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The Third Millennium:
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As a work of future-history, this is still perhaps one of the better books around, even if new breakthroughs in technology and concepts such as nanotech have rendered it somewhat dated
I picked a copy of this book in the Sidgwick & Jackson, Hardback in a second hand shop a long time ago, before I seriously returned to science fiction. I have always been interested in futurism, and found the concepts very well thought out; the quality of the graphics however were variable. There is a hologram stick to the cover (Until writing this review I thought it was supposed to be a mirror; something along the lines of - the future is you, or what you make it :-)
Brian Stableford began this book as a work of futurology with a biological and sociological emphasis, to which David Langford contributed chapters of related speculation about physics and technology. The setting is on the whole very optimistic, especially compared to the more dystopian Cyberpunk and Post-Apocalyptic genres, but in keeping with the essential optimism that is at the heart of much of the "Old School" of SF
The book tells, in pseudo-documentary format, the history of the next thousand years; diovided into several chapters reperesenting major developments (the Period of Crisis (2000 - 2180), The Period of Recovery (2180 to 2400, the Period of Transformation (2400 to 2650), the Creation of the New World (2600-3000). Classic futuristic OA-esque themes were covered, such as space exploration and interstellar colonisation, life-extension, and the cladization of the human race.
After the initial inevitable near-future eco-catastrophes and wars (Age of Crisis), there emerges a Period of Recover in which the global ecological management is established, and permanent peace secured. According to the authors, sophisticated techniques of genetic engineering would make large-scale ecological management feasible, while facilitating such a dramatic expansion of the human lifespan as to make long-term planning an existential necessity (Stableford has since based a number of short stories and a series of novels on the theme of life extension through gene engineering). The book does not explain how these things came about as well as the authors would have liked, because the book's editor dumbed it down (including cutting about 25,000 words from the original typescript) to make it more reader-friendly [see Interview: Brian Stableford by Cheryl Morgan [extrenal link]]
When I was trying to create the background to the OA universe, that I returned to this book in search of ideas and inspiration. I found that, post-Vingularity-meme assimilation, the book is a lot less impressive, and feels a lot more dated.
For one thing, the technology curve is frankly unrealistic. For example, the chapter 36 - the Diversification of Man - describes the origin of new human clades, and served as a central inspiration for the Space Humans, Merpeople, and Sapient Chimps. But although there it takes place in the 26th century, the technology seems little better than what we have today - a common problem with SF writers prior to the Vingean revolution and new wave of "hard SF" writers.
Very little emphasis is given to artificial intelligence (there are a few pages copvering this topic and the short-lived development of artificial men in the early 24th century), and of course virtual reality was still unknown (yet another example of fact overtaking, and being stranger than, fiction). However copies and personality-agents (Personality Analogue Transfer) are used from the 25th century to get around the light lag in interplanetary communication
For all its weaknesses, this book is still an important source of ideas, and would be of use to the worldbuilder or future-historian. It is also full of great ideas that can be adapted for OA, as well as a few that already have been
Publishing Information:
Publication Date - First Edition: 1985
Publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson, London
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 0283992115
Page Count: 224
Availability: Out of print
Publication Date - First Trade Paperback Edition: 1988
Publisher: Paladin, London
Format: B-format paperback
ISBN: 0586085955
Page Count: 318
Availability: From David Langford
Links:
Interview: Brian Stableford by Cheryl Morgan
Related Pages:
Non-Fiction Futurism applicable to Orion's Arm
