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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 25 KB, 275x453, AnthonyBurgess_1985.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202504 No.1202504 [Reply] [Original]

books that predicted the future (our present)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_(Anthony_Burgess_novel)
>Another major theme of the novella is the rise of Islam as a major cultural and political force in Britain, due to large-scale immigration from the Middle East; London abounds with mosques and rich Arabs

>> No.1202506

>inb4 gibson gibson gibson

>> No.1202511

>>1202506
lolwut

>> No.1202512
File: 141 KB, 500x500, firstandlastbreath.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202512

"As he spoke, the whole city was broken like a honeycomb. "

e.m. forster's The Machine Stops.

we're almost there.

full text:

http://archive.ncsa.illinois.edu/prajlich/forster.html

enjoy.

>> No.1202513

>>1202512
can i get a tl;dr?

>> No.1202522

>>1202513
yep- people live solitary in underground dormitories. all action is filtered through technology via an internet of sorts. some dude says "fuck it." and splits. checks out life beyond the walls.

published in 1909.

>> No.1202528

>>1202522
>published in 1909.
wow, okay i'm reading this

>> No.1202530
File: 611 KB, 960x1299, stoneage sci-fi.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202530

>> No.1202538

>>1202530
God, I hate that comic. Seriously, fuckers, stop posting that comic, the point that it is making is so incredibly flawed (and it's so smarmy about it) (do you understand that i fucking hate that comic)

>> No.1202551

>>1202538
you need some fresh air and get off the internet for a couple of months

>> No.1202555

>>1202538
Butthurt athiest detected. It's a parody of sci-fi twists you idiot.

>> No.1202559

>>1202555
it's a parody of sci-fi twists, yes. it also has the implicit message that all the doom-mongering and fear of the future in some science fiction is completely ridiculous, and just fear of the future. we should just trust science! entirely! all of the time! because it will never ever ever have bad consequences.

FUCK that shit.

>> No.1202563

>>1202559
you have some fucking issues

>> No.1202567

>>1202563
probably

i should point out that this is the internet, and i'm acting more angry than i really am. i do think that comic is making a dubious point in a ridiculously smug way, though. And I have seen it a lot of times. But, yeah, this is the internet, why are you surprised that people are mad over trifling or mundane issues?

>> No.1202576

>>1202522
Technology is more mobile and accessible than ever. it doesn't hinder life, it's an accessory to it.

>> No.1202581

>>1202576
For the time being anyway...

>> No.1202583

when he separates himself from the mountain... i'm probably going to die in the next few years at the rate things are going.

>> No.1202586

>>1202581
Go live in the woods if you're that worried.

Netbooks and droid phones are just the latest in a long line of accessible information that started with the printing press.

>> No.1202611

>>1202586
There are many people bound to their computers, are you so blind you dont see this?

>> No.1202615

>>1202611
No, I'm just not a cowering alarmist afraid of technological progress.

>> No.1202643

>>1202567
It's Dresden Codak. The guy genuinely believes that, and seems to know his shit. He's making what in his opinion is a valid point, comedically. People who post it on /lit/ are the smug ones.

>> No.1202646

>>1202643
no the dresden codak guy is a smug shithead, too

>> No.1202649

>>1202615
way to totally exagerate what I was saying.

>> No.1202653

>>1202504
OP: This book was written in 1978. Predicting Islam as a rising political and cultural force at that time is the same as me telling you that in 2009, I predict that the Intenet would exist. Islam has seen the highest growth in ascriptions than Christianity in the last 100 years and was as predictable as the peak oil crisis in terms of followers. And all of this is without missionary work, door knockers, and repeated money-throwing agendas that Christianity has historically done. The rise of Islam isn't because of self-marketing, but because it's lack of marketing. In effect, the pill you jam down most peoples throats is vomited up violently. The rise of Islam is not a wonder, but an inevitability of Christian action.

>> No.1202655

>>1202649
"People are spending time on their computers! WELCOME TTO THE BRAVE NEW WORLD!!!!!!!111111"

>> No.1202659
File: 69 KB, 403x387, twin towers slide.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202659

>>1202653
>He thinks the peak oil crisis is real.

Also
>Lack of marketing.

Yeah, Islam is totally non-aggressive. No siree.

>> No.1202660

>>1202655
it's like I'm really in the youtube comment section

>> No.1202661

>>1202660
Yeah, and you're a regular font of insight, wannabe Luddite faggot.

>> No.1202665

>>1202659
>He thinks the world's supply of oil isn't finite.

