Babel 17 More Fiction the Science

Babel 17

Babel 17 comes from this interesting part in history where people wanted to talk about space travel and the future, but really didn't have a firm grasp on either. It was written in 1966 which is a few years in before we went to the moon in 1969 and a few years after Russia sent the first space ship into the stratus sphere in 1961 and it shows. A lot of what is written in the book as far as technological is so far out of the realm of possibility it has a tendency to pull the reader out of the story due to a lack of believability. Which is not an issue of how it was written but with how the book is 'dated' in the future. for example in movie like Back To The Future, it had a realm of believability in the 1980's when advancement in technology where more limited, but know looking at the film it takes that away before there future is our past. 

thee

It is incredibly hard to predict what will happen in the future, advancements are always happening and leading the human race in so many different directions. It is near impossible to guess what will happen 10 years later, let lone 100 to 200. just think of how different 1900 for 2000 was. we as a civilization have changed so much senses then. So the Datedness in Babel 17 is by no fault of the other, but rather a change in perspective of the future over the time of the reader. 

However I do believe he got a few things right. Body modification tend to be the way of the future of self expressionism. Tattoos are no longer consider radical and on the fridges of society.  That is not to say neck and Face tattoos are expected in modern day society, however we are moving towards acceptance. So yes I believe that as people look to continue to push what society thinks is normal body modification are becoming more and more common. Hell if you classified plastic surgery as body modification then it already has, just look that people like Instagram models and the Kardashians. 

Another thing he got right was polyamorous couples and being in a monogamous relationship with 3 people. As we move future into the future monogamy is becoming less and less valued, terms like thrupple and Poly have become more expected and used in the younger generations. So yes I believe that as we head more towards the future the idea of what a "couple' is will change and being with 3 or more partners in a commented relationship will be more common.  

The world is constantly changing and shifting it is near impossible to guess what will happen or come next.  Even sci fi today will mostly be looked at as ridiculous and unrealistic to people of the future, and books and media give us an interesting looks as to what the people of the past thought modern day life to be.