A science fiction writer predicted the rise of social media in 1977



Although science fiction (SF) is purely fictional,

the technologies depicted in SF works can become reality , so there are cases where the French Army has hired SF writers , and Microsoft has invited SF writers to its research facilities and disclosed the results of their research . As an example of such SF writers predicting the future, the foreign media Open Culture points out that a SF writer active in the late 20th century 'predicted the rise of social media' in 1977.

Sci-Fi Author JG Ballard Predicts the Rise of Social Media (1977) | Open Culture
https://www.openculture.com/2024/05/sci-fi-author-jg-ballard-predicts-the-rise-of-social-media.html



J. G. Ballard, a Shanghai-born British author, is known for leading the artistic and experimental new wave of science fiction , arguing that 'SF should aim for inner space rather than outer space.' Ballard is also known as an excellent futurist, and was a visionary who anticipated the cyberpunk of the 1980s, as represented by William Gibson , and explored the computerized society that French philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard called the ' postmodern condition ,' Open Culture said.

Apart from depicting futuristic worlds in his works, Ballard has also made predictions about the future in various interviews, some of which have been collected in a collection called ' Extreme Metaphors: Selected Interviews With JG Ballard ' as being 'eerily accurate.'



Ballard often made predictions about the internet in his work and in interviews, but in a 1977 magazine essay he detailed the rise of social media and its impact on our lives: 'In the future of technology, each of us is both a leading and a supporting actor,' Ballard wrote.

'Everything we do throughout the day, every aspect of our home life, is instantly recorded on videotape. In the evening, we pore over the footage, which has been sifted through by a computer. The computer selects only our best profiles, our wittiest lines, and our most moving facial expressions, and stitches them together to recreate the events of the day.
Every home will be transformed into its own television studio. We will all be simultaneously actors, directors and writers of our own soap operas. People will screen themselves, and the surrounding environment and characters will become cast members in their own television shows.
Regardless of the family hierarchy, we enjoy the images from within our own rooms, each one as the protagonist in a constant domestic drama, with parents, husbands, wives, and children relegated to appropriate supporting roles.'



Though Ballard is coming at it from a visual perspective, Open Culture points out that this description 'almost perfectly captures the behavior of the average Facebook or Instagram user.' Also in the same year, Ballard wrote a short story called 'The Intensive Care Unit,' which depicts a world reminiscent of social media interactions, where 'ordinances are enacted that prohibit people from meeting in person, and all interactions are conducted through personal cameras and television screens.'



In a 2003 interview, Ballard said of the post-internet world he predicted, 'Now, everyone can record themselves in ways that were unthinkable 30 to 50 years ago. I think this reflects people's extreme craving for 'reality,' that is, normal reality. It's very hard to find 'reality' because the environment is completely manufactured.' Ballard predicted that the spread of SNS-like culture is due to a 'loss of reality,' and as a dark side of the modern world that has become like this, he said, 'In the media, it is almost impossible to distinguish fact from fiction. The dark side of having an online self is that when you compare your online self with others, an increased sense of inferiority spreads among young people.'

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