On a lighter note

[jeriendhal]

I'm re-rereading RAH's Space Cadet, and while most of it's science beyond orbital mechanics has been disproven, I just realized it managed to get one thing right that didn't exist yet when I first read it in the early 80's.

Namely, it starts with Matt standing in line and chatting with his dad on his cell phone (not called as such obviously), with his soon-to-be-friend Tex avoiding talking to his parents by conviently packing it into his suitcase. RAH doesn't go into much more detail beyond noting Matt leaving his phone behind since in orbit it would be beyond a cell tower radio relay station, but what would have been a sci-fi wonder when it was originally published wouldn't be recognized by a new reader nowadays as particularly notable.

Not bad for 1948.

Comments

[the-blue-fenix.livejournal.com]

Similarly, "Between Planets" begins with the young hero taking a 'cell' phone call while riding his horse at a youth camp. Wildly SFnal at the time, invisibly normal to kids today. (I don't remember how I took the matter when I first read the two books, 1978-ish.)

[estokien.livejournal.com]

Admittedly, not the biggest stretch in the world, considering that you already have telephones and radios. Didn't they even have those crank operated two-way radios in the military then? Wouldn't be surprised if there weren't at least speculative articles about personal portable phones back then in popular science or something. Still as you say, something future tech back then, that is old technology now.