Science Fiction writer Ray Bradbury has died aged 91
Few books (and a subsequent film) influenced my desire for knowledge in the way that Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 did. The black and white film adaptation still holds much in my memory almost 30 years later. As a youngster I’d sat up late and seen original The War of the Worlds on TV and a few months later watched the ‘madness’ of Fahrenheit 451. The book drew an even darker picture of a world in which thought control took place by denial of knowledge – a well worn path taken by religions and ruling elite alike through the millennia. To a great extent, Ray’s Martian Chronicles helped prime my brain in alignment for my future career – as a futurist! It certainly gave me an appreciation of books, reading and a thirst for knowledge.
Ray’s book ‘Fahrenheit 451’ is perhaps one of the most prescient works looking at the rise of knowledge management and knowledge curation as practised by the political elite. This ‘message management’ theme extended on Orwell’s 1984 ‘Big Brother’ by adding a more sinister layer. Where Big Brother watched your every move and provided messages for consumption, the ‘FireBrigade’ in Bradbury’s ‘451 actively sought to remove the existence of alternative knowledge sources.
In that way, Bradbury identified the wide spread practise of media manipulation not only by corporate entities, but also by Governments of all kinds who attempt to re-write history or deny it existed. Even today the mid 1960’s film adaptation stacks up as chillingly bleak yet representatively familiar of today’s times.
It is not surprising that Hollywood has not sought to remake the film for a modern audience. given tht Hollywood itself would be a likely central target of any update.
Thank you Ray; Vale Ray
In a recent article in The Age, Clive Williams of Macquarie University’s Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism suggested that athletes booked in to attend the Commonwealth games in India need to consider a terrorist attack as a potential wildcard. Whilst an interesting perspective, I’d like to suggest that a potential terrorist attack at…
Read More >If my information is correct, the 14th of February is the start of the New Year and instead of the usual flowers and chocolates, you might be wise to invest in another gift for your heart’s desire Because Feb 14 is the start of the Chinese New Year – the year of the Tiger. So…
Read More >Had any thoughts yet? I have – plenty and judging from the number of media inquiries it appears lots of other people are also curious to know what might lie ahead in the next year or next decade. I’m putting my thinking hat on so that we can consider what 2010-2019 might hold, the second…
Read More >I’m tipping that Consensus will be reached at Copenhagen this week. Alas it will be a consensus for more talking, thinking and commitments to agree to a proposal to set a time for a discussion around more concrete targets. In otherwords, a commitment to not commit. The politicians waver whilst our planet is being poisoned.…
Read More >The cycle of consumption rears its head as it has done for quite some time. Consumption is neither good, nor bad, it ‘just is’ and right now the majority of media exposed potential consumers are being lured, enticed and occasionally conned into parting with their hard earned money to satisfy needs and whims. Some consumers…
Read More >Our son has just celebrated his fifth birthday and although we don’t make a huge fuss about milestones (the kids get a party every second year), there’s no doubt that he is learning about desired future outcomes and goals. I doubt he is different from most kids in his ability to spot something and declare…
Read More >Here’s a little something I’d like you to think about. Are you really who you say you are? And, how do I know that I can trust you? Identity Theft is one of the most debilitating crimes a person can suffer for it strips away the very core of your own belief system and that…
Read More >‘World – we have a problem’ (apologies to astronaut James Lovell). We are killing ourselves with food and it’s happening at both ends of the continuum – millions starve each day whilst a gluttony caused obesity epidemic is killing others off in different ways. We have a growing global population requiring sustenance, whilst Climate Change…
Read More >Anyone looking at the final rainfall figures for Melbourne’s rainfall might be heartened by the news that the final result was about 10mm above the September average. Compared to last year’s disastrous result where we had about 12mm, it was over 50mm better. But I wonder if the final result, and the current ‘average’ isn’t…
Read More >Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber discussed the future of travel at the ANTOR session at The American Club in Sydney, NSW on the 24th of September. Along with Angela Smith from Roy Morgan Research, Martin Kelly from Travel Trends and Gail Rehbein from the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility Marcus proposed some of the emerging…
Read More >