FH: Schöne Grüße aus der Zukunft

[Max Sinister]

Probably I'll be the only one who read that book by Fredrik Hetmann (who sadly died on June 1st ) and Harald Tondern, but I wanted it to be mentioned.

The second part of the book (written in 1991) is FH, and plays in the year 2010. Reading the predictions now that this year is coming near is quite interesting; the details are pretty off, but some of the more general are right; here's a more or less complete list:

- Unemployment is still rising (at least in Germany)
- Multinational firms have become so mighty that they can prevent political parties they don't like (lefts and greens) from coming to power
- Shopping malls are becoming bigger and bigger and have reached the size of city quarters
- Firms influence the productivity of their workers with a kind of subliminal messages (not visual, but audial in this case)
- There's only one airport per country left, and one intercontinental airport per continent (in Europe, it's Paris)
- Parts of Europe (Lappland, the Peloponnes and Ireland) essentially become giant nature parks, by decision of the European government
- Many big cities are partly covered by giant transparent domes
- Great engineering projects, like building a tunnel under the Himalaya and a bridge from Alaska and Siberia (he never writes it explicitly, but it seems that TTL PR China has opened more to the west, as happened since 1991 IOTL too)
- The new invention that changed music isn't the iPod or the file sharing networks, but the Brain Music Master: By reading your brain waves, it can create the music you're thinking of in that very moment.
- The Green movement in Germany never was part of the government; instead, they concentrate on forming zones for alternative lifestyles - whole city quarters where only Greens live and make their own decisions independantly from the government. (Imagine direct democracy.)

[birdy]

why would there be only 1 airport per country and 1 international airport per continent?

[Max Sinister]

After a big accident (the air controller in JFK went on strike, and three jumbo-jets collided in the air), the states decided to completely reorganize air traffic.

[Readman]

re-organise as in nationalize, or as in "Reaganize" (send in the troops!)

[edvader]

Is it available anywhere?Would like to give it a try.

[Max Sinister]

amazon, I'd say. Can you read German?

[edvader]

I do a little.Read French a little better, though.Thanks.