For a little fun, if you're an old timer

LarryMarak · 08-23-2017, 08:52 PM

Pick out a Gurps world book published 20 to 30 years ago (I've got a ton of em) that has a timeline going 50 to 100 years in the future. Carefully read the timeline and highlight the number of predictions that have either come true orcsort of come true. I've just re-read Gurps CthulhuPunk...a lot of what McCubbin predicted is here already!

Gollum · 08-24-2017, 08:03 AM

Shh! Don't tell it around but Steve Jackson is a clairvoyant.

sir_pudding · 08-24-2017, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gollum

Shh! Don't tell it around but Steve Jackson is a clairvoyant.

Be careful with that, it leads down a (pretty dark) rabbithole of people who genuinely appear to believe that INWO predicted world events. :(

Gollum · 08-24-2017, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Be careful with that, it leads down a (pretty dark) rabbithole of people who genuinely appear to believe that INWO predicted world events. :(

I know that and was precisely joking about it ... Sorry if it was not funny.

In reality, take any good SF novel and you will also notice that its author predicted a lot of things that happened in reality. Brilliant SF authors "see the future", not because they are clairvoyant, but because they are brilliant enough to make the synthesis of what they see and hear in the present to guess what the future may become.

Steve Jackson and most other GURPS writers are brilliant authors.

Flyndaran · 08-25-2017, 12:42 AM

Also a heaping helping of confirmation bias. All the geniuses that got some predictions correct, got a whole slew way wrong.

rknop · 08-25-2017, 05:03 AM

I'm still trying to figure out why the news outlets of the 1990s didn't cover the Eugenics Wars.

robkelk · 08-25-2017, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rknop

I'm still trying to figure out why the news outlets of the 1990s didn't cover the Eugenics Wars.

Weren't they busy covering the reconstruction of that alien spaceship that was turned into the Macross?

Phantasm · 08-25-2017, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robkelk

Weren't they busy covering the reconstruction of that alien spaceship that was turned into the Macross?

I'm still waiting for the decade-long Global Civil War preceding the crash.

~~evileeyore~~ · 08-25-2017, 02:15 PM

I'm sure none of this is making the news due to the msm's 24/7 hyperventilation over Pres. Patterson's repealing of the 22nd Amendment.

Look, it's just till we cross this current crisis. No way he tries for some sort of 'president for life' nonsense. It'd never fly...

Anthony · 08-25-2017, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gollum

In reality, take any good SF novel and you will also notice that its author predicted a lot of things that happened in reality.

That's a combination of the shotgun principle (make enough predictions and some should hit), highly predictable events, and predictions that are vague enough that they match almost anything.

08-23-2017, 08:52 PM	#1
LarryMarak Join Date: Aug 2017	For a little fun, if you're an old timer Pick out a Gurps world book published 20 to 30 years ago (I've got a ton of em) that has a timeline going 50 to 100 years in the future. Carefully read the timeline and highlight the number of predictions that have either come true orcsort of come true. I've just re-read Gurps CthulhuPunk...a lot of what McCubbin predicted is here already! Last edited by LarryMarak; 08-24-2017 at 10:11 AM. Reason: Typo

08-24-2017, 08:03 AM	#2
Gollum Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: France	Re: For a little fun, if you're an old timer Shh! Don't tell it around but Steve Jackson is a clairvoyant.

08-25-2017, 12:42 AM	#5
Flyndaran Untagged Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon	Re: For a little fun, if you're an old timer Also a heaping helping of confirmation bias. All the geniuses that got some predictions correct, got a whole slew way wrong. __________________ Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.

08-25-2017, 05:03 AM	#6
rknop Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: New Castle, PA (north of Pittsburgh)	Re: For a little fun, if you're an old timer I'm still trying to figure out why the news outlets of the 1990s didn't cover the Eugenics Wars.

08-25-2017, 02:15 PM	#9
~~evileeyore~~ Banned Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: 100 hurricane swamp	Re: For a little fun, if you're an old timer I'm sure none of this is making the news due to the msm's 24/7 hyperventilation over Pres. Patterson's repealing of the 22nd Amendment. Look, it's just till we cross this current crisis. No way he tries for some sort of 'president for life' nonsense. It'd never fly...