Technology plays a dominant role in our society. The Romans conquered the world thanks to their military technology. The pilum, the Roman legionnaire’s standard spear, was designed to penetrate thick plate armour. Once thrown, successfully or not, the spear was rendered useless.
That was in the early days. Later, during the industrial revolution, technology played an even more dominant role in the ability of the West to conquer the world. Now, centuries after the industrial revolution, technology is everywhere, all the time. Technology trends and solutions seem to be accelerating at a rapid and ever-increasing pace and dictating society’s direction. We live in a world that was the far future just a few years ago. But if the future keeps on creeping closer, will science fiction writers be the historians of the future?
It seems like people are always trying to predict the future. But the consequences are not always what they hoped for! Nor are the predictions! Let’s take a closer look at some examples.
In 1516, around the time King Henry VIII established the Church of England, Thomas More (1468–1535) published the famous novel “Utopia”. In this novel, he sketched an ideal world on an island far, far away. Well, is this science fiction? Yes, he may have meant it as an early form of Science Fiction, but sadly we’ll never know as he was beheaded shortly thereafter for his continued support of the Roman Catholic Church.
In the early 16th century, an important, if not the most dominant field in science was the study of the bible. And this field of science was heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. Needless to say, they had the kind of regime that would make Putin feel jealous.
However, when More’s head was still attached to his body, his mind had already travelled far into the future to an island with the city Amaurotum ruled by Prince Ademos. He ran an ideal society where property was unknown, people only consumed native goods, and everything was shared. Men and women were equal, worked for half a day and spent the rest of their time on education. Besides, the island embraced religious toleration by respecting individuals’ freedom to practice their religion without persecution or discrimination. A…
