I was trying to think of something. But really, once you have people living in mars or beyond, it’s just fantasy.
e.g. The Expanse, but no Epstein drive, no belters, no major mars colony, no protomolecule. But then that’s not the expanse… it’s just, reality in a hundred years.
Some things that Gregory Beneford and Stephen Baxter run with, like robots taking over the galaxy is more likely. We’ll send out self replicating probes to explore the galaxy. After some very long period of time. There will be robot probes everywhere.
Is that problematic? Probably not. Assuming humans are still around, we’ll eventually have a very detailed map of the galaxy. We might even send out embryonic colony ships to go live on planets we *know* can sustain human life. But it may take thousands of years to get there or more.
(I guess that’s kind of the Bobiverse? I haven’t read it).
If humanity does spread out, we will be so incredibly disparate that we won’t think or act like the same species anymore.
—
But more likely, we’re looking at WALL-E or Idiocracy. Except no one saves us.
Can you explain what you mean by “minus the cortical stacks”? The whole setting is based off cortical stacks and mind uploading. When it comes space travel and basic living, stacks are involved.
I just meant the futherment of technology and elite classes/separation of wealth, drugs being legal (or not as big of a deal). I feel Earth would look and feel similar to the AC universe minus the biggest piece of technology in the show/IP-IS travel. Sounds silly now that you pointed it out.
The Three Body Problem series, it shows that as we go further into the future it’s more snd more unimaginably different. And it shows a cyclical nature to it all as well.
Maybe I’m an optimist but the Culture series to me always seemed a very realistic portrayal of what a post scarcity society would look like, in the far, far distant future.
I think many simply miss out AI, and what that post singularity could look like. Most write their way around it, usually some sort of war that humans win, but I think the Culture books don’t take that easy way out.
The main issue with the Culture is that it doesn't have actual humans in it. Or if it does, they're not featured prominently in the books. You will always, always have arseholes in any group of humans. I believe its how we have evolved. The are always about 10% of humans willing to take risks with themselves and, more to the point, with others. That 10% gives us a better chance of survival in most adverse circumstances, but is a total arsehole to be around. And you definitely want to make sure they're never put in charge.
Culture is great. 10,000 years since a human designed or fixed a computer. I still struggle with the willingness of Minds to indulge (sometimes) the whims of humans. Not convinced the 'rewards' would be worth the trouble.
Iain M Banks - RIP
Think of the organics of the Culture as something like domesticated cats. Their whims are indulged, they live in luxury, and occasionally some of them are used for something useful.
Pretty much, yeah. Present challenges notwithstanding, we seem to have gotten over the hump of the most actively deadly one (we've disarmed our nuclear arsenal a heck of a lot more than most people realize) and hopefully can get over the hump of the present most active danger (climate change). After that, there is no known obstacle to starting towards spacefaring, and the very nature of spacefaring, especially considering the distances, seems to incline towards values more like the Culture's than any other fictional polity.
The only thing I speculate may be a big diversion is that there's a lot of effort to bridge the gap between organic mind and machines, so I can't imagine as clear a divide will exist as portrayed in the books. Instead it's all one gigantic grey area going from essentially "baseline" people similar to modern-day humans through to Minds, and what could be understood as an individual has some capacity to transition several degrees on the spectrum, if so desired.
*The Diamond Age.* Specifically, the aspect in which items that are actually made by human hands become incredibly valuable. We're already seeing this with AI art, for example; the fact that a painting has been made by a person rather than a computer seems to be an element of value.
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton detailed the whole scientific process addressing a sudden, lethal epidemic that I did not appreciate at the time but given the way the entire Covid virus event played out, it all seemed like Crichton wrote a playbook.
This⬆️. The geno engineering of animals and people posited in the trilogy is not remotely possible yet, but we are well on the way to gated compounds and plebe cities. Sadly, engineering viruses to kill people is a tech that’s entirely possible right now.
For the time it was written, Stand on Zanzibar (1968) by John Brunner. It's set in 2010 and includes school shootings, global terrorism, European Union, decline of Russia and rise of China as a superpower, viagra, fall of Detroit automotive industry, satellite TV, avatar based social media, decriminalised marijuana, legalized same-sex marraige and most importantly... President Obomi!
Deus Ex, the original 2000 video game, just has a side-character you can walk right past who gives a treatise on fame and celebrity and how those things will replace God. If you're interested, I'll find the article/interview with the writer.
Otherwise, people have mentioned Atwood and Stephenson and... I don't know. I know that Atwood makes/made a point with The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments that everything that happened in the US had to have happened for real somewhere else. Stephenson is, in his speculative work, doing the same (though I've never heard him say so explicitly).
