# Jules Verne--Good Golly! What brilliance! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435 "2004-10-15T19:35:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/1 "2004-10-15T19:35:22Z")
From [Here](http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4041&n=2). This is absolutely amazing! I’ve always wondered how modern sci-fi technologies will pan out. Is The Enterprise even possible, let alone a United Earth & Federation of Planets? Could interstellar travel be mastered to the extent shown in Star Wars, where even a vagabond smuggler like Han Solo can have a bitchin’ hyperspace ride? This story of the Camera-Phone, while clearly inaccurate with the specifications of the gadget, is brilliantly explored with near dead-on accuracy! Simply amazing…… ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/2 "2004-10-15T19:40:28Z")
I can’t decide if this is real or if I’m being wooshed. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sweetums](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sweetums](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweetums)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/3 "2004-10-15T19:42:25Z")
> [@dotchan](#): > > I can’t decide if this is real or if I’m being wooshed. ☹ I can’t either… ``` Inigo, you do realize that this is from "The Onion" right? ``` :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/4 "2004-10-15T23:03:31Z")
This being an Onion piece, I’m willing to bet it’s hooey. However, Verne was particularly good at predicting which technologies would prove useful. His recenty-discovered _Paris in the Twentieth Century_ (written in 1863, set in 1960) described things we’d recognize as credit cards, fax machines, el trains, automobiles, etc. He didn’t actually invent the submarine, though. ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/5 "2004-10-15T23:18:58Z")
Why are you guys acting surprised? I mean, this was the guy who wrote the visionary masterpiece _Le Joueur MP3_, after all. No one saw _that_ coming except ol’ Jules. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/6 "2004-10-15T23:51:15Z")
And not just _Le Jouer MP3_ (subtitled _80,000 Songs On My iPod_), either. Here’s a bit from _The Mysterious Island_: > [@](#): > > Cyrus Harding stood back from his work and asked who among his compatriates would like to be first to try out his ingenious new device. > > “I don’t trust it,” said Pencroft. “Some things were meant to have human intervention! The first man who tries to make me conduct a transaction with some ‘mechanical servant’ will have a surprise coming his way, I tell you!” > > “Come now, Pencroft” said Gideon Spilett, showing his journalistic curiosity once again. “I’ll give it a go, Harding, if you’ll just show me how it works.” > > With that, Cyrus Harding produced a tiny card from his vest pocket and handed it to Spilett. It was fashioned from a clamshell, with a thin black stripe along its back edge. “I magnetized the strip with iron filings I found from the northwest edge of the mountain.” He handed Spilett a fountain pen fashioned from a bamboo reed, boar entrails, and the ink of a giant squid. “You’ll have to sign the back of it first.” > > “Ingenious!” Spillett exclaimed. > > “Now insert the card into this slot, and choose a language.” > > Pencroft scoffed. “I’d say good American English, yes?” All the gentleman had a good laugh at the clever retort. > > “Now, enter your PIN number and choose an amount you’d like to withdraw. Within seconds…” > > Gideon Spilett looked on with amazement as freshly-printed bills appeared in the device’s crude withdrawal slot. “By the grace of God!” > > For the first time, Harding seemed to show pride in his work. “I fashioned a simple printing press using some boulders from The Chimneys and engraving plates made from whalebone and monkey snot. Developing the liquid crystal display was slightly more complex…” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/7 "2004-10-16T00:12:09Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > "Now, enter your PIN number Ah, la redundancie juste. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/8 "2004-10-16T04:31:14Z")
Ladies and gentleman, a _real_ [prediction of television](http://www.tvhistory.tv/1940_Televisions_1st_Year-Pg8.JPG), from the early 1880s. [Television as imagined in the 1890s.](http://www.tvhistory.tv/1890s_TV_Card.jpg) [Another](http://www.tvhistory.tv/1900-Paris-Expo-Trade-Card.jpg), from 1900. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/9 "2004-10-16T21:50:28Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Ah, la redundancie juste. Mais bien sur! What else would you type into an ATM machine, if not your PIN number? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/10 "2004-10-16T22:26:04Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > Mais bien sur! What else would you type into an ATM machine, if not your PIN number? Some other number number! ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/11 "2004-10-17T02:15:55Z")
