"Dean Ing - Firefight Y2K" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ing Dean)

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This volume is updated and expanded fromFirefight 2000 , first published June 1987. The following
stories and articles originally appeared and are copyright as follows: "Fleas,"Destinies , (c) 1979 by
Dean Ing; "Mannaspill,"The Magic May Return , (c) 1981 by Dean Ing; "Malf,"Analog Annual , (c)
1976 by the Conde Nast Publications Inc.; "Comes the Revolution,"The Future of Flight , (c) 1985 by
Leik Myrabo and Dean Ing; "Liquid Assets,"Destinies , (c) 1979 by Dean Ing; "Lost in Translation,"Far
Frontiers, (c) 1985 by Dean Ing; "Evileye,"Far Frontiers , (c) 1985 by Dean Ing; "Vehicles for Future
Wars,"Destinies , (c) 1979 by Dean Ing; "Vital Signs,"Destinies , (c) 1980 by Dean Ing; Preface (c)
1987 by Dean Ing; "High Tech and Self-Reliance," (c) 1985 Personal Survival Center, Inc., and "The
12-Volt Solution," (c) 1984 by the Omega Group Ltd., first appeared in book form inThe Chernobyl
Syndrome and are reprinted by permission of the author.




PREFACE
When historians of the 22nd century are cudgeling their brains (and each other; God, I hope I can sit in!)
to characterize the 20th century, their problem won't be lack of data. It will be the very diversity of that
data. But what will they conclude from the structures of Gropius and Wright; the popularity of punk rock
and Stravinsky; armies supplied with bayonets and ballistic missiles; citizens enjoying Volkswagens and
Ferraris, fantasy fiction and epic nonfiction; cities drawing power from coal and nuclear plants?
 I'm betting they will note the bewildering change of pace in each arena and will then ignore it, looking for
something more arcane. But it's that change of pace, that variety of choice, that separates us most
profoundly from earlier cultures! Look: people everywhere havealways sought varietyтАФnot thisor that,
but thisand that. There may be no better way to differentiate the free West from competing systems than
to note the changes of pace available to the citizens of each.

Not that everybody likes to have the pace changed: I know some folks who like only the foxtrot, white
bread, and Ford V-8s. Well, those things are all reliable, and tomorrow isn't. I understand and
sympathize, but tomorrow is where we're headed, and all indications are that it's going to be more full of
variety, changes of pace, than today.

That goes for fiction as well as fact. Even the most hardbitten of hard-science fiction scribblers can opt
for a change of pace to fantasy. It's a different set of mental gymnastics, and it keeps our sense of