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CULTURE/SOCIETY: A History Of The 20th Century Using Science Fiction

This is from me, and NOT a reprinted piece. - OlderMusicGeek

I was just wondering what kind of view future historians would have of the 20th century if the only material they could find was a collection of science fiction. My guess is their timeline would look something like the following.

"early in the twentieth century" - Martians invade Earth, causing severe trouble for London and England before being killed by germs. (War Of The Worlds by H.G. Wells)

1908 - The Tunguska explosion in Russia. Which aliens are behind this is strongly disputed.

1938 - The Martians invade Earth again, but in the eastern United States, and germs still kill them. (War Of The Worlds by Orson Welles and The Mercury Theater On The Air)

1940 - The Second World War starts. ("Trends" by Isaac Asimov)

1940 to 1960s - Second World War (The Shape Of Things To Come by H.G. Wells and Things To Come)

1945 - A B-29 carrying an atomic bomb, with an escort of P-51 Mustangs have a run in with a "foo fighter" at 171E 42N. Everyone crashes and sinks. The Navy sends the submarine Zeus Faber to locate the crash site, which it does, although of the crew of 144, only 7 return alive. (X-Files)

1945-1978 - post-war society takes strong swing towards religion. ("Trends" by Isaac Asimov)

1947 - An alien vessel crashes near Roswell. Who's involved and what the vessel was exactly is strongly disputed.

1947 - Deep Throat claims the Roswell Crash was a "smokescreen". He also claims that it was the source of the first alien DNA ("Erlenmeyer Flask"). He also claims that the crash prompted five nations (US, USSR, UK, Germany, PRC) to reach a secret accord that any aliens found alive would be killed - [although he has been seen referring to this as "Security Council Resolution 1013]. (X-Files)

1949 - The Martians invade again still, this time in Ecuador! And are killed by germs. (Radio Quito's War Of The Worlds)

1950s - The Martian invade once again, but in southern California this time, and once again are killed by germs. (The War Of The Worlds film)

1963-1966 - An friendly Martian anthropologist lands on Earth, befriends an Earthman and hijinks ensue. (My Favorite Martian)

1964 - Santa Claus helps save some Martians. (Santa Claus Conquers The Martians)

1966 - The Strike of '66, where the people who work on the moving roads go on strike. ("The Roads Must Roll" by Robert Heinlein)

1968 - The Martians try once more, in eastern United States again, and are killed by germs once more. (WKBW's War Of The Worlds)

1970 - England survives the global war as individual cities. The Wandering Sickness, a virus dropped by planes, is wiped out by killing the infected. (Things To Come)

early 1970s - Over 75 percent of the people living on Earth are under 21 years of age. The population continues to climb — and with it the youth percentage. (Logan's Run by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson)

1970s and 1980s - hundreds of millions of people starve to death (The Population Bomb by Paul R. Ehrlich)

1970-1980 - a space lab, lunar landing, a nuclear rocket, translating machines, gravity waves (Profiles Of The Future by Arthur C Clarke)

1972 - Astronauts Taylor, Dodge, Stewart and Landon are launched on the first Interstellar Exploration flight. (Planet Of The Apes)

1973 - The capsule from the first Instellar Exploration reappears mysteriously, within nearby space. It lands off the California coast, slightly north of San Clemente, and is met by mobilized US Navy Spaceflight Recovery crew. Capsule is found to be piloted by intelligent apes. (Escape From The Planet Of The Apes)

1973 - Jul 15th Destruction of the Prometheus. 28 people killed and 73 wounded.

1973 - Passing of the Zittman antirocketry bill. ("Trends" by Isaac Asimov)

1973 - Samantha Mulder is abducted, seemingly by aliens. Actually, she was taken by agents of Cigarette Smoking Man. Although one version of facts surrounding her life suggest that she was placed in a foster home, it is more likely that she was abducted and experimented on to try and make her into a human-alien hybrid. (X-Files)

1973-1978 - neo-Victorian Age, begins with outlawing of all rocket research. ("Trends" by Isaac Asimov) (With the information the apes brought, who could blame them?)