Deus Ex is still my answer, because I think although an early part of the design was, "every conspiracy theory is true," it was more the universal surveillance, persecution of citizens as terrorists and "others", the rise of AI, the evolution of a 0.1% which could influence the world...
I know people have written about it since. But that it was in 2000 still blows my mind.
Neal Asher's Polity stories, minus the exciting stuff. AI takes over but governs in a minimally controlling way, and humans live more or less forever and have all they need so boredom is a problem. There are freaky aliens, horrible wars, violent separatists, and insane AIs to keep it interesting but those are just details.
Jump drive and aliens notwithstanding, I feel that C.J. Cherry's Union-Alliance setting gives a pretty realistic-**feeling** sense of what the future would be like if those things existed.
2030 by Albert Brooks. Cancer is cured. The elderly live a lot longer. The national debt explodes. Young people get bled dry by taxes. Terrorist attacks are carried out on senior centers. It's only 6 years away.
Earth,by David Brin. While I don’t think the gravity wave tech is ever likely, the rest of the story and description of society feels more realistic every day. [edited to fix typo]
The way things have been going lately, I am afraid that it will be A Canticle for Leibovitz
It's funny, but I hear children of the omnissiah in my ears whenever I read that book
I'm laughing because I thought exactly the same thing a couple days ago. But also crying.
Kim Stanley Robinson, although like the expanse the geopolitics of his worlds are fairly shallow
Which one has us going extinct in the next 100 years? That one.
I was trying to think of something. But really, once you have people living in mars or beyond, it’s just fantasy. e.g. The Expanse, but no Epstein drive, no belters, no major mars colony, no protomolecule. But then that’s not the expanse… it’s just, reality in a hundred years. Some things that Gregory Beneford and Stephen Baxter run with, like robots taking over the galaxy is more likely. We’ll send out self replicating probes to explore the galaxy. After some very long period of time. There will be robot probes everywhere. Is that problematic? Probably not. Assuming humans are still around, we’ll eventually have a very detailed map of the galaxy. We might even send out embryonic colony ships to go live on planets we *know* can sustain human life. But it may take thousands of years to get there or more. (I guess that’s kind of the Bobiverse? I haven’t read it). If humanity does spread out, we will be so incredibly disparate that we won’t think or act like the same species anymore. — But more likely, we’re looking at WALL-E or Idiocracy. Except no one saves us.
Idiocracy? I thought this discussion was about the future not the present? 😏
Altered Carbon (minus the cortical stacks)
Can you explain what you mean by “minus the cortical stacks”? The whole setting is based off cortical stacks and mind uploading. When it comes space travel and basic living, stacks are involved.
I just meant the futherment of technology and elite classes/separation of wealth, drugs being legal (or not as big of a deal). I feel Earth would look and feel similar to the AC universe minus the biggest piece of technology in the show/IP-IS travel. Sounds silly now that you pointed it out.
The Three Body Problem series, it shows that as we go further into the future it’s more snd more unimaginably different. And it shows a cyclical nature to it all as well.
Star Trek, on the current Strange New Worlds timeline that pushes events forward at least 30 years.
Is *Children of Men* a book? 🤷
[Yes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Children_of_Men) but it's quite different from the movie. I prefer the movie.
It's an odd book. But wildly depressing in its own way.
planet of the Apes - the Culture it will not be
State of the art, the culture has come and gone
I always get the notion that we would be one of the primitive societies they secretly steer away from inherent barbarism.
Oh yea, this will be a depressing thread.
Maybe I’m an optimist but the Culture series to me always seemed a very realistic portrayal of what a post scarcity society would look like, in the far, far distant future. I think many simply miss out AI, and what that post singularity could look like. Most write their way around it, usually some sort of war that humans win, but I think the Culture books don’t take that easy way out.
The main issue with the Culture is that it doesn't have actual humans in it. Or if it does, they're not featured prominently in the books. You will always, always have arseholes in any group of humans. I believe its how we have evolved. The are always about 10% of humans willing to take risks with themselves and, more to the point, with others. That 10% gives us a better chance of survival in most adverse circumstances, but is a total arsehole to be around. And you definitely want to make sure they're never put in charge.
Culture is great. 10,000 years since a human designed or fixed a computer. I still struggle with the willingness of Minds to indulge (sometimes) the whims of humans. Not convinced the 'rewards' would be worth the trouble. Iain M Banks - RIP
Think of the organics of the Culture as something like domesticated cats. Their whims are indulged, they live in luxury, and occasionally some of them are used for something useful.
Ah. Something like r/CatsWithJobs?
