Comments on: Predictions From The Father of Science Fiction

By: David Jefferis

David Jefferis — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:34:01 +0000

Ah, Hugo Gernsback: one of my heroes of sci-fi and fact.

Back in the 1970s, my sadly late co-author Ken Gatland (one-time President of the respected British Interplanetary Society) and I tried our own bit of futurology in a three-book series called ‘World of the Future’, published by Usborne.

We didn’t do too badly, though we wisely avoided politics as simply asking for trouble!

I’m reprising something of the same now on my Starcruzer site.

By: Matt Novak

Matt Novak — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 00:19:42 +0000

@Jonathan Doesn’t ruin my day at all! Thanks for pointing it out! I’m so used to seeing misspellings and typeset errors in old newspaper and magazine articles that I didn’t bother to google the word. Strangely, I’d never seen it until this article. Thanks again!

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 23:02:59 +0000

Hate to ruin your day, but “selfsame” is indeed a word, it’s spelled correctly, and used in it’s proper context.

By: Matt Novak

Matt Novak — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 16:51:33 +0000

@Sam The latest recap wasn’t posted yesterday on account of Columbus Day. It should be up shortly. Thanks for the kind words!

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 15:51:55 +0000

Where’s Episode 3 of the Jetsons recap promised to be posted every Monday? Is this going to be a regular feature, or just something that gets posted when you have time? I can’t be the only one who’s following this serial… (Love all of your posts, Matt, but as a huge Jetsons fan, I’m extra keen to read these ones.)

By: David Byrden

David Byrden — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 23:26:45 +0000

I’m disappointed that this man didn’t apparently know enough maths or physics to catch his errors. For example, if you calculate the flow of air required, and the consequent pressure in the pipes, you will soon realise that water plumbing cannot practically be used for air conditioning.

By: Vincenzo

Vincenzo — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 04:05:42 +0000

Dirk, I do not know any facts around electrification of soil for increased production – except there doesn’t appear to be any industralisation of this as a process. So I would guess that there isn’t any positive effect otherwise any of the big food agri-combines would have been doing it for years..

By: Dirk Bruere

Dirk Bruere — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 00:47:48 +0000

“Electrification of crops will be an established fact twenty years hence. There is no reason why the ground can not yield twice as much produce, as has long been shown experimentally. ”

Is there any truth in this?

By: Adam W

Adam W — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:57:25 +0000

I’m interested in Gernsback’s prediction of aircraft leading to “a great exodus from the city to the country.” Arthur C. Clarke had the same idea; his short stories “Rescue Party” (1946) and “The Road to the Sea” (1951) both describe a future where the advent of fast, personal flying machines result in the abandonment of cities and a return to the countryside. I’m curious as to when and where this particular prediction of the future originated.