Burn:
We have all seen unbuttoned beer-bellies slumped in front of the TV set, and transitorized morons twitching down the street, puppets controlled by invisible disk jockeys. These are not the highest representatives of our culture; but, tragically, they may be typical of the near future. As we evolve a society orientated towards information, and move away from one based primarily on manufacture and transportation, there will be millions who cannot adapt to the change. We may have no alternative but to use the lower electronic arts to keep them in a state of drugged placidity.
For in the world of the future, the sort of mindless labor that has occupied 99 per cent of mankind, for much more than 99 per cent of its existence, will of course be largely taken over by machines. Yet most people are bored to death without work — even work that they don’t like. In a workless world, therefore, only the highly educated will be able to flourish, or perhaps even to survive. The rest are likely to destroy themselves and their environment out of sheer frustration. This is no vision of the distant future; it is already happening, most of all in the decaying cities.
I haven't finished reading yet, but some of the ideas presented are so prescient I thought it was fake at first— I got a chuckle out of the "large-screen, high-definition Picturephone-Plus". With the exception of the end of timezones (people like being awake during the day), a lot of the big ideas Clarke mentions have already come to pass or conceivably could in the near future.
He got to see a fair few of them as well in the 30 years since that article he lived for. Perhaps his writing had a hand in the inspiration. When I’m out of ideas I look at science fiction for inspiration.
"We are already approaching the point when it will be feasible — not necessarily desirable — for those engaged in what is quaintly called “white-collar” jobs to do perhaps 95 per cent of their work without leaving home. " :- he nailed the trend of working from home too.
I rewatched 2001 : Space Odyssey last summer and was surprised how prescient he was about certain things. He got video calling right, but I also chuckled when people were still dialing on a physical number pad. He got the big idea right but was off on little details.
Even Blade Runner made over a decade later (1982), had number pads on its video phones despite touch screen technology being available in real life (PLATO terminals, for example). Yes, maybe failure of vision, but remember until the smartphone era a decade ago (where screen space became all important) even mobile phones generally still had a physical number pad under the screen.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 27.4 ms ] threadFor in the world of the future, the sort of mindless labor that has occupied 99 per cent of mankind, for much more than 99 per cent of its existence, will of course be largely taken over by machines. Yet most people are bored to death without work — even work that they don’t like. In a workless world, therefore, only the highly educated will be able to flourish, or perhaps even to survive. The rest are likely to destroy themselves and their environment out of sheer frustration. This is no vision of the distant future; it is already happening, most of all in the decaying cities.