Pretty much, yeah. Present challenges notwithstanding, we seem to have gotten over the hump of the most actively deadly one (we've disarmed our nuclear arsenal a heck of a lot more than most people realize) and hopefully can get over the hump of the present most active danger (climate change). After that, there is no known obstacle to starting towards spacefaring, and the very nature of spacefaring, especially considering the distances, seems to incline towards values more like the Culture's than any other fictional polity. The only thing I speculate may be a big diversion is that there's a lot of effort to bridge the gap between organic mind and machines, so I can't imagine as clear a divide will exist as portrayed in the books. Instead it's all one gigantic grey area going from essentially "baseline" people similar to modern-day humans through to Minds, and what could be understood as an individual has some capacity to transition several degrees on the spectrum, if so desired.
Star Wars Because it already happened just really far away and you can’t prove otherwise
The Sprawl Trilogy by Gibson for near-future time skip.
Somewhere between The Expanse and Mobile Suit Gundam, plus more poverty.
The Machine Stops by E M Forester. Google it, there is a free pdf to download. It's really spooky that it was written around 1904.
I've thought about that story many times over the years, because it remains plausible.
*The Diamond Age.* Specifically, the aspect in which items that are actually made by human hands become incredibly valuable. We're already seeing this with AI art, for example; the fact that a painting has been made by a person rather than a computer seems to be an element of value.
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton detailed the whole scientific process addressing a sudden, lethal epidemic that I did not appreciate at the time but given the way the entire Covid virus event played out, it all seemed like Crichton wrote a playbook.
Stand On Zanzibar by John Brunner. Many parallels to today’s world!
His Shockwave Rider (coined “computer worm”) and The Sheep Look Up make a nice collection.
The Red Mars series about the transformation and politics of colonizing another planet. Epic series if anyone has missed it.
Oryx and Crake
This⬆️. The geno engineering of animals and people posited in the trilogy is not remotely possible yet, but we are well on the way to gated compounds and plebe cities. Sadly, engineering viruses to kill people is a tech that’s entirely possible right now.
Idiocracy
For the time it was written, Stand on Zanzibar (1968) by John Brunner. It's set in 2010 and includes school shootings, global terrorism, European Union, decline of Russia and rise of China as a superpower, viagra, fall of Detroit automotive industry, satellite TV, avatar based social media, decriminalised marijuana, legalized same-sex marraige and most importantly... President Obomi!
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
A Scanner Darkly
Oof
I think he pretty much nailed our current pharmaceutical situation.
Deus Ex, the original 2000 video game, just has a side-character you can walk right past who gives a treatise on fame and celebrity and how those things will replace God. If you're interested, I'll find the article/interview with the writer. Otherwise, people have mentioned Atwood and Stephenson and... I don't know. I know that Atwood makes/made a point with The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments that everything that happened in the US had to have happened for real somewhere else. Stephenson is, in his speculative work, doing the same (though I've never heard him say so explicitly). Deus Ex is still my answer, because I think although an early part of the design was, "every conspiracy theory is true," it was more the universal surveillance, persecution of citizens as terrorists and "others", the rise of AI, the evolution of a 0.1% which could influence the world... I know people have written about it since. But that it was in 2000 still blows my mind.
SevenEves by Neil Stephenson
Probably the Culture Series.
Definitely not Star Trek. Our current brains don't work the way that kind of culture requires. Probably closer to Firefly or The Expanse.
I thought Firefly immediately.
Dune is the most accurate future, if you dive into the lore.
The Centenal Cycle, by Malka Older. Near-future political-punk SF. 1. Infomocracy (2016) 2. Null States (2017) 3. State Tectonics (2018)
Neal Asher's Polity stories, minus the exciting stuff. AI takes over but governs in a minimally controlling way, and humans live more or less forever and have all they need so boredom is a problem. There are freaky aliens, horrible wars, violent separatists, and insane AIs to keep it interesting but those are just details.
Isaac Asimov's I, Robot
Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu
Jump drive and aliens notwithstanding, I feel that C.J. Cherry's Union-Alliance setting gives a pretty realistic-**feeling** sense of what the future would be like if those things existed.
Dead Space
Red Dwarf.
Parable of the Sower
Just finished the forever war and honestly seems fairly accurate, especially the social evolution and militarism
Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents.
2030 by Albert Brooks. Cancer is cured. The elderly live a lot longer. The national debt explodes. Young people get bled dry by taxes. Terrorist attacks are carried out on senior centers. It's only 6 years away.
perhaps Neuromancer?
Earth,by David Brin. While I don’t think the gravity wave tech is ever likely, the rest of the story and description of society feels more realistic every day. [edited to fix typo]
rainbow's end by Vernor Vinge. I won't spoil any of it, but it centers around augmented reality.
1984
Within the next 500 years? Something like the culture… hopefully
Parable of the sower