>> No.1202673

You post-teen pre-household idealists need to understand that ALL post-apocalyptic scenarios are really just plays on the disruption of both Capitalist and Christian "full-scale failure" themes. Your types envision a world where a disaster happens and mankind "becomes" animals and have difficulty surviving. The truth of the matter is that this type of world view is against the grain of demonstrable animal and human nature: when a calamity occurs, mankind and animalkind do not separate. There is no centrifugal force that draws every individual apart. The opposite occurs throughout human history, and I daresay animalkind. Life draws together. When Brasilian fire ants need to cross a stream to bring food back to the complex, some ants sacrifice themselves to be a living bridge so that the food is taken to the life source. When bees make a hive, workers willingly sacrifice their lives so that an enemy may scamper off in another direction. When a flood happens in New Orleans, motherfucking Canadians show up on the scene to help out before the National guard. When Two Towers fall in New York, firefighters from Australia show up. When a tsunami hits India, the Japanese are there. Slaves died in the American Revolution. The entire Mediterranean fought against Hannibal in the 2nd Punic War. The physicians of the entire European subcontinent raced riders with medical knowledge back and forth in an effort to combat the Bubonic Plague, and again around 1920 for the Spanish Flu. Bacteria eats petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico, Zebra Mussels filter the entirety of Lake Erie, and Mercury is driven out of fish by the absorption of an element only poisonous to humans--selenium. Life begets itself naturally along the chain. And while you dawdle on ideas about the end of the world as we know it, every other species celebrates the idea. We are just another poison to be flushed and Nature is probing violently in every direction it can to do so. And why is this bad?

>> No.1202674

>>1202665
>He thinks commercial drilling has so much as dented the world's oil supply, and that the notion of "peak oil" isn't based mostly on anecdotal evidence.

>> No.1202678

>>1202673
>post-teen pre-household
>. We are just another poison to be flushed and Nature is probing violently in every direction it can to do so.

Go choke on wheat grass you hippie cunt.

>> No.1202681

>>1202673
Oh

You're insane

>> No.1202685

>>1202653
the point


________
your head

>> No.1202696

>>1202659
LOL was the marketing campaign called the Crusades non-aggressive? How about the Spanish Inquisition? Or maybe the small pox outbreaks in virgin Americas? Was there nothing wrong with any of these? I will guarantee you that not only did more people die in these offenses than did in this single incident than did the people who have died over several hundred years of Christain "gentleness". Yes it was a sad day, and I do hold my head in sadness to the people who died, but you cannot simply say that since one group of wackos in a different religion did this to you that your religion is spotless. In fact, Christianity is notably bloody in consideration of world history. But Christianity is also notable observing the fact that it has never rebuilt a culture in recompense. Every single major religion has done so except Christianity, the dwindling majority.

>> No.1202697

>>1202696
Don't give me this shit that Christianity has done so much good that we should over look the bad. This can't fly. Christianity has done so much BAD for the world AND every effort to make amends literally involves the acceptance of their religion before they do so. These shitty missions to other countries to build a bridge---they send along legions and legions of bright eyed smiling middle class Americans who will visit, in luxury, the very countries they have decimated and promise help so long as they accept Jesus Christ.

I work in several groups that actually provide aid and education to countries deficient in basic needs like drinking water and arable land not tainted by runoff from YOUR American Christian family companies. I have dedicated over 25 years of my life to causes such as erosion control in the rain forest, archaeological sanctity of native tribes in the Philippines, Thailand, Brasil, and Chile. I have seen the Great Pacific Garbage Gyre. I have seen Phnom Penh, The chipped off sculpture dicks in the Vatican, Hermes Trismegistus carved into the very stones of the churches you commissioned. Things exist outside of your poorly translated book. What doesn't exist an any of the religions I have been in contact with is your feeling of isolation. And it shouldn't.

>> No.1202698

>>1202696
>>1202697
what the flying fuck

>> No.1202706
File: 138 KB, 462x460, poorly_disguised_troll.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202706

>>1202697
>>1202696

>> No.1202711

>>1202674
I will take these warnings from the people who study this for a living with far more credibility than your 19 year old Tea Party snark.

http://www.grinningplanet.com/2005/06-14/peak-oil-article.htm
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article324.html
http://denr.sd.gov/des/og/images/34-9DiscoveryWell_large.GIF
http://www.eia.doe.gov/country/img/charts_png/
http://www.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist_chart/MAPRYUS3m.jpg
http://www.state.hi.us/dbedt/ert/symposium/zagar/Image388a.gif

>> No.1202712

>>1202696 I've never met an actual missionary.

