Futility story
A man invents a machine that predicts future events with uncanny accuracy.
10 total · 5 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| friendship | major | The story followed the two old college pals, Kenneth and Tom. |
| one cannot cheat fate | major | Tom was resigned to the fact that he was fated to die in an automobile accident on the day of December 10th. Of this he was convinced because his predictograph machine had predicted it. And lo and behold it came to pass. |
| speculative prediction of the future | major | Central to the story is a machine capable of predicting future events with 100% accuracy. |
| speculative technology | major | Central to the story is a machine capable of predicting future events with 100% accuracy. |
| what if I caught a glimpse of the future | major | Tom and Bob invented a machine, which they dubbed the “predictograph”, that could predict a given future event with perfect accuracy by analyzing data from multiple relevant variables. |
| dumb blonde stereotype | minor | Tom opined that his of his inept, blond haired secretary Mabel had "blond hair inside her skull instead of brains". |
| engaged couple | minor | Bob got engaged to Mabel and the pair planned to honeymoon in Hawaii. |
| romantic love | minor | Bob and Mabel fell in love and became engaged. |
| what if I suddenly got some free money | minor | Kenneth was astounded to learn that he'd been named the sole heir of sole heir of a recently deceased friend who was worth about twenty million dollars. |
| World War I | minor | Bob was exempted from serving in this war owing to his poor eyesight, Kenneth because he had flat feet. |