1974 - Federal Scientific Research Investigatory Bureau established by the Stonely-Carter bill. ("Trends" by Isaac Asimov)

1975 - A joint American-British-Russian mission goes to the moon. (Venture To The Moon by Arthur C Clarke)

1976 - The Strike of '76. The workers of the moving roads go on strike again. ("The Roads Must Roll" by Robert H Heinlein)

1978 - government outlaws all independent scientific research. ("Trends" by Isaac Asimov)

1978 - first manned rocket flight ("Trends" by Isaac Asimov)

late 1970s/early 80s - "Columbus" is built to go to the moon as an alien force, called The Overlords, come to earth and take over. But they allow to continue as before - within certain guidelines. (Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke)

1978 - Businessman Delos David Harriman finanaces and builds the first rocket to go to the moon. ("The Man Who Sold The Moon" by Robert H Heinlein)

1980-2000 - planetary landings, personal radio (essentially a cellphone), fusion power, exobiology, cyborgs (Profiles Of The Future by Arthur C Clarke)

1980s - 79.7 percent of the people living on Earth were under 21 years of age. (Logan's Run by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson)

1982 - US Robots and Mechanical Men incorporated by Lawrence Robertson (I Robot by Isaac Asimov)

1984 - The world has divided into 3 superstates, Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. After WWII, England went through a civil war and Europe, North America and Russia have had an atomic war. People are constantly monitored by two-way tv's. (1984 by George Orwell)

1987 - Deep Throat says that school children are injected with cloned alien DNA in a "southern state" (although as we know they have been being injected for far longer in Delta Glen, Wisconsin). (X-Files)

late 1980s - nuclear war (V For Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd)

1990 - The Great Depression of 1990 (The Great Depression of 1990 by Ravi Batra)

1990s - 82.4 percent of the people living on Earth are under 21 years of age. (Logan's Run by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson)

1990s - Britain is under control of a fascist government (V For Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd)

1990s - A team of Russian geologists locates rock from the Tunguska meteorite. The rock contains an organism, probably extraterrestrial in origin, that invades human bodies. It comes to be called the "Black Cancer." Russians begin perfecting a vaccination. Eventually the Conspiracy learns of its existence and begins efforts to acquire samples of the rock and organism. (X-Files)

1990-2010 - colonizing planets, artificial intelligence (Profiles Of The Future by Arthur C Clarke)

1991 - Cats and dogs have died from The Plague. Primates became the most common household animal. They now serve as slaves for the humans. (Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes)

1993-2002 - Alien invasion using shape shifters and black goo is fought by 2 FBI agents. (The X-Files)

mid- to late-1990s - The Eugenics War where genetically enhanced supermen tried to take over the world and where 37 million may have died. (Star Trek)

1996 - Robbie, a robot, made and sold to the Westons. ("Robbie" by Isaac Asimov)

1996 - An alien object, polished and tetrahedral in shape, is found on the moon. When its force field is breached, it quits giving its signal. ("The Sentinel" by Arthur C Clarke)

1998 - NYC passes ordinance to keep robots off street between dusk and dawn. ("Robbie" by Isaac Asimov)

1998 - Lefebre-Yoshida expedition to Mars from Lunar Base. Not the first attempt. ("Robbie" by Isaac Asimov)

1998 - Anarchist, V, brings about the downfall of the British fascist government. (V For Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd)

1999 - All nuclear weapons, including those on the moon, are disabled. ("The Long Watch" by Robert H Hienlien)

1999 - The world's population is 7 billion and New York City's is 35 million. Most do without much electricity or water. Eating dog is common. (Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison)

1999 - Earth sends 4 missions to Mars. The first 3 being failures. The fourth mission finds the Martians killed by viruses brought by the first 3 missions. (These Martians look different than the ones that attacked us repeatedly before.) (The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury)

A Planet Of The Apes timeline
A Heinlein Future History timeline
An X-Files timeline

Post On Another Blog

"MOVIES/VIDEOS, TELEVISION/VIDEOS and BOOKS: The Top 7 Most Embarrassing Moments In Science Fiction" on OlderMusicGeek's Stupid Entertainment Stuff

ENTERTAINMENT: The End of a Science Fiction Great

Arthur C. Clarke led at least three different, extremely successful lives. As a scientist, his work with satellites led to the coining of the term a "Clarke orbit." As a visionary award-winning science fiction author he influenced several generations of writers, became an icon of the SF subculture, and had an award named after him. And, in his collaboration with Stanley Kubrick on the classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke also became part of movie and pop culture history. - from Jeff VanderMeer's Arthur C. Clarke: An Appreciation of a Life Well-Lived on Omnivarious: Hungry for the Next Good Book

Arthur C Clarke died on March 18th.

And being a big science fiction fan, I was a big appreciator of his work. And I will miss him.

To me, Arthur C Clarke was the best of the "hard" science fiction writers. The ones that dealt with strongly with science and technology. Strangely enough, even though he was writing about science and technology, his books could take on a rather mystical bent, as Childhood's End obviously showed.

He was one of the few writers, in my opinion, whose work improved as he got older. Some people will complain about him writing a bunch of sequels and remakes, but the sequels and remakes had some interesting new ideas - and the plot, characterizations, mood and just plain storytelling was much better than in the earlier work. His best ideas for stories may have been in the past, but his best STORIES were the later ones!

