Friday 8 November 2013

Fiction And Non-Fiction

I have found two germs of Poul Anderson's fiction in his non-fiction work, Thermonuclear Warfare (Derby, Connecticut, 1963).

First, the suggestion that nuclear powers might avoid damage to their homelands by waging nuclear war on neutral ground or in outer space:

"Limited thermonuclear contests for limited objectives might be fought in the Sahara Desert or beyond the moon." (p. 76)

This is the short story, "Kings Who Die."

Secondly, Anderson notes that governments and corporations  increasingly use systems analysis, games theory and operations research to plan "...five to ten years ahead." (p. 85)

He adds that:

"New [intellectual tools] may be added in future." (ibid.)

This is the science of man as developed in the Psychotechnic History and Planet Of No Return.

I am only about half way through the book so will look out for more fiction-nonfiction parallels.

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