“I'm not trying to predict the future. I'm trying to prevent it.”Ray Bradbury.
Sit closer, listen to the story of how the American science fiction writer predicted the world in which we live in the smallest detail. In 1953, the American writer Ray Bradbury published a book called "Fahrenheit 451", but no one could have imagined at the time that the events described in the novel were not some kind of cyberpunk or fantasy, but the real thing to eat. which was destined to come true almost 70 years later. And we "congratulate you", dear friend, you are already living in this terrible time! Listen to the story, listen carefully to the very end, to understand the many hidden truths about our society and about you, about our common stubborn present and the possible near stubborn future.
The similarity between the description of the novel by Ray Bradbury and the current reality regarding the American freedom-loving and democratic state, which is now being set as an example to the whole world as an abode of goodness and justice, is especially strong, so there is a high probability that what is described there will spread to Russia and the rest world.
First prediction
NO WALKING
The author says that most people do not look at the sky, do not know that there is dew on the grass in the morning. In general, walking the streets is prohibited. It is shocking that already in our time, for example, in the USA it is really considered shameful - a normal person should work 12 hours a day and not walk. But if it was only a matter of public censure. After all, it is the police who do not allow simply walking or even walking on business, since they consider this to be suspicious behavior; often local residents, seeing a pedestrian from the window, knock about this to the police, they quickly arrive at the place and find out what this person is doing there and why he is walking. Thus, the streets of most US cities are empty. For a person of the post-Soviet space, this is some kind of nonsense. As you can see, everything has come true. And we have every chance to follow the example of the Americans.
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Prediction two
DONOS FASHION
The writer talks about special boxes for denunciations; in them everyone could omit the address of the one who broke the “law”, for example, he reads books. Yes, yes, books! After all, they are forbidden in the novel and are subject to burning.
The topic of so-called snitching was especially relevant in the Soviet Union, but it is expected that a second wave of such a fashion for betrayal may come from the United States, because there it is now very important.
The third prediction
PEOPLE - CONSUMPTION BIOROBOTS
In the future, people will turn into overconsumption biorobots, the author of the book believes. Work and buy, buy and work. No complex mental work, no philosophy - a person of the future will not have time for all this. It should not be allowed that thinking people constantly measure the size of their knowledge, so that one infringes upon the pride of another person with his cleverness, therefore it is necessary to nullify reading and craving for knowledge. And what is not so now? In educational institutions, they are equal to the most lagging behind. They also try to impose equality in relations between the sexes. Women want to be equal to men. What is in nature? In nature, no one is equal to anyone, there are certain ecological niches and the balance of the system. There is no equality in nature and cannot be, there is a law of distribution. As the saying goes, a born crawl cannot fly.
But back to the novel: The protagonist's friend, Clarissa, noted:
Fourth prediction
ENTERTAINMENT INSTEAD OF EDUCATION
Instead of a thoughtful study of the world and themselves, people will receive constant entertainment, no matter what it is. The boss of the protagonist Beatty broadcasts:
Fifth prediction
"TREATMENT" OF PEOPLE FROM EARLY CHILDHOOD
In his book, Ray Bradbury says that in such a society, it is best to cultivate the population from a very early age so that thinking family members do not have time to instill their values in the youth. Montag's boss Beatty says:
And so the friend of the protagonist Clarissa describes the learning process, during which students are taught not to think and not to analyze:
And here Ray Bradbury seems to be describing schools of the 21st century, in which the education system spreads rot to students who have their own opinion and are able to analyze. Obedient mindless puppets, prone to addiction to entertainment and poisons - this is the ideal product that should come out.
Prediction six
ZEROING THE MEMORY OF HUMANITY
Zeroing the memory of humanity is another detail that Ray Bradbury describes. A planned chemical and information attack on the personality leads to the fact that a person does not remember the most important things in life, but clogs his head with idle one-time nonsense.
At a higher social level, there is a global substitution of concepts. The dystopian novel depicts the result of a sweep in the public mind of the memory that firefighters were created to put out fires, not to burn books. All historical documents and scholars assure: fire stations “Founded in 1790 to burn pro-English literature in the colonies. The first firefighter is Benjamin Franklin. The book makes a hint that we have no right to blindly believe history, because people write it.
