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HBO adapting Ray Bradbury's dystopian classic 'Fahrenheit 451'
We're already living in a dystopian reality, so it's not surprising that our entertainment reflects that. Following Hulu's release of The Handmaid's Tale, showing a dark US theocratic future, HBO is adapting one of the original dystopian classics, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, according to Variety. The project is in development, but HBO is pushing it toward production with Michael B. Jordan (who also popped up in Matrix relaunch rumors) and Michael Shannon in starring roles.
Ray Bradbury dies at 91, our world is that much poorer
It's a sad day for science fiction fans everywhere, as Ray Bradbury has passed on at the age of 91. We'll always know him best as the author of Fahrenheit 451, but it's really massive legacy in short stories that defined his role in technology. Collections like The Illustrated Man and The Martian Chronicles made it a point to illustrate technology's impact and to never let our gadgetry trample human nature. Appropriately, for all of his ability to envision the future, he was actually rather cautious about embracing it: he only reluctantly allowed e-books and was worried the world was rushing too quickly towards devices. The irony of paying tribute on a technology website to this trepidation isn't lost on us, but we sincerely appreciate Bradbury's literary legacy -- he kept us honest (and entertained) in an industry that sometimes needs a reality check. He'll be missed. [Image credit: Alan Light, Flickr]
Fahrenheit 451 now available as an ebook, memorize at your own discretion
E-books may have caught on in a big way these past few years, but there have been a few big holdouts. The Harry Potter series' ebook future was only confirmed earlier this year (with the release of the books themselves now slated for sometime next year), and now Ray Bradbury has finally allowed his dystopian classic, Fahrenheit 451, to be made available in electronic form (the title remains unchanged). Bradbury himself has been a longtime critic of ebooks -- and the internet itself, for that matter -- but he reportedly relented when his publisher, Simon & Schuster, explained that a new contract wouldn't be possible without ebook rights. Other Bradbury novels may also be released as ebooks eventually, according to his agent, but there's apparently no firm plans for those as of yet. There are plans for a new paperback edition of Fahrenheit 451 to be released in January, however, followed by new editions of The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man that are slated for release in March. We're fairly certain you can still consider those the Bradbury-approved editions.
Found Footage: Project 2000 from 1988 on the direction of computing
This video has been around for quite a long time, but my guess is that you haven't seen it. It posits how future computers will used for education and literacy. Watching it you'll be taken by how much they got right and how other concepts got short shrift. One surprising thing is that it focuses almost totally on voice input and doesn't mention the concept of a touch screen interface. Instead it displays a trackball-type device with four buttons that doesn't presage multi-touch devices. A good deal of the footage was taken from 1987's Knowledge Navigator video which got a lot more play at the time. Project 2000 includes interviews with: Steve Wozniak on the start of computing in education and personal agents Diane Ravitch, the past director of the Encyclopedia Britannica, on using computers to motivate students and the challenges of adult literacy Alan Kay on computer simulation and visualization Alvin Toffler, most known as the author of Future Shock, on text translations Ray Bradbury on a variety of subjects The most talked about topic is hypermedia, the most integrated concept in modern computing and a major building block of the World Wide Web which was six years old at the time, however the WWW isn't mentioned. Oops my mistake. The World Wide Web starting with the Mosaic browser didn't happen until 1993. This is illuminative viewing and if you haven't seen it, I'd recommend you do so. The differences between what the speakers saw as the future and how things turned out is quite enlightening. Thanks Eric for sending this in.
