History of the Future
The Future in the 1950s
This Session
WWII
– role of science and technology
Introduction to 1950s
– Cold War, Atomic Bomb & Sputnik to follow
– Also discussion of political climate
Overview of 1950s SF
World War II
National organization on huge scale
– systems, experts, industrial production
– Experts of all kinds enlisted in national effort
Key role of science and technology
– RADAR
– Atomic bomb
– Jet engines
– V2 rockets
– Computer (not widely known at time)
Government & Science
Pre-1945 fairly limited
– Agriculture, geology, etc.
– Private foundations, industry important
Vannevar Bush
– Mobilized American science, 1941 onward
– Science – The Endless Frontier, 1945
– Call for Federal support answer 1950, NSF
– “Pipeline” – Basic -> Applied -> Technology
Physics Very Prestigious
Einstein as celebrity
Emergence of Big Science
– reactors
– particle accelerators
– massive research teams, millions of dollars
Most science funding is military
Social sciences want to be more like
physics
– Economics, sociology, psychology etc.
Automation
New term in 1950s
– Popularized by young
consultant
– Some basis in continuous flow
(oil, etc.)
Fully automatic factories
expected soon
– Cybernetics
Social issues much
discussed
– Widespread unemployment?
– End of work?
Age of Affluence
Prosperity for first time in
20 years
– Enormous pent-up demand
for consumer goods
– Rapid growth in corporate
profits, output
Television
– First networks grow up in
1950s
– Largely displaces cinema
Social Conservatism
Women are
– Working outside the home less
– Having more children, younger
Also tied to cold war, defense of America
– Unions become respectable
Focus on pay and conditions
– Continuing faith in large corporations
– Virtues of American way of life
Suburbanization
Trend frozen since 1920s
Large scale construction across US
– Modern, spacious
– Safe, affordable
Suits large scale raising of baby boomers
– Whites flee cities
– Lifestyle celebrated on sitcoms
UFO
Flying Saucer, coined
1947
– UFO craze throughout
1950s
– Popular willingness to
believe in aliens
Science Fiction in 1950s
Quality of writing
picks up
New magazines
– Galaxy
– Fantasy & Science
Fiction
Spread of “soft” SF
– Sociology
– Psychology, etc.
PSI
Key theme of 1950s SF
– Earlier use (1890s onward)
– Transcendental overtones
– Evolution of super man (Stapledon)
Major theme in Bester novel
Often linked to cold-war paranoia
– Mutants
– No way of knowing who has it
Key Themes of 50s SF
Telepathy and PSI power
Atomic war
– Mutants, radiation
Cold war paranoia
– Aliens among us
One important shift
– Heroes generally less powerful, more
confused and at mercy of outside forces
SF In Book Form
First “Genre SF” appears in
book form
Gnome Press, founded 1948
– First book publication for
Asimov, Heinlein, Arthur C.
Clarke
Initial previous published in
magazines
Asimov
Foundation Trilogy
– Published in Astounding, 1942-1950
– Published in book form 1951-1953
Epic of future history
– direct mapping of Roman Empire
– very concept driven
– skeptical of religion, politics
– never really finished
Asimov – Robot Stories
The Three Laws of Robotics
– Published as I Robot, 1950
– Stories appeared from 1941
onward
– Two detective novels, 1954 &
1957
Laws are moral, rather than
scientific
– Rehabilitates idea of robot
Robert A. Heinlein
Future History series
– Stories of 1940s
– Collected 1951 onward
Many “juvenile” novels for
teenagers
– published 1947 – 1958
– Have Spacesuit, Will Travel –
1958
Starship Troopers, 1959
– rejected as children's book!