>> No.1202716

>>1202696
>>1202697 dude take your protests elsewhere. /lit/ is where 16-22 year olds discuss "intellectually probing books" such as OMFG 1984 BRAVE NEW WORLD CATCHER IN THA RYES. Anything other than that is beyond the scope of their syllabus of Reader's Digest. /lit/ cannot live up to it's potential because the audience has no life experience, thus no frame of reference.

>> No.1202719

>>1202673
this guy

face it. he pegged all of you.

>> No.1202722

>>1202674
If I held a lit match against your nose, you would flinch. There is nothing anecdotal about that.

>> No.1202735

WOW shit, I defend you guys all the time, but you really are just a huddle of young, shiftless, inexperienced homophiles. Enjoy the next 20 years of cock-up-the-ass you'll receive with these attitudes. I pray that the entire experience is painful, because it needs to be.

>> No.1202753

>>1202735
>closet homosexual detected

>> No.1202772

>Another major theme of the novella is the rise of Islam as a major cultural and political force in Britain, due to large-scale immigration from the Middle East; London abounds with mosques and rich Arabs

Oh wow, who would've thought in a wealthy world of mass transportation, the rich territories would experience immigration and become more multicultural. Burgess truly is a genious for seeing this already in 1985.
fuck no he isn't

>> No.1202778

>>1202772
>specifically Islam
>specifically London
why is no one understanding this? Are you that fucking dense?

>> No.1202779

>>1202778
PRETTY SURE THERE'S A SHITLOAD OF INDIANS AND CHINESE IN LONDON TOO.

>> No.1202780

>>1202778
>implying the only foreign cultural influence or even the most dominant one in London is Islam

I thought you britfags were a lot more enjoyable when you were bitching about Indians
>Indians are London's largest non-white ethnic minority group, with a population of around 500,000
Where are your muslims now?

>specifically London
Implying this isn't happening everywhere in western europe, Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, ...


really, get over your fears bro, this is the world as it is, deal with it or stick with your flawed right wing rhetorics, I'd advise the first because not every black man or muslim is out to get you, your wife and your job

>> No.1202781

>>1202780
IM NOT FUCKING BRITISH!!!!!!
I've had it with /k/ accusing me of being British when I disagree with them and now you guys as well?

>> No.1202784

>>1202780
>>Indians are London's largest non-white ethnic minority group, with a population of around 500,000
I like your sauce you provided with that information bro.

>> No.1202785

>>1202781
HIS POINTS ARE STILL VALID, WAY TO TRY TO IGNORE THEM THOUGH.

>> No.1202786

>>1202781
Well excuse me, but in the context you bitching about muslims in London, made you seem British.

Now back on topic, present an argument or gtfo.

>> No.1202787

>>1202784
Oh fuck you, is it that hard to notice it's simply a wikipedia quote?

>> No.1202788

>>1202786
WAY TO CONFUSE THE GUY TYPING IN CAPS WITH SOMEONE WHO'S FORGOTTEN QUITE A FEW CAPS!


Ethnic group Population Proportion of total UK population
White 54,153,898 92.1%
Mixed race 677,117 1.2%
Indian 1,053,411 1.8%
Pakistani 747,285 1.3%
Bangladeshi 283,063 0.5%
Other Asian (non-Chinese) 247,644 0.4%
Black Caribbean 565,876 1.0%
Black African 485,277 0.8%
Black (others) 97,585 0.2%
Chinese 247,403 0.4%
Other 230,615 0.4%

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Expodata/Spreadsheets/D6588.xls

THERE YOU GO, A NICE SOURCE TOO.

>> No.1202789

>>1202788
>WAY TO CONFUSE THE GUY TYPING IN CAPS WITH SOMEONE WHO'S FORGOTTEN QUITE A FEW CAPS!

How did I confuse anyone in this thread? I simply responded to replies individually.

Also
Nice statistics bro but what is your point?

>> No.1202790

>>1202789
SORRY, IT WAS I, WHO WAS CONFUSED :(

>> No.1202791

>>1202785
>WAY TO TRY TO IGNORE THEM THOUGH.
>WAY
>>1202786
>but in the context you bitching about muslims in London
please tell me where I was bitching about Muslims in London. I dont give a fuck about London.
It is possible for someone to state facts as they see them without belonging to the nation they're talking about. /k/ dont seem to grasp this but I thought you guys would (not sure why anymore).

>> No.1202792

>>1202790
No hard feelings, I get a little agitated when arguing with right wing fags and their flawed rhetoric, I can't help trying though because I believe underneath their thick cover of hate there's a good person that's simply misinformed.

