Foundation: 5 incredible predictions about the future of Isaac Asimov

In 1966 his foundation was presented with the single Hugo science fiction novel “Best Series of All Time” for a series of novels, predicting many technological advances 50 years ago by Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov. Making the situation even more interesting this Friday on Apple TV + is an adaptation of the Foundation series.

The science fiction author has spoken on many occasions about discoveries that he believes will more or less occur in the future. In 1964, he undertook the first visionary training with a text (available in French) Framablock) In which he tried to imagine the world of 2014. He returned to training in 1984 during an interview with a Canadian daily. Toronto star – This time about 2019 – but during his various appearances on TV, it was like Interview with Host David Letterman In October 1980.

Conquest of the International Space Station and Mars

“In 2014, even though it is an already imagined Mars colony, unmanned ships will only land on Mars.”

Reading these words from 1964, one cannot help but think of the Curiosity rover that was sent to Mars in 2012, and the diligence that currently exists on the Red Planet, for future missions with oxygen humans from the Martian atmosphere to test technology designed to detect and produce traces of life there.

In an interview with David Letterman, Isaac Asimov talks about the bitter struggle between Russia and the United States to reach the moon and placing a space station in orbit in the future. In fact, Russia launched its first space station in 1986, before the International Space Station project was led by NASA in 1998.

Laptop, Internet (fiber optic) and smartphone

“Synchronized satellites will enable direct calls anywhere on the planet. Everyone can create their own TV channel just like there is a phone number.

In both texts, during an interview with David Letterman, Isaac Asimov stimulates the growth of laptops, optical fiber to expand communications around the world and builds a network, but with the advent of the smartphone (and creation) on YouTube, LetterMan4). It stimulates the possibility of interacting with sound and image from anywhere in the world. Isaac Asimov also refers to 3D. “Indeed, in 2014, during major exhibitions, human-sized 3D televisions will have the opportunity to broadcast ballads,” he underlined in 1964. Knowledge together from all over the world. “If we have a computer in every home, they are all connected to large libraries, where anyone can ask any question, answer, and reference will be provided. […], Everyone will enjoy learning, ”he says.

Robotics

“Robots may not be the most common or the most efficient, but they will be there.”

Again, in his 1964 speech, Isaac Asimov was incredibly far-sighted. In recent years, the American company Boston Dynamics has made significant progress in robotics. Their machines are now capable of doing chaotic acrobatics.

The author also spoke about the evolution of transport mechanisms. “We will focus more and more on transportation mechanisms that have less contact with land,” he says. It is not wrong to think of the hyperloop scheme developed by Elon Musk, which rotates a capsule at approximately supersonic speeds in low pressure tubes. Magnetic levitation and levitation trains already exist.

In 1983, Isaac Asimov imagined the consequences of the development of computerization, robotics, and artificial intelligence. “It simply came to our notice then.[…] The jobs created will inevitably be linked to the design, manufacture, installation, maintenance and repair of computers and robots, as well as the understanding of these new industries that make these ‘smart’ machines possible.

Climate change and the environment

“The consequences of human irresponsibility in terms of waste and pollution will become obvious and more and more unbearable over time, and efforts to rectify them will become more and more difficult.

Isaac Asimov was right about the difficulties caused by pollution in an interview with the Toronto Star newspaper in 1983. Unfortunately, the international community has not yet agreed on effective ways to combat the climate crisis.

In an interview with the INA in 1974, Isaac Asimov warns of the danger of seeing humanity heading for its destruction and the role of machines … at the cost of a particular idea of freedom. “Is it good for mankind to be free to make decisions that end in its own destruction, or to rely on the control of machines for its comfort and happiness at the cost of its own freedom?” Do you think you can have both? I, I do not answer, are satisfied with presenting problems.