If we consider the idea of "Big brother is watching you" and then look as such things as video surveillance cameras (which are everywhere in the UK), the government listening in on our telephone calls, reading our emails, monitoring our google searches and tracking our movements using the mobile phone network then I think we can accuse Orwell of massive over-optimism in his vision.
Just on the flip-side I love reading Sci-Fi where there are glaring anachronisms, whether that's Asimov's massive multivac computers (totally missing the PC - lets alone mobile phones and tablets) or a story I read years ago with a pilot attempting to land on an asteroid. The trajectory of the asteroid changes suddenly and unexpectedly. The pilot has to recalculate his approach and whips out - a slide rule to do it!!!!
Laughed for weeks over that one.
For accuracy though, I think its hard to beat Arthur C Clarke - he did predict geo-stationary satellites amongst a bunch of other things.
Just on the flip-side I love reading Sci-Fi where there are glaring anachronisms, whether that's Asimov's massive multivac computers (totally missing the PC - lets alone mobile phones and tablets) or a story I read years ago with a pilot attempting to land on an asteroid. The trajectory of the asteroid changes suddenly and unexpectedly. The pilot has to recalculate his approach and whips out - a slide rule to do it!!!!
Laughed for weeks over that one.
For accuracy though, I think its hard to beat Arthur C Clarke - he did predict geo-stationary satellites amongst a bunch of other things.
