nice to meet you

Posted by: wowpowerleveling at April 15, 2008 02:29 AM

When push comes to shove, I always bet on the pink laser beam.

Posted by: Clay Richards at September 15, 2006 09:29 PM

"I don't see any support in the article for the assertion that he saw himself as making 'serious projections.'"

Fair comment. My basis is Heinlein's insistence on the science in his science fiction - he was one of the first to try and get it right, and the ideas in Starship Troopers do relate to technology of the time. The nuclear bazooka (the famous 'Davy Crockett') really was developed around the time of the book, as was the jet pack, but neither caught on.

Phil K Dick was on another planet and I'm very doubtful that his ideas came from anywhere other than his fertile brain.

I wouldn't say that either way trying for serious prediction, but the results are interesting...

Posted by: David Hambling at September 1, 2006 02:27 PM

Being ahead of the curve always makes you look odd to the ones in the middle.

Cranky Observer said: "...we in the United States seem to be on an unstoppable slope to a society which is almost halfway between those depicted in _Starship Troopers_ and _Revolt in 2100 AD_"

A lot of it depends on whether the Bugs notice us before The Preacher takes over.

Posted by: kelley b. at September 1, 2006 10:25 AM

I am aware of Heinlein shortcomings as a writer[1] , but I do find it interesting that we in the United States seem to be on an unstoppable slope to a society which is almost halfway between those depicted in _Starship Troopers_ and _Revolt in 2100 AD_. Every few years I drive by Jefferson Barracks and I wonder when Rev. Scudder is going to start construction of his headquarters there.

Cranky

[1] Ole' RH was certainly an odd person, the moreso as he got older. But I do find it funny that many critics ascribe to him the thoughts and motivations of his characters when he specifically stated that he was writing /speculative/ _fiction_. Which of those two words do the critics not understand?

Posted by: Cranky Observer at September 1, 2006 08:55 AM

I loved the piece. Your analysis seems spot-on. My one quarrel: In your summarry of the article on defensetech you say that Heinlein's imagined world of military technology was a series of "serious projections from then-current technology." (This claim is not, as far as I could tell, made in the article itself) Heinlein certainly has more serious credentials than Dick, but I don't see any support in the article for the assertion that he saw himself as making "serious projections." To wit: the passage you quote from Starship Troopers seems like the opposite of a serious projection. The content strikes a tone of glorious and absurd excess, what with the nuclear bazookas and hand-held flamethrowers and so on. It sounds to me like Heinlein was interested in "the vital young male 16-24 demographic who wanted to see aliens getting blown up," not the business of "serious projections." Your thesis, in my mind, remains valid, but I don't think it's fair to say that either Dick or Heinlein set out to predict the future, at least on the basis of the evidence you've presented.

Posted by: Max Postman at September 1, 2006 07:44 AM