>> No.1202794

>>1202791
well maybe you didn't quite "bitch" but in post >>1202778

You did seem to care about London by thinking mentioning Islam and London specifically mattered.

>> No.1202796

>>1202794
Dude I hear a lot about muslims shitting up London. It might all be overblown bullshit to be honest but my post isn't anything but about that. Nothing more. Is it that I called you dense and swore? I sorry :c

>> No.1202801

>>1202796
Well it wasn't very polite to call me dense and swore when I simply pointed out that mentioning islam and london didn't somehow make a point, though it didn't offend me, so np man.
The problem most people bitch about isn't a problem of one particular culture, it's the problem of criminality, unemployment and all associated issues of the life of lower classes in world cities, I see it daily because I live in such a city with hatred for minorities and it enrages me.

>> No.1202802

>>1202559

But it is.

>> No.1202803

>>1202801

If you knew anything about what the person you're replying to was talking about, you wouldn't say that.

>> No.1202804

>>1202801
tl;dr
nah I know what you mean
But I also never claimed Burgess was a genius. I'm welcoming all books that have predicted our present in any form so why should his book be dismissed because he used a little common sense in his assumptions?

>> No.1202811

>>1202803
I knew what the person was talking to and my reply was to the part where he says he hears a lot about muslims shitting up london. This conversation has evolved because the original point, 1985 predicting the future, with all respect, has been shown to be very weak.

>> No.1202812

>>1202811
read this
>>1202804
and please don't ignore it like I feel you are.

>> No.1202813

>>1202716

This is nonsense. Firstly, sensibility has nothing to do with the very limited range of experiences you would permit inclusion under the category of 'life experience'. Secondly, the discussions here range far beyond those titles.

>> No.1202814

>>1202811

YOU DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT YOU DUMB FUCK. GET YOUR ASS CLEAN. GET SOME FUCKING DISCIPLINE.

>> No.1202815

>>1202697

Whoa!

> Hermes Trismegistus carved into the very stones of the churches you commissioned

Where has this happened? That's VERY interesting if true.

>> No.1202817
File: 21 KB, 467x311, tumblr_ksb5doGOxv1qa2xgl.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202817

there's a lot of hate in this thread and i think it's detrimental to the board and the quality of it's content as a whole.

why don't you all just start hating tripfags again?
it might make you all feel better.

>> No.1202820

>>1202716
>I dont like books everyone else likes because I'm cool
condensed that for ya

>> No.1202823

The correct frame of reference is commitment to the great tradition. Anything else is beside the point.

>> No.1202824
File: 48 KB, 222x229, rawr.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202824

>>1202817
FUCK OFFFFF TRIPFAAAGGG

>> No.1202830

>>1202814
>>1202812

I did know, I'm sorry you guys are still butthurt over being wrong.

>> No.1202831
File: 65 KB, 430x286, dale cooper coffee smug.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202831

>>1202824
>>1202824

i lol'd hard

>> No.1202832

this board is a failed experiment

>> No.1202841

>>1202832
You are a failed experiment, at least so said your mother last night.

>> No.1202843

>>1202830
I dont even remember what you're accusing me of being wrong about anymore.
>>1202832
hey this is OP. Rate my thread? I'm not sure what the fuck you people want but my topic is good isn't it? It's my first time posting on this board and I just wanted to live up to your high expectations.

>> No.1202845

>>1202843

Pay more attention > earn respect > profit.

>> No.1202848

>>1202845
>Pay more attention > earn respect > profit.
Okay so you say the board is shit so what am I paying attention to exactly? The shittiness?

>> No.1202849
File: 12 KB, 400x326, dale cooper full face.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202849

>>1202843
>>1202843

your thread is bad and you should feel bad. you allowed this potentially interesting thread to descend into faggotry then were upset about everyone calling you out for being wrong.
fucking high school kids coming on here and ruining my /lit/

>> No.1202851

>>1202849
>about everyone calling you out for being wrong.
I STILL DONT GET HOW THIS FUCKING HAPPENED EXACTLY
you fucking "intellectual" faggot

>> No.1202852
File: 52 KB, 540x560, 1285000476980.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202852

Drop the bomb, exterminate them all.

>> No.1202854
File: 135 KB, 595x483, u mad cuz im stylin on u.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202854

>>1202851
>>1202851

>> No.1202855
File: 21 KB, 556x361, hallelujah.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202855

>>1202852

>> No.1202856

>>1202851
Burgess did not predict anything, the rising influence of minorities in world cities was already a fact, it's like writing a book now saying how the chinese are going to become a superpower.

