The potentially devastating consequences of a drive for efficiency to the nth degree are shown in this science fiction story.
Read MoreDystopian Visions, by Terry Freedman
Dystopian visions: Disappearing Act Revisited
I especially worry about the displacement of subjects like art, drama, music, history and geography, all of which are vitally important but which seem to be treated as the poor cousins in the curriculum. Yes, STEAM is better than STEM, but it’s not enough.
Read MoreDystopian visions: My Object All Sublime revisited
What if an amazing technology like time travel were used purely and simply as a form of punishment?
Read MoreDystopian visions: Computers don't argue (Updated with reference to AI)
The writer does an excellent job of both reflecting the annoyance of dealing with a computer program that has no flexibility as well as no intelligence, and highlighting the need for programs to invite human input when the consequences of not doing so can be catastrophic.
Read MoreDystopian visions: a partial index (Updated again)
I’ve added another article in this series. Hence this update.
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dystopian visions, by Terry Freedman
Dystopian Visions: A Sound of Thunder, by Ray Bradbury
One of my favourite stories, this one by Ray Bradbury looks at the possible consequences of making a small, apparently insignificant, change in the past.
Read MoreDystopian visions: a partial index (Updated)
Yesterday when I wrote this article I inadvertently left out one of the stories I covered. Hence this update.
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Dystopian visions, by Terry Freedman
Dystopian visions: a partial index
Being a great fan of the kind of science fiction that extrapolates what is (sort of) possible now into what will probably be possible in the future, I’ve been writing a series of articles called Dystopian Visions.
Read MoreBook review: Brave New World -- the graphic novel version
in some respects, Brave New World seems closer to our lived reality than does Orwell’s 1984.
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Dystopian Visions, by Terry Freedman
Dystopian Visions: The Machine That Won the War
What really happens when a computer is invented that can make every decision in a war?
Read MoreDystopian Visions, by Terry Freedman
Dystopian visions: The Cold Equations
The potentially devastating consequences of a drive for efficiency to the nth degree are shown in this science fiction story.
Read MoreDystopian visions: Computers don't argue
The writer does an excellent job of both reflecting the annoyance of dealing with a computer program that has no flexibility as well as no intelligence, and highlighting the need for programs to invite human input when the consequences of not doing so can be catastrophic.
Read MoreDystopian Visions: Flowers for Algernon
One of the well-known tropes in science fiction — especially the sort of sci-fi you see in comics and superhero films — is the mad scientist.
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Dystopian visions: The Snowball Effect
In The Snowball Effect, by Katherine Maclean, the focus is on mathematics, or an innovation called “social mathematics” to be accurate. This probably sounds rather dry, but it was really quite prescient.
Read MoreDystopian visions: My Object All Sublime
What if an amazing technology like time travel were used purely and simply as a form of punishment?
Read MoreDystopian visions: Disappearing Act (Updated)
<UPDATED> I especially worry about the displacement of subjects like art, drama, music, history and geography, all of which are vitally important but which seem to be treated as the poor cousins in the curriculum. Yes, STEAM is better than STEM, but it’s not enough.
Read More