Forum: Future History; a General and Personal Perspective - Gerald D. Nordley
Details
Gerald D. Nordley is a science fiction writer, physicist, and astronautical engineering consultant whose fiction writing is most associated with Analog Science Fiction and Fact. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._David_Nordley)
Here is Mr. Nordley's summary of his talk:
----------
There are, of course, many efforts to anticipate future events ranging from the weather forecast for tomorrow to projections of the end state of the universe, done by various professionals for economic, environmental, military, and scientific reasons, which more often than not put out a range of possibilities of, for example, the sea level a hundred years from now.
A science fiction writer, however, cannot rely on a range of possibilities. To tell a story, the wave function of the future must collapse to particulars; with backgrounds, names, events and often numbers. These will certainly vary greatly from the details of the reality to come, but may otherwise shed at least qualitative light on possibilities and offer hope or warning regarding what may come to be. Imagine an ocean of post-historical spaghetti, and then extracting one noodle from all off that to use as the background for a story, or set of stories. This is more or less what I and a number of other writers have done.
For this talk, I'll look at a very focused non-fiction future history of the development of mass-beam propulsion for interstellar travel, then a couple of science-fictional future histories; Robert A. Heinlein's, and my own.
Because he published his, I will publish mine at some point, and I have graphics! Heinlein's is in his 1967 collection, The Past through Tomorrow (I have the 1975 Berkley Medallion Books paperback and it's on page 661). I should have a copy of mine available for the meeting.
My bottom line is that, while nobody can predict the future exactly, close counts, and the exercise is particularly useful in highlighting where not to go.
After the Forum, please join us for a buffet lunch at 12:30pm. The lunch is complimentary for first-time visitors and students.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/humanistcommsv/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HumanistCommSV/
Website: http://www.humanists.org/blog/
Videos of previous forums: https://vimeo.com/hcsv/
To help our Forum series continue, please consider making a donation or becoming a member (http://www.humanists.org/blog/membership/) of the Humanist Community.
Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.
Note: If you would like to speak at a Forum, or know of someone who you think might be willing to speak at a Forum, please send an email about your idea to the HCSV Program Committee (hc-program@googlegroups.com).
DIRECTIONS TO RENGSTORFF PARK AND THE MAPLE ROOM
Head south (away from the Bay) on Rengstorff Ave. (in Mountain View) from 101 or Central Expressway until you cross the train tracks. Then turn left at the intersection (with a traffic light) that says "Stanford Ave.-->" and "<--Community Center". That puts you into the Community Center's parking lot. In the parking lot, veer to the right, and then turn left, and park alongside the right-hand side of the Community Center. Enter where you see the Humanist Community sign.