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Scientifictionist, v. 2, issue 2, whole no. 8, March-April 1947
Page 4
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THE WORLD OF 1990 As Imagined by Sydney Fowler As reported by Weaver Wright Sydney Fowler, better known as S. Fowler Wright, author of The World Below, Deluge, etc., wrote a book last year: The Adventure of the Blue Room (Rich & Cowan, England, 8/6, 168 pages). It is laid in 1990. Rather than relate the plot of the story, I have chosen to acquaint you with the world panorama and various minutia as gleaned from reading the novel. Five years hence...Great food riots encarmine Europe as an outgrowth of an irrational rationing policy. Those disobediant to the ukases of the dieticians are strictly sentenced, altho sentences are invariably deferred. One day Western European officials wake up to the fact that over 300,000 have been sentenced to death for food infractions. Even children are liable to execution at any time. And when a child of 10 insists: "I would rather die than eat spinach!", well, it may sound funny the way I tell it, but it leads to disruption of the nutrition laws -- the State cannot be thwarted by children -- and rebellion flames. Forty-three years hence.... The war of 1979 has left two-thirds of Asia a poisonous waste from which human life has disappeared completely. A hundred million corpses have rotted there, and tigers and cobras breed among the empty ruins of former human dwellings. The population of the world has been reduced to 500,000,000 The 3 great powers are the English-Speaking Commonwealth, the Latin-American Union, and the United States of Europe. The inspiration of the League of Nations has lived on. It has metamorphosed into the Council of the Clouds, located at high Quetta in Latin America. Was has not been outlawed, but Atomic war has been renounced by the world. Military struggle in 1990 has rigidly observed rules. In the event of provocation now, the offended Group has first right at offense, which shall be of a nature such as to harass but not directly menace the enemy. The opponents' scientists have 3 months to neutralize the effects of the assault and, if unsuccessful, the attacker wins. If successful, counterattack is then the privilege of the assaulted Group. This continues till one side submits. If the rules are broken, the neutrality of the third power is to be cast aside and all its resources aligned against the deceivers of civilization. German is the universal language of Europe. Berlin is one huge, miles long building. A European make auto, the Aurora, is characterized as "very easy to drive." Rugs are made of lizard skin, smooth-surfaced and ultra-soft. A sea may be warmed. Periodicals, other than fiction of some approved and regulated types, are verboten. There is little privacy of word or deed. It has become a courtesy to receive a guest in the blue-lit room, because this is the color least sympathetic to secret photography. Radio has replaced the printed word for news, it now being possible to tune to the type of information desired at any time, like turning to a page in a paper. A standard feature of "room service" in hotels is the provision of a femme de la nuit, should the guest desire a pleasure companion. A choice may be made by televisor. There is a service charge, should the assortment of feminine pulchritude displayed dail to intrigue the potential customer into ordering a sprig of rosebud.# Beverages and firearms seem to have remained the same. Nor have the primal passions -- love, hate, ambition, etc. -- altered. The opening sentence is: "God forgive me." This statement is qualified by the remark that "the expression was no more than an atavism of speech, for...Ed- (Continued on page 15) page 4
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THE WORLD OF 1990 As Imagined by Sydney Fowler As reported by Weaver Wright Sydney Fowler, better known as S. Fowler Wright, author of The World Below, Deluge, etc., wrote a book last year: The Adventure of the Blue Room (Rich & Cowan, England, 8/6, 168 pages). It is laid in 1990. Rather than relate the plot of the story, I have chosen to acquaint you with the world panorama and various minutia as gleaned from reading the novel. Five years hence...Great food riots encarmine Europe as an outgrowth of an irrational rationing policy. Those disobediant to the ukases of the dieticians are strictly sentenced, altho sentences are invariably deferred. One day Western European officials wake up to the fact that over 300,000 have been sentenced to death for food infractions. Even children are liable to execution at any time. And when a child of 10 insists: "I would rather die than eat spinach!", well, it may sound funny the way I tell it, but it leads to disruption of the nutrition laws -- the State cannot be thwarted by children -- and rebellion flames. Forty-three years hence.... The war of 1979 has left two-thirds of Asia a poisonous waste from which human life has disappeared completely. A hundred million corpses have rotted there, and tigers and cobras breed among the empty ruins of former human dwellings. The population of the world has been reduced to 500,000,000 The 3 great powers are the English-Speaking Commonwealth, the Latin-American Union, and the United States of Europe. The inspiration of the League of Nations has lived on. It has metamorphosed into the Council of the Clouds, located at high Quetta in Latin America. Was has not been outlawed, but Atomic war has been renounced by the world. Military struggle in 1990 has rigidly observed rules. In the event of provocation now, the offended Group has first right at offense, which shall be of a nature such as to harass but not directly menace the enemy. The opponents' scientists have 3 months to neutralize the effects of the assault and, if unsuccessful, the attacker wins. If successful, counterattack is then the privilege of the assaulted Group. This continues till one side submits. If the rules are broken, the neutrality of the third power is to be cast aside and all its resources aligned against the deceivers of civilization. German is the universal language of Europe. Berlin is one huge, miles long building. A European make auto, the Aurora, is characterized as "very easy to drive." Rugs are made of lizard skin, smooth-surfaced and ultra-soft. A sea may be warmed. Periodicals, other than fiction of some approved and regulated types, are verboten. There is little privacy of word or deed. It has become a courtesy to receive a guest in the blue-lit room, because this is the color least sympathetic to secret photography. Radio has replaced the printed word for news, it now being possible to tune to the type of information desired at any time, like turning to a page in a paper. A standard feature of "room service" in hotels is the provision of a femme de la nuit, should the guest desire a pleasure companion. A choice may be made by televisor. There is a service charge, should the assortment of feminine pulchritude displayed dail to intrigue the potential customer into ordering a sprig of rosebud.# Beverages and firearms seem to have remained the same. Nor have the primal passions -- love, hate, ambition, etc. -- altered. The opening sentence is: "God forgive me." This statement is qualified by the remark that "the expression was no more than an atavism of speech, for...Ed- (Continued on page 15) page 4
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