<title>In the Future</title> <cite><a href="./">Cosma</a></cite> <h1>In the Future</h1> <cite><A HREF="Daedalus.html">Daedalus, or, Science and the Future</A></cite>by J. B. S. Haldane. <br><cite><A HREF="Icarus.html">Icarus, or, the Future of Science</A></cite> byBertrand Russell. <P>These books were written in 1923. Haldane, a distinguished biochemist andevolutionist, originally wrote <cite>Daedalus</cite> as a lecture to aCambridge club known as the ``Heretics'', and later expanded it forpublication.  <cite>Icarus</cite> was the response evoked from BertrandRussell, one of the greatest philosophers of the century.  As John Brunnerpointed out in an article in the <cite>New Scientist</cite> in 1993, these twobooks, together with the physicist J. D. Bernal's <cite><A HREF="Bernal/">TheWorld, the Flesh and the Devil,</A></cite> inspired two generations of sciencefiction writers, including Mr. Brunner's own <cite>Stand on Zanzibar.</cite> Itis easy to see why: despite the passing of three generations, the futures theysuggest remain vivid and plausible; in some aspects, arguably, actual.  It is aremarkable and somewhat disquieting achievement. <P>A word about copyright.  Both were copyrighted by the publishing firmE. P. Dutton, <cite>Daedalus</cite> in 1923 and <cite>Icarus</cite> in 1924.  Ican find no record of this copyright being renewed when it expired, 28 yearslater. By then they were two decades out of print.  Nor, apparently, wascopyright transferred to either Haldane or Russell.  As far as I can determine,these texts are public domain.