Predicting = saying it before it happens not as it is happening, so again in that sense 1985 predicted shit.

>> No.1202858

>>1202856
I give up on this board.
Can you all improve my thread then with your god-like knowledge of literacy? Whats some books that did predict the present? Honestly if you spent half as much fucking time practicing what you preach you wouldn't look like such jackasses.

>> No.1202861
File: 73 KB, 300x400, inception saito bought the airline.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202861

>>1202858
>>1202858
>wouldn't look like such
>look like
>look

he can see us over the internet?

>> No.1202862

>>1202858
>make no valid point
>i give up

Good, go back to /k/, /new/ and /b/ to bitch about muslims.

>> No.1202863

>>1202858
>Whats some books that did predict the present?
Thus Spoke Zarathustra

god is dead and we have killed him XD

>> No.1202864

>>1202861
>can obviously see text written by you
are you mental?
>>1202862
Post *A* BOOK just ONE about my topic, for the love of CHRiST are you people capable of this?

>> No.1202865

Books can't predict the future, they are books.

they don't have time machines or anything STUPID FUCKS

also OP is a faggot

>> No.1202867

>>1202862
Also I know you're all just looking for a fight but i'll say again at no point did I ever BITCH about Muslims.

>> No.1202868

>>1202864
not a book but have this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcf9cgb1lkI

>> No.1202872

>>1202868
IT'S ALL FUCKING TRUE! OH MY FUCKING GOD

>> No.1202873
File: 307 KB, 650x475, angel hitting yourself.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202873

>>1202864
>>1202864

you seem to have some emotional problems, are you okay?

>> No.1202875

>>1202873
Yeah i'm being trolled hehe this is so original and making me mad. But in all seriousness why cant you just post a book? Have you ever read a book in your life?

>> No.1202878

>>1202875
Welcome to /lit/, few of us read books, but we all have an opinion on every book.

>> No.1202880

>>1202848

I never said the board was shit. If you had PAID ATTENTION, you'd know I'm not the same dude.

>> No.1202882
File: 54 KB, 291x351, come at me brp old gorilla.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1202882

>>1202875
>>1202875

i can't post a book that has predicted the present we currently live in as no books have accurately done that.

u jelly cuz im smarter dan u?

>> No.1202886

>>1202875
>Have you ever read a book in your life?
Y'know he probably has (one or two maybe). Just all the wrong and useless ones.

>> No.1202889

>>1202886
Oh look, it's deepnedgy with an opinion, lol, better sage this shit

>> No.1202891

>>1202880
okay
>>1202882
Any sort of prediction is welcome. In fact just tell me the last book you read.

>> No.1202896

>>1202889

>better sage this shit
That is probably the best response a subhuman degenerate like yourself could come up with so fair enough

>> No.1202897

>>1202891
>>1202891

Last book was an introduction to liteary criticism
or the happy prince and other short stories (but that was only very short)
before that God Debris: a thought experiment
and before that Oroonoko and other writings by Aphra Behn.

you?

>> No.1202900

>>1202897
>Last book was an introduction to liteary criticism
Terry Eagleton maybe?

>> No.1202904

>>1202897
last three I guess i'll just say
1984 (I dont care what anyone has to say, it's a good book)
A novel about the Berlin Airlift (its thick as fuck and the title escapes me but it was damn interesting)
and i'm currently reading Dept of Honor
>inb4 inevitable hatred for whatever reason

>> No.1202907

>>1202904
actually I remember the Berlin one now it was Armageddon by Leon Uris

>> No.1202909

>>1202900
>>1202900

nope it was 'an introduction to literature, criticism and theory' 4th edition by Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle.

actually very well written and educational

>> No.1202911

>>1202900

What's wrong with Terry Eagleton, DeepandEdgy?

>> No.1202917

>>1202911
I don't have a problem with him. Bit too much of a Marxist for my liking but whatever.

>> No.1202937

I keep getting mixed up.

Wasn't this Burgess cunt one of the Cambridge spies? With Philby, et al.

>> No.1202940

>>1202937
I dont know. I just wanted a thread about books.

>> No.1202941

>>1202917

Ah right, good good.


>>1202937

No, that was Guy Burgess. Anthony Burgess often gets mixed up with them because another of the group was called Anthony Blunt.

>> No.1202943

>>1202937
No, that was Guy Burgess.

Homosexual communist.

As are you.

>> No.1202946

>>1202941
Ah...

Thanks.

>> No.1202963

>>1202858

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Men are becoming more feminine and women are becoming more masculine

This was an accurate prediction