The Cassandra Syndrome, or, How Not to be a Futurologist

Ian Tregillis introduces Peter Swirski’s lecture: The Cassandra Syndrome, or, How Not to be a Futurologist.

From the game of polo to cloning, from Hugo Gernsback to Stanislaw Lem, from predictions of future past to snapshots of contemporary reality, Peter Swirski will take science fiction at face value and evaluate its claims to being a reliable tool of futurology. On the way, he’ll take a look at such wonders as cavorite, tape recorders, juke boxes, submarines, colour photography, miniature television, vagaries of fashion, and not least the dissolution of the Soviet Union, before lingering over the scientific hits and misses in the works of his dear friend, and arguably greatest science fiction author ever: Stanislaw Lem.