Flying Cars and Free Food
I've been meaning to dig into the "masters" of science fiction for a while. My library carries a few books written by Robert A. Heinlein, the so-called "dean of science fiction". I read a few of Heinlein's novels in high school, wasn't impressed, but thought I'd give him another chance.
I ended up checking out a couple of his books. One was mediocre, the other was pointless. Maybe the books have lost their relevance over the years. One of the books was interesting in its own way, however. The book was published in 1942 and was set in the future. In the future, as depicted by Heinlein, productivity has far outpaced consumption. As a result, many people are without work, and receive free food and a yearly stipend from the government. There is no social stigma for the unemployed; the government wants people to take it easy, in order to help reduce productivity.
The idea that in the future people won't need to work is interesting because I once read that in the 1940's, people believed that mechanization/industrialization would result in people needing to work fewer hours. It was thought the average work week would be half what it is now. So, Heinlein really just extended this belief.
It was also interesting to read Heinlein's description of technology. Let's start with the flying car. I've yet to see one but Heinlein scores some points because the car was equipped with an "integrator" (computer). At one point the protagonist went to a public pay phone and made a copy of a piece of paper, which was then sent through the phone line... but was delivered by the US Postal Service. I'm not sure if he meant that the copy was downloaded at the USPS office and then hand delivered, or if he meant the USPS electronically shuffled the copy to its destination point. He was fuzzy on the details so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and give him credit for imagining the fax.
Heinlein also spent a good deal of time discussing genetics. Biology class was a long time ago but his descriptions sounded reasonable and I was left thinking that biology was actually pretty advanced in 1942.
One more thing. I enjoyed the retro language used in the book. Men referred to women they were involved with as "kid" and to each other as "sport", just like on Turner Classics.
I ended up checking out a couple of his books. One was mediocre, the other was pointless. Maybe the books have lost their relevance over the years. One of the books was interesting in its own way, however. The book was published in 1942 and was set in the future. In the future, as depicted by Heinlein, productivity has far outpaced consumption. As a result, many people are without work, and receive free food and a yearly stipend from the government. There is no social stigma for the unemployed; the government wants people to take it easy, in order to help reduce productivity.
The idea that in the future people won't need to work is interesting because I once read that in the 1940's, people believed that mechanization/industrialization would result in people needing to work fewer hours. It was thought the average work week would be half what it is now. So, Heinlein really just extended this belief.
It was also interesting to read Heinlein's description of technology. Let's start with the flying car. I've yet to see one but Heinlein scores some points because the car was equipped with an "integrator" (computer). At one point the protagonist went to a public pay phone and made a copy of a piece of paper, which was then sent through the phone line... but was delivered by the US Postal Service. I'm not sure if he meant that the copy was downloaded at the USPS office and then hand delivered, or if he meant the USPS electronically shuffled the copy to its destination point. He was fuzzy on the details so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and give him credit for imagining the fax.
Heinlein also spent a good deal of time discussing genetics. Biology class was a long time ago but his descriptions sounded reasonable and I was left thinking that biology was actually pretty advanced in 1942.
One more thing. I enjoyed the retro language used in the book. Men referred to women they were involved with as "kid" and to each other as "sport", just like on Turner Classics.