"HEINLEIN, Robert A. - The Worlds of Robert A.Heinlein" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

"Pandora's Box" was the original title of an article researched and written in
1949 for publication in 1950, the end of the half-century. Inscrutable are the
ways of editors: it appeared with the title 'Where To?" and purported to be a
non-fiction prophecy concerning the year 2000 A.D. as seen from 1950. (I agree
that a science fiction writer should avoid marihuana, prophecy, and time
payments Ч but I was tempted by a soft rustle.)
Our present editor decided to use this article, but suggested that it should be
updated. Authors who wish to stay in the business listen most carefully to
editors' suggestions, even when they think an editor has been out in the sun
without a hat; I agreed.
And reread "Where To" and discovered that our editor was undeniably correct; it
needed updating. At least.
But at last I decided not to try to conceal my bloopers. Below is reproduced,
unchanged, my predictions of fifteen years back. But here and there through the
article I have inserted signs for footnotes Ч like this: (z) Ч and these will be
found at the end of the 1950 article . . . calling attention to bloopers and
then forthrightly excusing myself by rationalizing how anyone, even Nostradamus,
would have made the same mistake . . . hedging my bets, in other cases, or
chucking in brand-new predictions and carefully laying them farther in the
future than I am likely to live . . . and, in some cases, crowing loudly about
successful predictions.
So Ч



WHERE TO?
(And Why We Didn't Get There)

Most science fiction consists of big-muscled stories about adventures in space,
atomic wars, invasions by extra-terrestrials, and such. All very well Ч but now
we will take time out for a look at ordinary home life half a century hence.
Except for tea leaves and other magical means, the only way to guess at the
future is by examining the present in the light of the past. Let's go back half
a century and visit your grandmother before we attempt to visit your
grandchildren.

1900: Mr. McKinley is President and the airplane has not yet been invented.
Let's knock on the door of that house with the gingerbread, the stained glass,
and the cupola.
The lady of the house answers. You recognize her Ч your own grandmother, Mrs.
Middleclass. She is almost as plump as you remember her, for she "put on some
good, healthy flesh" after she married.
She welcomes you and offers coffee cake, fresh from her modern kitchen (running
water from a hand pump; the best coal range Pittsburgh ever produced).
Everything about her house is modern Ч hand-painted china, souvenirs from the
Columbian Exposition, beaded portieres, shining baseburner stoves, gas lights, a
telephone on the wall.
There is no bathroom, but she and Mr. Middleclass are thinking of putting one
in. Mr. Middleclass's mother calls this nonsense, but your grandmother keeps up
with the times. She is an advocate of clothing reform, wears only one petticoat,