Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: Predictions Of The Future

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Predictions of the future can be far-fetched, or even inconceivable, while others are accurate and plausible. Still, others are only partially true. Ray Bradbury has some of each of these types of predictions of the future in his novel Fahrenheit 451. Even though the novel itself was first published in 1951, Bradbury still manages to predict several technologies and aspects of society that did not become a reality until much later. Set in a dystopian society, his novel creates a world startlingly similar to our own. Although he did not foresee all aspects of society perfectly, Ray Bradbury was closely accurate with many of his predictions of the future in his novel Fahrenheit 451. One aspect of future society that Ray Bradbury was correct …show more content…

We as a whole have become more remote from each other, and choose to engage in technology rather than in other people. Flashgap, a popular photo-sharing program, conducted a survey about technology interfering with human interaction. They found that eighty-seven percent of a group of young adults said they had not engaged in a conversation because their cell phone was a distraction (Saiidi). Technology is causing people to be less interactive with each other. This is present in Fahrenheit 451 as well. Mildred is constantly drawn to the television and chooses to engage in it rather than …show more content…

Books are less common today than they were in the past. Fewer people read for pleasure now that technology is present. One study that shows that today, less than half of seventeen year olds read for pleasure more than once or twice a year. However, sixty-four percent of teens of the same age said they read at least once per week in the year 1984 (Alter). This only goes to show that technology is taking up more of people’s time for reading and other activities that were popular in the past. Overall, books are not as popular now as they once were.
Ray Bradbury has many correct predictions of the future in his novel Fahrenheit 451, including some pertaining to technology and societal behaviors. These predictions are quite impressive, considering the fact that technology was a relatively new idea when Bradbury published this novel. Nevertheless, some of his predictions were wrong or only partially correct. These predictions consist of the banning of books and declining emphasis on the English and the arts in education. Overall, Ray Bradbury’s prediction of the future through his novel Fahrenheit 451 is strikingly similar to the society we live in

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