What science fiction writers get wrong is at least as important as what they get right, argued legendary physicist Lawrence Krauss in his talk at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Chicago. In particular, H.G. Wells predicted the atomic bomb — but he made a crucial error.
According to Red Orbit, Krauss talked about H. G. Wells’ novel The World Set Free, “which is often
quoted as a prophetic book”:
The novel was published in 1914 and
anticipated the development of atomic weapons that would be used in war.
Decades before they became a harsh reality in the modern world — and
perhaps influencing some of the scientists who created the real weapons —
the novel coined the term “atomic bombs.”
“Nevertheless not only did Wells’ continually burning atomic weapons
bear no resemblance to the engines of destruction in the real world,”
Krauss emphasized, “he thought it would unite the world into one society
whereas we are painfully aware that it hasn’t changed human thinking,
except to divide the world into nuclear haves and have-nots.”
“Nevertheless it is instructive, and fun, to compare the ‘science’ of
science fiction with that of the real world,” said Krauss, who also is
the director of the Origins Project
at ASU. “Rather than dwelling on things that don’t work, it is fun to
explore closely related things in the real world that might work.”
