[wpietri]

And for me there's a lesson there. When setting out to build something, it can be worth starting our thinking with a user-driven fantasy, ignoring technical possibility. Over time, what we make converges on what our customers secretly wanted all along.

Sure, you have to be practical to get something out the door, but I think it's worth starting from the vision. Interestingly, the things that let the Kindle crush its competitors were even more magical than Lem's vision. Instead of physical tokens containing books, the Kindle gave you near-instant access to hundreds of thousands of books.

[V-2]

> When setting out to build something, it can be worth starting our thinking with a user-driven fantasy, ignoring technical possibility

That's why Wells (time machine etc. aside) scored some more accurate predictions than Verne, who was much more inclined to stay in the realm of "scientifically conceivable" by the standards of the era.

[HONEST_ANNIE]

This was true until Verne's 'Paris in the Twentieth Century' was published. It changed everything.

It was Verne's lost novel, written in 1863, published 1994. It was not published because his publisher thought it was too unbelievable and would not sell.

It's a dystopian and dark novel describing a technological civilization in 1960's. It predicts cultural and technological details correct constantly. It's one of the most accurate sci-fi novels ever written. Television, gasoline powered cars, automated systems, suburban sprawls, financial industry, fax machines, synthesizer, subways, women in a working force, skyscrapers, weapons of mass destruction, mass education, ...

[divs1210]

Wow, thanks for sharing this!