Hitchhiker's Guide To The Future

In the article, “The Future Is Now: It’s Heading Right at Us, But We Never See It Coming”, Joel Achenbach speculates that major advancements are not displayed in the media, discussed by important figures, nor anticipated by the general public; The events taking place are not acknowledged until they are actively making a difference in society. According to Achenbach, the majority of us are oblivious to science and technological advancement, two major development advocates, due to the discourse involved. Most of us have a generalized perception of what is behind major changes in society, and are intimidated by the intellectual process that occurs beforehand. Achenbach then explains how we overlooked a worldwide phenomenon such as the internet.

In her introduction, she explains to the reader that “all science fiction is nothing but a metaphorical lie” and “The future, in fiction, is a metaphor.” (Le

Popular fictions texts expressing views of the future educate audiences about current issues and the dystopias that develop from them. Texts such as the film ‘Gattaca’, directed by Andrew Niccol and novel ‘Fahrenheit 451’ by Ray Bradbury explore futuristic societies and the implications that become of their innovation. Although entertaining, texts such as these are didactic and must be taken seriously, as they communicate messages to audiences regarding prevalent concerns and possible futures based on society’s choices.

Despite the patriotism and nationalism constantly encouraged in the United States, our society is far from perfect, and science fiction is just one genre that comments on these frailties. Science fiction comments on our world by creating a dystopian society in attempt to emphasize our civilization’s dangerous flaws. Two examples can be examined in the selections, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury and "Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut. Fahrenheit 451 is about a society consumed with every possible form of technology. The people neglect one another and find a family within their fascinating trinkets. This is not very similar to our society, yet our society could eventually go down this path. Most characters from the book ignore knowledge and it is also against the law to educate oneself from books. Overall, there is limited meaningful conversation amongst the majority of people and instead, a lot of propaganda provided by the government. All of these precautions are taken so that ‘every minority is happy,’ similar to the theme of "Harrison Bergeron.” Furthermore, this selection focuses on equality and the lengths that a government will go to in attempt to destroy

Topic Sentence #1: The novels are seen as a warning sign for future generations about the consequences of technology, science, and uncontrolled power.

In the stories,”The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury and “Long Way Home” by Charles Waugh, predict what the future will be like. Many authors of science fiction create stories that represent their opinion on how the future will turn out. Some authors may make the future seem miserable to live in and some make the future a desireable place to live in. “The Pedestrian” presents a society where people are not allowed to make decisions for themselves and technology takes over their lives while ,”Long Way Home” presents a story of a father and son with a relationship that represents a quote, “Home is where the heart is.” It is evident that the future will most likely be like the story,”The Pedestrian.”

The author of the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, tries to explain that technology is going to end up taking over books. Through Fahrenheit 451, Ray does an excellent job by showing the reader about how technology can take over people’s minds. This novel helps explain that the people became dependent on their technologies that they no longer found interest in books, and that it made them feel an emotion other than happiness. Reading this book, I noticed that multiple times, the author tried to show how technology took over. People in this society had no knowledge or common sense because of their dependance on technology.

First I want to talk about changes in my reading abilities. We used Emily St. John Mandel’s science fiction novel, Station Eleven, as our material for this course, and I learned how to read a real novel from it. Mandel successfully makes her book a page-turner by expressing her true intentions in an epigrammatic way. Her story was so exhilarating that it entertained me as long as I

Every text is a product of its time. In Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, she uses the gothic horror genre to explore some of the concerns of her time relating to the use of science and technology and its impact on humanity. Similar concerns are also present in Ridley Scott’s “Bladerunner”, a futuristic text which combines science fiction and film noir to present a bleak view of a future world overrun by technology and consumerism, but devoid of human emotion. Both these texts offer insights into the human experience namely between man and science and man and nature.

Throughout this semester our literary material dealt with themes of technology, modernization, the imponderable bloom, human nature, and truth to name a few of the most overarching. Each text has woven an impression of the possible near future for humanity if the patterns we are creating continue at an exponential rate. Patterns such as consumerism, neglecting unpleasurable emotions, using drugs, and controlling the environment for our short term benefits will write an unsavory and inevitable future. Science Fiction often reflects on society by exaggerating their negative characteristics and advancements to seem far-out, but often it is ironic how close many aspects of the fiction are a direct reflection of the present condition. Even now, the possibilities of utopias and dystopias forming are not so out of reach. The ability of our culture to control an entire population with a self-satisfied culture of vices outfitted with technology is less and less science fiction as the years pass.

In a genre whose name ostensibly welcomes innovation—science fiction—resistance towards technology may initially seem counterintuitive. This, however, is where it is essential to delve into the annals of history. Writers, after all, write what they know. In an 1948 essay, George Orwell wrote, “When you are on a sinking ship, your thoughts will be about sinking

As the era of literature slowly declines, the expert critiques and praise for literature are lost. Previously, novels were bursting at the seams with metaphors, symbolism, and themes. In current times, “novels” are simply short stories that have been elaborated on with basic plot elements that attempt to make the story more interesting. Instead of having expert critical analysis written about them, they will, most likely, never see that, as recent novels have nothing to analyze. Even books are beginning to collect dust, hidden away and forgotten, attributing to the rise of companies such as Spark Notes. An author deserves to have his work praised, no matter how meager and the masses should have the right to embrace it or to reject it. As

For now, I'll set aside considerations of why The Goal is a novel, how effective it is as a book, whether it succeeds as literature, and so on. This article is primarily about the ideas behind the book, and why some are valuable while others are probably quite useless.

The good thing about films is that we not only have the opportunity to choose from a wide selection of different genres, but also compare them and understand their purpose in the world. The Horror genre has used the basic principles throughout time, and as a result, films of this type have not proven to be as timeless as another genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy. At first, these two genres might at times seem similar as they have at several occasions been blended together, but their basic, common theme serves different meanings about humans. I shall compare and contrast these two genres and focus on both classic films and modern films. From the Horror genre perspective I shall discuss Psycho (1960) and The Mist (2007), while in the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre I will examine 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), and Serenity (2005). Although the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre and the Horror Genre share some similarities, the differences lie in their focus on human progress.

Moreover, the positive messages embedded in science fiction works can have powerful influence on the audience and the society, both locally and globally. In particular, most of the messages embedded are prompted by the past events of world history or by the contemporary social phenomena, and