We’ve discovered a technology that explores the fundamental truths of human nature, gaze into the black mirror and reflect upon your modern folly.
…Also all the scientists are straight white men and we invented new ways for our women to cook dinner.
Edit: To be clear, old sci-fi is genuinely great. Merely pointing out the funny juxtaposition of nerdy white guys not fathoming any social change in their generally progressive and thought provoking works.
The people writing science fiction were trying to make a living.
They wrote for magazines and TV shows that depended on advertising. A bunch of midcentury advertisers weren’t going to have a Black wom,an President.
Another thing to consider is how much change you can put into a story and still expect the average reader to keep up.
There was an article about an early Star Trek episode. One scene involved a couple of lines about a salt shaker. The production team went out and brought a bunch of wild looking salt shakers. [1960’s, remember?] None of the ‘futuristic’ looking salt shakers was any good for the scene, because they realized the TV audience wouldn’t understand what that funny looking thing was. In the end they used an ordinary looking shaker.
Old sci-fi be like
Edit: To be clear, old sci-fi is genuinely great. Merely pointing out the funny juxtaposition of nerdy white guys not fathoming any social change in their generally progressive and thought provoking works.
The people writing science fiction were trying to make a living.
They wrote for magazines and TV shows that depended on advertising. A bunch of midcentury advertisers weren’t going to have a Black wom,an President.
Another thing to consider is how much change you can put into a story and still expect the average reader to keep up.
There was an article about an early Star Trek episode. One scene involved a couple of lines about a salt shaker. The production team went out and brought a bunch of wild looking salt shakers. [1960’s, remember?] None of the ‘futuristic’ looking salt shakers was any good for the scene, because they realized the TV audience wouldn’t understand what that funny looking thing was. In the end they used an ordinary looking shaker.
And then they repurposed the weird-looking salt shakers as medical instruments.
Read the same book…
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_World_of_Star_Trek
My favorite story is the one where a company that made automatic doors sent a letter asking how they got their door to move so smoothly…
And neither did 21st century American voters.
Ba-dum tssssss
To be fair; the less commercial stuff was better at that.
Fallout was the future to them. Before the bombs dropped.