Ray Bradbury, 1920-2012
We at World Future Society were saddened to see the news early this morning that legendary science-fiction author Ray Bradbury died yesterday at the age of 91. According to our founder, Edward Cornish, Bradbury was one of the first members of the World Future Society. ("The Search For Foresight: The Society's First Members")
Though I did not have the honor to work with Bradbury, his influence on our field was widely felt. He was ranked 48th among the "One Hundred Most Influential Futurists" in the Encyclopedia of the Future (Macmillan, 1996).
In a March-April 1993 article in THE FUTURIST, "The Uses of the Future," fellow science-fiction author Frederik Pohl reflected on Bradbury's foresight:
"[My stories] are actually intended to serve as a distant early warning of stormy weather ahead," Pohl wrote. "My friend and colleague Ray Bradbury once explained how that works. ... When someone asked him if he thought that Fahrenheit 451 was an accurate prediction of a real future, Ray replied, 'Good lord, no. I'm not trying to predict the future. All I want to do is to prevent it.'"
[See also my own review of a recent stage production of the work, Fahrenheit 21C.]
All day on Twitter today, futurists were inspired to tweet their reflections, tributes, and favorite quotations. Here is a sample:
@io9: R.I.P. Ray Bradbury, Author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles http://io9.com/5916175/rip-ray-bradbury-author-of-fahrenheit-451-and-the...
Maria Popova @brainpicker: "We have our Arts so we won’t die of Truth." RIP, Ray Bradbury http://j.mp/M89OOL
Kel Smith @kelsmith: RIP Ray Bradbury, my favorite martian.
Jamais Cascio @cascio: Thanks, Ray Bradbury, for making me who I am today. http://www.openthefuture.com/2012/06/becoming.html
Nigel Cameron @nigelcameron: It's a lot easier to burn #ebooks. #justsayin #Fahrenheit451 #Bradbury
Matt Novak @paleofuture: I had the immense honor of meeting Mr. Bradbury recently. Such a fascinating and kind man. He will be missed.
Scott Smith @changeist: Bradbury was my main lit inspiration as a teen. Showed me how to look at technology through a social and political lens. RIP.
Richard Louv @RichLouv: Advice from the Late Great Ray Bradbury: Be an “Optimalist” - Richard Louv: http://richardlouv.com/blog/the-late-ray-bradburys-advice-be-an-optimali...
Patricia Tynan @TheFutureScout: Thank U for helping us to see reality of the present & possibilities of the future. RT @raybradbury: A life's work should be based on love.
For more information about Ray Bradbury, visit his official Web site, http://www.raybradbury.com.
Follow the World Future Society on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WorldFutureSoc and THE FUTURIST’s deputy editor Patrick Tucker at http://twitter.com/TheYear2030.
Cindy Wagner is editor of THE FUTURIST.
Digg
Facebook
Google
LinkedIn
Twitter
Yahoo
Like us on Facebook
WorldFutureSoc on TwitterNotice
Essays and comments posted in World Future Society and THE FUTURIST magazine blog portion of this site are the intellectual property of the authors, who retain full responsibility for and rights to their content. For permission to publish, distribute copies, use excerpts, etc., please contact the author. The opinions expressed are those of the author. The World Future Society takes no stand on what the future will or should be like.
Free Email Newsletter
Sign up for Futurist Update, our free monthly email newsletter. Just type your email into the box below and click subscribe.
Blogs
THE FUTURIST Magazine Releases Its Top 10 Forecasts for 2013 and Beyond (With Video)
Each year since 1985, the editors of THE FUTURIST have selected the most thought-provoking ideas and forecasts appearing in the magazine to go into our annual Outlook report. The forecasts are meant as conversation starters, not absolute predictions about the future. We hope that this report--covering developments in business and economics, demography, energy, the environment, health and medicine, resources, society and values, and technology--inspires you to tackle the challenges, and seize the opportunities, of the coming decade. Here are our top ten.
Why the Future Will Almost Certainly Be Better than the Present
Five hundred years ago there was no telephone. No telegraph, for that matter. There was only a postal system that took weeks to deliver a letter. Communication was only possible in any fluent manner between people living in the same neighborhood. And neighborhoods were smaller, too. There were no cars allowing us to travel great distances in the blink of an eye. So the world was a bunch of disjointed groups of individuals who evolved pretty much oblivious to what happened around them.
Headlines at 21st Century Tech for January 11, 2013
Welcome to our second weekly headlines for 2013. This week's stories include:
- A Science Rendezvous to Inspire the Next Generation
- Next Steps for the Mars One Project
- Feeding the Planet Would Be Easier if We Didn't Waste Half of What We Produce
Where is the future?
Like the road you can see ahead of you as you drive on a journey, I suggest the future is embedded in emerging, continuous space-time. Although you’re not there yet, you can see the road in front of you. In the rear-view mirror stretches the landscape of the past, the world you have been through and still remember.
Transparency 2013: Good and bad news about banking, guns, freedom and all that
“Bank secrecy is essentially eroding before our eyes,” says a recent NPR article. ”I think the combination of the fear factor that has kicked in for not only Americans with money offshore, countries that don’t want to be on the wrong side of this issue and the legislative weight of FATCA means that within three to five years it will be exceptionally difficult for any American to hide money in any financial institution.”
The Internet of Things and Smartphones are Breaking the Internet
I have written several articles on network communications on this blog site as well as on other sites, describing its e
BiFi, Biology, Engineering and Artifical Life
BiFi is to biology as WiFi is to computers. It's a technology being pioneered by researchers at Stanford University and other institutions, looking at bioengineering techniques for creating complex biological communities working together to accomplish specific tasks. In a sense every organ and every system of coordinated activity within our bodies runs as a BiFi network.
Comments
Vale Ray Bradbury
Ray's book 'Farhenheit 451' is perhaps one of the most prescient works looking at the rise of 'knowledge management' and 'knowledge curation' as practised by a political elite. This message management extended the Orwellian theme of 1984's Big Brother but added an even more sinister layer. Where Big Brother watched your every move and provided thoughts for your consumption, the 'FireBrigade' in Bradbury's 451 actively sought to remove the existence of alternative sources of knowledge.
In that way Bradbury identified the wide spread practise of media manipulation not only by corporate interests but by Governments of all kinds who attempt to re-write or deny history.
Even today the mid 1960's film adaptation of 451 stacks up as chillingly bleak. It is not surprising that Hollywood has not sought to remake the film for a modern audience, given that Hollywood itself would be alikely central target of any update.
Thank you Ray; Vale Ray
Post new comment