Below are some excerpts from remembrances written for him. - OlderMusicGeek

The Science Friday Blog
Thank You, Arthur C. Clarke
posted by Ira Flatow on Tuesday, March 18. 2008

Arthur C. Clarke, author of more than 100 books including the one that made him known to many more millions, "2001: A Space Odyssey," has passed from us.

Thank you for your passion and your prose. Thank you for your vision.
Thank you for speaking out on important issues, for not keeping silent.

We all have favorite scenes, chapters or quotes from his novels or movies.

But my favorite remains this one not published in any novel: Years after missions to the moon had ended, Clarke was asked what he thought was the most amazing part of the whole race to the moon.

What's most amazing to me, he said, was that we could go there...and not go back.

Posted by Ira Flatow on Tuesday, March 18, 2008, 3:40 PM | Comment (1)

From BBC News...

British science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke has died in his adopted home of Sri Lanka at the age of 90.

"Sir Arthur has left written instructions that his funeral be strictly secular," his secretary, Nalaka Gunawardene, was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.

She said the author had requested "absolutely no religious rites of any kind".

He served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, and foresaw the concept of communication satellites.

When asked why he never patented his idea for communication satellites, he said: "I did not get a patent because I never thought it will happen in my lifetime."

In the 1940s, he maintained man would reach the moon by the year 2000, an idea dismissed at the time.

"I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these, I would like to be remembered as a writer."

Clarke says goodbye to fans in 2007

From CNN....

David Eicher, editor of Astronomy magazine, told CNN that Clarke's writings were influential in shaping public interest in space exploration during the 1950s and '60s. Watch how Clarke stands among sci-fi giants »

"He was very interested in technology and also in humanity's history and what lay out in the cosmos," Eicher said. His works combined those "big-picture" themes with "compelling stories that were more interesting and more complex than other science fiction writers were doing," he said.

More from Jeff VanderMeer's Arthur C. Clarke: An Appreciation of a Life Well-Lived on Omnivarious: Hungry for the Next Good Book...

Over his lifetime, Clarke received many honors, including being knighted and having the Apollo 13 Command Module and the Mars Orbiter both named "Odyssey" in appreciation of his work. Clarke remained a vital force up until his death. He authored books, made appearances via videophone from his home in Sri Lanka, and continued to deny the polio that had kept him mostly wheelchair-bound for two decades.

Arthur C. Clarke's fiction embodied a fundamental optimism about the future, tempered by a healthy skepticism about the human condition and an ongoing fascination with certain forms of spirituality. Unlikely to indulge in dystopic visions, but rarely sentimental or unrealistic, Clarke was, quite simply, curious about the world.

From the New York Times....

An Appraisal: For Clarke, Issues of Faith, but Tackled Scientifically
By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN
Published: March 20, 2008

Such apocalypse is the bread and butter of science fiction, but sometimes with Mr. Clarke it is also the communion, the sharing of a moment of transcendence in which some destiny is fulfilled, some possibility opened up. Hence the fetus of “2001.” That transformation may also not be something to be desired by current standards. The prospects are just too alien, like the ineffable Overmind in “Childhood’s End” that propels humanity to a new evolutionary stage, inspiring as much horror as awe.

This side of Mr. Clarke’s work may be the most eerie, particularly because his mystical speculations accompany an uncanny ability to envision worlds that are eminently plausible. It is Mr. Clarke who first conceived of the communication satellites that orbit directly over a single spot on Earth and allow the planet to be blanketed in a network of signals. There are many other examples as well.

But acts of reason and scientific speculation are just the beginning of his imaginings. Reason alone is insufficient. Something else is required. For anyone who read Mr. Clarke in the 1960s and ’70s, when space exploration and scientific research had an extraordinary sheen, his science fiction made that enterprise even more thrilling by taking the longest and broadest view, in which the achievements of a few decades fit into a vision of epic proportions reaching millenniums into the future. It is no wonder that two generations of scientists were affected by his work.

For all his acclaimed forecasting ability, though, it is unclear whether Mr. Clarke knew precisely what he saw in that future. There is something cold in his vision, particularly when he imagines the evolutionary transformation of humanity. He leaves behind all the things that we recognize and know, and he doesn’t provide much guidance for how to live within the world we recognize and know. In that sense his work has little to do with religion.

But overall religion is unavoidable. Mr. Clarke famously — and accurately — said that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Perhaps any sufficiently sophisticated science fiction, at least in his case, is nearly indistinguishable from religion.

A remembrance for Arthur C Clarke from NPR's All Things Considered
A remembrance for Arthur C Clarke from NPR's Morning Edition