Ray Bradbury’s prediction of the future, as foretold in Fahrenheit 451, has in many ways come true although some parts are clearly exaggerated for dramatic effect. His book wasn’t meant to foretell the exact details; I think it was written to warn us about our habits before they take a darker turn. For the most part, he nailed it. Many parts of our society such as wireless technology, education, and our obsessions with screens are strangely similar to the world he created.
An example of this is the ubiquitous “seashell” earbuds. Bradbury described this invention before the technology ever existed, and today, we have wireless earbuds everywhere. I rarely go out without seeing people walking around with earbuds in their ears, living in their own world. I even catch myself doing this; whenever I’m out for a walk or at the gym I use my earbuds to block out the world. Bradbury warned us about “seashells” making people become isolated, and it looks like he wasn’t too wrong about it (91).
Secondly, Bradbury talked about the nature of education and violence among adolescents, which sadly has come true. Clarisse said, “I’m afraid of children my own age. They kill each other.” This is terrifying, but could be something said about teenagers nowadays. So far this year, there have been 58 school shootings, 28 students killed and 72 injured, according CNN.com. School violence and kids killing each other is something that sounds similar to today’s school shootings (29).
Another “prophecy” which hits close to home is our obsession with screens. Bradbury’s walls for entertainment are not exactly what we have now, but the idea isn’t that far from reality. Today we’re constantly surrounded by screens: TVs, phones, laptops, tablets. My family doesn’t have a screen on every wall but we have a TV in each bedroom which adds up to 4 in the house (43). The days I spend glued to my phone watching tik toks and videos it’s easy to see how Bradbury might have seen this as a way to escape reality. It’s like Mildred from the book, who constantly watches TV to avoid dealing with the real world. Sometimes I feel that way too, using screens to avoid boredom.
However, there’s one huge difference between Bradbury’s world and ours: the complete censorship of books. While it’s true that some books are restricted in some places, we’re far away from Bradbury’s society. I’d say that more people than ever have easy access to books thanks to audiobooks and ebooks. Despite Bradbury predicting one event wrong he had the majority of the future right. Something that’s insane to think about, is that the book was written 1953 and to be able to foretell so much of the future, must mean he was an extraordinary man. I don’t think he aimed to get every detail right but to show how technology could change us, and to be fair he has a point.
