From the Soviet fantasies
“A window towards the future” from the first issue of the cult magazine „Космос“
How the people will live at the end of the century, after ages, after millennia? Who is not asking himself these questions, who is not excited by them? But it is really hard
to give an answer. A group of Soviet writers had tried to peek ahead, to open the window of the future for us. This is how the writer
ANATOLY DNEPROV
Sees the success of mankind after 30- 50 years: Of course the problem with the interplanetary messages will be solved successfully. We can hope that the scientists will learn the techniques of the artificial photosynthesis and mastering the thermonuclear sources, mankind will receive the abundance of energy for all its needs. Undoubtedly the fully complex mechanization and automation will be introduced in all kinds of production. I can predict big success in the spheres of biology and medicine. The creation of a living cell in laboratory conditions will be a real revolution in science. Sadly, it can be overestimated. And it's direct results will be an abundance of food products, control over the life processes, solving the problem with longevity and the full elimination of all illnesses and disabilities. The writer
GEORGE GUREVICH
is confident in that the people from the communist society will live long, that they will enjoy their youth not only once. He thinks that in the constitution of the communist time there will be points like: "Each citizen of the Solar system has the right of youth." He thinks that in distant future humanity will increase to 100-200 billion people and then we will adapt Space itself for our home, we will supply the Moon with atmosphere, we will heat up Mars and cool down Venus, we will populate the big planets and build many inhabited artificial islands in the interplanetary space. He believes that medicine will find not only a way to significantly extend human life, but also give old people back their youth. The writer
BORIS LYAPOUNOV
looks not into the vast Space, but into the ocean's bottom. Not three, but five billion people will live on Earth in 2000. How much food, products, energy will the growing society need. People will not be able the live without the oceans' gifts. And probably the treasures in the seas depths and oceans bottom will be exploited long before the practical mastering of the space. Shafts on the ocean's bottom will appear earlier than on the Moon; the underwater plantations will give crops faster than the orchards on Mars. But lets have a walk at the bottom of the ocean in the future! Different ships sailing around us: freighters and passengers underwater giants, fishing ships and whalers, automatic algae mowers, submarines for cable conveyance. Machines controlled from the surface digging sounders, extracting petrol, underground gas and different minerals. Yes, the vast oceans have their owner. Man not only extracts their tremendous gifts, but also enforces his order. He has changed the course of the underwater streams, heated the Arctic waters and changed the climate in cold areas. He breeds valuable spieces of fish, protects them from predators, feeds them and helps them inhabit new places. From the algae he extracts valuable raw materials and metals. He uses the inexhaustible energy sources, discovered in the ocean – floods, the difference between the temperatures of deep and the surface waters, from the water he extracts fuel used in the thermonuclear centrals. And now the word has the
STRUGATZKI BROTHERS
There are some people who imagine communism in a strange way: humanity stops the labor. Machines create abundance.
In the tanks for drinking water – lemonade. Or even beer. There is everything, even in unlimited quantities. There aren't impossible wishes. Mankind enjoys being sustained entirely by machines. There is nothing to wish for, nothing to dream about, and nothing to strive for. This is not communism. This is transitional tedium. Yes, there will be abundance. Yes, there will be machines – lots of intelligent machines, which will do all the unpleasant and boring jobs. We are sure – communism, this is not a greasy heaven of hungry philistines and is not a dream remoteness of a poetical bum. Communism – this is the last and eternal battle of humanity, a battle for knowledge, an infinitely difficult and interesting battle. About the future – this is not a grand asylum for invalids of the retired humanity, but millions of centuries of solving the everlasing controvercy between the eternity of the secret and the eternity of knowledge.
ANATOLY DNEPROV
Sees the success of mankind after 30- 50 years: Of course the problem with the interplanetary messages will be solved successfully. We can hope that the scientists will learn the techniques of the artificial photosynthesis and mastering the thermonuclear sources, mankind will receive the abundance of energy for all its needs. Undoubtedly the fully complex mechanization and automation will be introduced in all kinds of production. I can predict big success in the spheres of biology and medicine. The creation of a living cell in laboratory conditions will be a real revolution in science. Sadly, it can be overestimated. And it's direct results will be an abundance of food products, control over the life processes, solving the problem with longevity and the full elimination of all illnesses and disabilities. The writer
GEORGE GUREVICH
is confident in that the people from the communist society will live long, that they will enjoy their youth not only once. He thinks that in the constitution of the communist time there will be points like: "Each citizen of the Solar system has the right of youth." He thinks that in distant future humanity will increase to 100-200 billion people and then we will adapt Space itself for our home, we will supply the Moon with atmosphere, we will heat up Mars and cool down Venus, we will populate the big planets and build many inhabited artificial islands in the interplanetary space. He believes that medicine will find not only a way to significantly extend human life, but also give old people back their youth. The writer
BORIS LYAPOUNOV
looks not into the vast Space, but into the ocean's bottom. Not three, but five billion people will live on Earth in 2000. How much food, products, energy will the growing society need. People will not be able the live without the oceans' gifts. And probably the treasures in the seas depths and oceans bottom will be exploited long before the practical mastering of the space. Shafts on the ocean's bottom will appear earlier than on the Moon; the underwater plantations will give crops faster than the orchards on Mars. But lets have a walk at the bottom of the ocean in the future! Different ships sailing around us: freighters and passengers underwater giants, fishing ships and whalers, automatic algae mowers, submarines for cable conveyance. Machines controlled from the surface digging sounders, extracting petrol, underground gas and different minerals. Yes, the vast oceans have their owner. Man not only extracts their tremendous gifts, but also enforces his order. He has changed the course of the underwater streams, heated the Arctic waters and changed the climate in cold areas. He breeds valuable spieces of fish, protects them from predators, feeds them and helps them inhabit new places. From the algae he extracts valuable raw materials and metals. He uses the inexhaustible energy sources, discovered in the ocean – floods, the difference between the temperatures of deep and the surface waters, from the water he extracts fuel used in the thermonuclear centrals. And now the word has the
STRUGATZKI BROTHERS
There are some people who imagine communism in a strange way: humanity stops the labor. Machines create abundance.
In the tanks for drinking water – lemonade. Or even beer. There is everything, even in unlimited quantities. There aren't impossible wishes. Mankind enjoys being sustained entirely by machines. There is nothing to wish for, nothing to dream about, and nothing to strive for. This is not communism. This is transitional tedium. Yes, there will be abundance. Yes, there will be machines – lots of intelligent machines, which will do all the unpleasant and boring jobs. We are sure – communism, this is not a greasy heaven of hungry philistines and is not a dream remoteness of a poetical bum. Communism – this is the last and eternal battle of humanity, a battle for knowledge, an infinitely difficult and interesting battle. About the future – this is not a grand asylum for invalids of the retired humanity, but millions of centuries of solving the everlasing controvercy between the eternity of the secret and the eternity of knowledge.
