Tim travels back to the robot-filled future of 1957
I’M STILL NOT sure what I think about the novel – it has uncomfortable echoes of Lolita – but Robert A Heinlein’s The Door into Summer is a curious read for technogeeks. Published in 1957, it sets out Heinlein’s vision for two futures: the first in 1970, the second in 2000. Our protagonist is an inventor who has created a domestic robot, but who is forced by his conniving business partners to take the “long sleep” – being cryogenically frozen for 30 years – so they can take charge of the company. You could easily argue that it’s one of the world’s most influential books when it comes to shaping technology. It was certainly one of the inspirations behind Chuck Peddle’s creation of the 6502 processor: Peddle had been a key…