Dammit, I was hoping this would be a serious Jules Verne thread so I could gush. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/12 "2004-10-17T13:26:59Z")
😃 > [@ErinPuff](#): > > Dammit, I was hoping this would be a serious Jules Verne thread so I could gush. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/13 "2004-10-17T15:49:52Z")
…to elaborate, the OP is a vague invitation to discuss Verne and his ilk and the success with which the future has been predicted by ancient sci-fi authors. Obviously, this point was clear only to me, and only guessed by some. That’s my fault, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/14 "2004-10-17T17:26:03Z")
If the flavorfully vegetative origins of this piece weren’t enough to convince you, you should at least have noticed that the inventor’s name is a French rendering of a major manufacturer of cell phones. But on to the gushing: It’s been said that the quickest way to teach an English boy French is to give him a copy of _Around the World in 80 Days_, with only the first half translated. So engrossing is the story, that he’ll learn fluent French just to finish it. I can believe it, too. On the other hand, > [@](#): > > His recenty-discovered Paris in the Twentieth Century (written in 1863, set in 1960) described things we’d recognize as credit cards, fax machines, el trains, automobiles, etc. The el trains and possibly the cars are recognizable, but the fax machines only barely so (they filled a room and were entirely mechanical). And I don’t remember anything about credit cards at all. Then you also have all the things he predicted which have not come to pass, like the multi-purpose appliance, which serves as a piano, a living room set, a commode, and a kitchen. Still, though, one must admit that he’s done a considerably better job of prediction than most. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/15 "2004-10-17T20:38:39Z")
> [@Inigo Montoya](#): > > …to elaborate, the OP is a vague invitation to discuss Verne and his ilk and the success with which the future has been predicted by ancient sci-fi authors. Obviously, this point was clear only to me, and only guessed by some. That’s my fault, of course. Oh no you don’t. You were caught! Ha! I keep a list of people who thought Onion articles were real and laugh myself to sleep at night while reading it :D. By the way, what’s an el train? I always thought people were saying L train, as in “I didn’t want to walk all the way to the M train.” ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/16 "2004-10-17T21:10:34Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > By the way, what’s an el train? I always thought people were saying L train, as in “I didn’t want to walk all the way to the M train.” The “el” is short for “elevated.” [Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevated_train). ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/17 "2004-10-17T21:15:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > the multi-purpose appliance, which serves as … a commode, and a kitchen. That can NOT be a good combination!! ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/18 "2004-10-17T23:05:24Z")
The [facsimile machine](http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story051.htm) as it existed in Jules Verne’s day. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/19 "2004-10-17T23:10:54Z")
More on the [pantelegraph](http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~eugeniik/history/caselli.html) that probably inspired Verne. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435/20 "2004-10-18T00:17:03Z")
Despite any articles by The Onion or others, Verne did a good job at extrapolation, as I’ve noted on this Board before. My best example – in **Robur the COnqueror** he has his genius’ heavier-than-air craft built not out of metal, but out of _composites_. I am truly impressed. The idea was so far ahead of its time that a reviewer inthe _1960s_ referred to it as “a kind of plastic” (which it isn’t). Verne also gave us survival suits for shipwreck victims (in \*\* Tribulations of a Chinaman\*\*, the use of Radio to call for distress (in **The Barsab Mission** ), the Submarine, the Tractor Beam (in **The Hunt for the Meteor** ), Television (in **Castle in the Carpatians** and **Today and Tomorrow** ), and a great many other things. Many of these were the result of careful research (the composite airship material, for instance, and most of the Nautilus’ technology. And Verne knew about Stringfellow’s heavier-than-air flight experiments, because he cites them.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jules-verne-good-golly-what-brilliance/269435.md?page=2)