Bradbury's 2009

"I remember the newspapers dying like huge moths. No one wanted them back. No one missed them."

I find it fascinating that Ray Bradbury predicted the "fall of newspapers" in 1953 with the publication of Fahrenheit 451. In his futuristic world, reading a book comes with the punishment of having your house burned. Living rooms are four-walled TVs that hold captive the mental capacities of adults and children alike. And when families aren't glued to their parlor screens, they're listening to earplugs that feed them constant entertainment in the form of music, stories and social broadcasts.

"People don't talk about anything."
"Oh, they must!"
"No, not anything. They name a lot of cars or clothes or swimming pools mostly and say how swell! But they all say the same things and nobody says anything different from anyone else."

Bradbury was a wise, wise man. If you were to talk to him today, I'm sure he would be horrified by how near-accurate his futuristic society has become. While I don't think we're headed for disaster and newspapers certainly aren't going anywhere just yet, we, as a society, should heed his warnings and take a look at the world around us every now and then.