> Date: Tue, 29 Jul 1997 19:05:39 -0400
> From: Anny Middon <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Anchronism in SF
>
> It's funny how a small thing can affect one's enjoyment of a work. Idoru was
> almost ruined for me by a paper ticket. Near the beginning, the young woman
> flies to Japan and has an actual ticket made of paper!
Anny et al,
I haven't read Idouru, so maybe you are right about the paper ticket not
fitting in that particular work. But maybe the market researchers of that
day found that people _like_ having paper tickets. We could technically
do without them now, but we still have them.
It is true that jarring inconsistancies in a vision of a future can spoil
a work. But I have trouble with futuristic visions that are _too_
consistant. After all, we live in a computerized society with the
potential for synthetic everything. We _could_ make our society more
paperless, but somehow we seem to use more paper. We _could_ all be
wearing spandex jumpsuits like the tv sf of the sixties predicted. All our
zippers _could_ be invisible. But people want unbleached cotton and
decorative buttons. We aren't living on synthetic food suppliments, as
was once predicted, instead we want back to basics organic foods.
Did you know that the sales of spinning wheels are way up? That fountain
pens are back in vogue? That outdoor farmer's markets are on the rise?
What futurist of the 50s would have predicted any of these?
As we move into a world of more complex technology, simpler technologies
of the past often become fashion, craft, recreation, and nostalgia.
Sometimes simpler becomes modern, for example we may find that simpler is
healthier, as with natural cotton clothing, and organic foods (I can
remember as a kid, futurists predicting that our daily nutrition needs in
the near future would be taken care of with a pill. Thank goodness they
were wrong!). Sometimes simple turns out to be cheaper, and/or more
effective, or more environmentally sound (pump spray applicators instead
of flourcarbon propellant sprays).
So I couldn't believe a future without a few anachronisms. When I go into
space, I am taking my knitting!
Stephanie
Stephanie A. Hall, Archivist - [log in to unmask]
Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540-4610
Opinions mine
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