Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Mazanec
There is a meme that science fiction is overly optimistic in the short run, but overly pessimistic in the long run (regarding speed of technological advancement). Is TS holding to this rule?
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Well, a review of developments in the TS history from 2001 to 2017 certainly makes them overly optimistic in many areas including politics and consumerism.
For example the equivalent of Google Glass is predicted at least 5 years early but is also predicted to be runaway commercial success and transformative of society. Our history? It seems to have been more like a cross between "silly toy" and "kind of creepy".
I'm not aware of anything in particular where it can be shown that TS was more pessimistic than reality turned out to be. We're not in to the truly long run yet of course.