On 2020-09-10, Martin Gregorie  wrote:

> On Thu, 10 Sep 2020 16:33:04 +0000, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>
>> Although I agree with what you say about the snowflake generation, the
>> problem is that the big boys want to make this the only choice. Everyone
>> gets the services, everyone gets the surveillance, everyone gets
>> frog-marched into their glorious vision of the Future.
>>
>> It really is time for the new generation to read the classics like
>> Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World, etc.
>
> ... and for good measure add in William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy
> (Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive) and Neal Stephenson's
> "Snowcrash".
>
> These were all written between 1982 and 1992, all predicting portable
> computers, mobile phones and the Internet as they now are, though
> immersive 3D graphics and tactile interfaces are still lagging well
> behind those books, but scammers, remote phishing exploits and system
> penetration are pretty much as predicted.

Or, if you want to go back in time, there's "The Machine Stops",
written by E.M. Forster in 1909.  The main character uses a
communication device that looks a lot like an iPad.

"The Feeling of Power", written by Isaac Asimov in 1958,
perfectly predicted the atrophy of basic arithmetic skills.

The one thing these authors couldn't have predicted was the
incredible fall in the price of electronics - which made
these dystopias not only possible, but arguably inevitable.

--
/~\  Charlie Gibbs                  |  Microsoft is a dictatorship.
\ /        |  Apple is a cult.
 X   I'm really at ac.dekanfrus     |  Linux is anarchy.
/ \  if you read it the right way.  |  Pick your poison.

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