Human memory is short, and even a temporary silence can permanently destroy the memories of society about an unwanted event. This technology of mass management is actively used in our time. In the 21st century, books have really lost their primary role in people's lives. Paper storages of information are becoming a thing of the past, they are being replaced by electronic media and the Internet, in which it is not difficult to rewrite information at will. And this is already being done right now, imperceptibly, with knowledge of the characteristics of the human psyche.
Seventh prediction
THE END OF THE ERA OF SPIRITUALITY
In the society of Guy Montag, the main character of the book, there is no real friendship and love, devotion and sincere feelings between people. The main motive of the relationship is material interest: profitable or unprofitable. The wife of the protagonist practically does not hide her indifference to her husband's problems, but she constantly reminds of the need to make expensive purchases. In fact, Montag has no friends, no family, colleagues are also insensitive and selfish. For the time being, the main character does not even notice this, like most of his contemporaries. The same thing is happening today. Especially, this applies to the same USA. Such morality is gradually being introduced into the culture of other countries of the world.
The eighth prediction
MEDICINE TAKES CARE OF YOUR NERVES
It is logical that the suppression of the natural need for emotions, frank communication, the constant presence in the premises and the destruction of the craving for daydreaming in people leads to an increase in mental disorders, a pathological feeling of loneliness, constant depression, which society will extinguish with sedative pills. These pills will affect memory and other brain activities. Exactly the same problems exist in society now, especially in the country where the protagonist of the novel lived. His wife nearly died from
poisoning with such pills, because they destroy a person's memory; the woman simply forgot that she had already taken them a minute ago and gradually drank the entire bottle. The rescue service, which pumped out Montag's wife Mildred, notes that cases of poisoning with these drugs are constantly growing.
By the way, not only adults have big mental problems, writes Ray Bradbury, but also schoolchildren. And now you yourself will recognize another problem of American society, which can spread to other countries. The protagonist's friend Clarissa was afraid of her peers because “They are killing each other. Has it always been like this? Uncle says no. This year alone, six of my peers were shot dead.”
Prediction ninth
THE AGE OF CLIP THINKING
The era of greedy, uncontrolled consumption of information in our 21st century has changed the consciousness of an inhabitant of the Earth. The shorter and brighter the message, picture or video, the higher quality content is considered. The novel "Fahrenheit 451" describes in detail the era of clip thinking due to spontaneous, often chaotic, greedy consumption of information in fits and starts, in a quick way. And indeed: in our time, the perception of a post, picture, video takes, on average, no more than 1 minute.
Guy Montag's boss explains how society got like this:
“The works of the classics are reduced to a fifteen-minute radio broadcast. Then even more: one column of text, which can be run in two minutes, then another: ten - twenty lines for an encyclopedic dictionary …
Now spin the tape faster, Montag! Faster! Cry! Flick! This way, there, faster … up, down! Who, what, where, how, why? Shrink, shrink! Retelling retelling! Extract from retelling retelling! (About politics) one column, two phrases, heading! And in a minute everything had already evaporated from memory. Spin the human mind in a mad whirlwind, faster, faster! - by the hands of publishers, entrepreneurs, radio broadcasters, so that the centrifugal force throws out all unnecessary, unnecessary useless thoughts!.."
Stop! But is it really all about the books? Should we abandon technological development? Ray Bradbury from 1953 brings to us the idea that books are only carriers of information that other things can broadcast - TV shows, videos, films, audio content and much more. All this can turn into a modern analogue of paper books and stand guard over the spiritual and intellectual development of society.
Faber, the old and wise interlocutor of the protagonist, once said:
“Books are only one of the containers where we store what we are afraid to forget. There is no mystery in them, no magic. The magic is only in what they say, in the way they sew the pieces of the universe into a single whole."
After reading this article, did you want to read the whole book "Fahrenheit 451", and indeed to study the topic of dystopias more deeply? We will definitely help you with this.