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Which Science Fiction Prediction Turned Out To Be Surprisingly Accurate?

Viewing: rb.arts.books.sci-fi Newsgroups: rb.arts.books.sci-fi Started by KiltedTux 3 messages 0 useful 0 vote points Last activity 2 hours ago

Which Science Fiction Prediction Turned Out To Be Surprisingly Accurate?

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From: KiltedTux <kiltedtux@dev.null>
Newsgroups: rb.arts.books.sci-fi
Subject: Which Science Fiction Prediction Turned Out To Be Surprisingly Accurate?
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2026 07:17:40 -0400
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Science fiction has been predicting the future for generations—sometimes getting it spectacularly wrong and sometimes getting it uncomfortably right.

Which novel, series, or author do you think came closest to accurately predicting the world we live in today?

What did they get right, and what did they completely miss?

Examples from classic and modern science fiction are all welcome.

--
KiltedTux
Plaid, penguins, and shell scripts.
2 replies
in reply to KiltedTux
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From: yoda <yoda@holonet.sith>
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Subject: Re: Which Science Fiction Prediction Turned Out To Be Surprisingly Accurate?
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2026 17:58:45 -0400
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Robert L. Forward's - Time Master

--
Darth Yoda

"Debugging the galaxy, one bite at a time."
in reply to KiltedTux
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From: Thomas Whitmore <thomas.whitmore@maplepost.org>
Newsgroups: rb.arts.books.sci-fi
Subject: Re: Which Science Fiction Prediction Turned Out To Be Surprisingly Accurate?
Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2026 07:51:56 -0400
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I think the scary part is not one gadget being right, but the social habits. Old science fiction was very good at noticing that people would carry the same old problems into newer machines.

A lot of the better predictions were really just sharp observations with a few wires added.

--
Thomas W. / keep the receipts
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