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Space Tycoon · 11-30-2006, 05:44 PM

In a general sense, most sf authors who were Clarke's contemporaries seemed to have an overly optimistic appraisal of where we would be in space by now. I should say, it seems overly optimistic from our vantage point.

Niven's Known Space chronology had astronauts sent to Venus, Mercury, Mars even distant Pluto by the 1970's and 90's.

And of course Star Trek had all of this as well, including the first Earth-Saturn manned mission which is supposed to take place next year I believe.

Ditto Joe Haldeman in Forever War, which gives us a military base on Charon and FTL interstellar travel by 199(?), if I'm not mistaken.

As I say, it only seems overly optimistic because we have fallen so far short of where we ought to have been by now, had not politics and myopia gotten in the way. AC Clarke wrote that we could have afforded most of what was depicted in 2001 had it not been for the ruinous Vietnam War. Jerry Pournelle made similar comments about the Gulf War. It's sad to think what we won't be able to afford in the comng decades, thanks to You-Know-What.

But there is no reason we couldn't have had basic manned exploration programs to the nearby solar objects, had it not been for various political obstructions, such as the federal government's monopoly on manned space travel.

Oh, but there I go being political again...

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11-30-2006, 05:44 PM	#2
Space Tycoon Returned from a black hole Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 3,032	Re: Future Anachronism-Science Fiction Gone Wrong In a general sense, most sf authors who were Clarke's contemporaries seemed to have an overly optimistic appraisal of where we would be in space by now. I should say, it seems overly optimistic from our vantage point. Niven's Known Space chronology had astronauts sent to Venus, Mercury, Mars even distant Pluto by the 1970's and 90's. And of course Star Trek had all of this as well, including the first Earth-Saturn manned mission which is supposed to take place next year I believe. Ditto Joe Haldeman in Forever War, which gives us a military base on Charon and FTL interstellar travel by 199(?), if I'm not mistaken. As I say, it only seems overly optimistic because we have fallen so far short of where we ought to have been by now, had not politics and myopia gotten in the way. AC Clarke wrote that we could have afforded most of what was depicted in 2001 had it not been for the ruinous Vietnam War. Jerry Pournelle made similar comments about the Gulf War. It's sad to think what we won't be able to afford in the comng decades, thanks to You-Know-What. But there is no reason we couldn't have had basic manned exploration programs to the nearby solar objects, had it not been for various political obstructions, such as the federal government's monopoly on manned space travel. Oh, but there I go being political again... .