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https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231212-to-day-and-to-morrow-the-100-year-old-series-that-predicted-a-wild-and-wonderful-future>
'One hundred years ago, towards the end of 1923, the geneticist JBS Haldane
published a short book imagining the world that lay ahead. Fewer than 100 pages
long,
Daedalus, or Science and the Future was an extraordinary whistle-stop
tour of all the sciences, taking in everything from the future of human
reproduction to energy generation.
The book became a sensation, and was arguably one of the first works of science
communication to have a wider cultural impact. As well as influencing other
scientists, it was read by writers, artists, activists and even politicians
like Winston Churchill.
Following Daedalus's success, its publisher Kegan Paul ended up publishing more
than 100 additional volumes about the future of anything and everything, in a
series called "To-day and To-morrow". Running until the early 1930s, an array
of writers, thinkers and intellectuals imagined the future of science and
technology, but also so much else: women, religion, clothes, family, humour,
justice, censorship, leisure, sleep, alcohol and even swearing. Anything that
seemed to have a future was eligible.
On the 100-year-anniversary of Haldane's
Daedalus, what can we learn from his
influential work, as well as the ambitious
To-day and To-morrow series that
it inspired?'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
