize of peril, 1958)
 
Machine Intelligence as a Secular Rapture... that's actually an interesting comparison. It would explain a great many things, like why scientists want to produce it even if it could potentially result in some kind of a Terminator scenario...


INRM
 
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One major type of author is the one who is an expert in a field and writes their story using ideas they came up with thanks to their unique expertise/experience. I think if you were to examine instances where a science fiction book appears to predict a future invention or turn of events you would find that the author is usually someone very knowledgeable in a relevant field (physics, mathematics, engineering, etc.).
 
Futurama

I thought of it the other day when the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" was on and they had the "Church of Star Trek". I'm not a Trekkie, but I love the idea that 1000 years from now, people may find an old TV show or comic book and think it's the work of a God of some sort.

What would people who find this forum in 1000 years time think? :) We should just make our own random predictions. Who knows, in 1000 years time, me, you or anyone here could be the next Nostradamus, Jesus or Reptilian Overlords. :p I like to be responsible for a hoax/relegion thousands of years after my death, it's not a goal, but hey, it would be cool, my own Voynich manuscript if you will.

...meanwhile, back at the Topic Cave...

Futurama & Red Dwarf do a pretty good job at making predictions for the future which I think may come true, like the total emersion video game thing they played on RD, someone will eventually make a really, really good VR system and change the way we surf the web, play games etc.
 
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Better than science fiction writers were Firesign Theater. They predicted such things as a moneyless society (everybody just had a charge card). They envisioned e-vacations where you just sit back and view images from your room as well as ordering everything on-line. They predicted a series of "oil wars". They foresaw lots of interaction with voice-recognition machines and deceptively pseudo-intelligent robots. And of course, in several works, they were nothing but reality shows.

Those guys were more accurate at predicting the future than most sci-fi writers and all "psychics".
 
Altered Statesman said:
Futurama & Red Dwarf do a pretty good job at making predictions for the future which I think may come true, like the total emersion video game thing they played on RD, someone will eventually make a really, really good VR system and change the way we surf the web, play games etc.
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Futurama and Red Dwarf do funny science fiction - which is quite difficult to do. A lot of what they do is also making fun of science fiction, which is also OK. But most of the ideas they use have been around for quite a long time.

There's a lot of SF on the special editions of The Simpsons and Family Guy as well.
 
In the short story A Logic Named Joe Murray Leinster predicted the personal computer and the internet. This was in 1946!
 
In Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke, the aliens gave the head of the U.N. a communication device so he could apprise them of situations. He would write a note on a piece of paper, stick it in the device, and the note would print out in the alien's ship. It was called a "facsimile machine".

And let's not forget the automatic doors and Uhuru's earpiece from Star Trek.
 
A Christian Sceptic said:
Regardless of whether you think prophets actually receive some sort of message or knowledge from God - they seem to generally serve as a warning to cultures about excesses and such and often predict what will happen if things don't change. In that light - I sometimes think many of these science fiction authors and directors serve (often intentionally) as a warning against excesses and general overall arrogance of a culture.
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Larry Niven warned of the dangers of organ transplants in several novels and stories. His predictions, like those of many religious prophets, did not come true.
 
godless dave said:
Larry Niven warned of the dangers of organ transplants in several novels and stories. His predictions, like those of many religious prophets, did not come true.
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Or, if you prefer, thanks to his warnings, the dangers were prevented.

Admittedly, that's a rather overblown claim for Larry Niven, and not one I think he'd make himself, but part of what science fiction writers do is to say "If this happens, and you don't do that, then these consequences will result".

Remember one very important point - Science fiction writers are not futurologists. They are not making predictions. They are telling stories. 1984 was a warning. That Britain did not become a communist dictatorship does not make the book a failure.
 
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