Hungarian-British electrical engineer and physicist, most notable for inventing holography, for which he later received the 1971 Nobel Prize in Physics. Gabor was born as Günszberg Dénes, into a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary. In 1918, his family converted to Lutheranism. In 1902, the family received permission to change their surname from Günszberg to Gábor.
Interesting book from a scientist writing for a popular audience. Needs to be read in context of its time - when Cold War and eugenics were prominent themes. Some arguments about leisure and overpopulation still relevant today. Gabor's enthusiasm for science fiction adds to enjoyment as well.
Gabor’s is one of the earliest uses of the phrase “Inventing the Future.” He puts it’s first use, in the endnotes, as occuring in an issue of “Encounter,” the CIA psyop magazine, by a friend of his.
This book has about one good chapter. The rest is pretty racist, and very concerned with the malthusian “population bomb.”
Written in the mid sixties is an amazing philosophical discussion on what the future holds, and argues why. This is a book that helps form how we think as a society, the dangers of life without an occupation. The arguments seem to be equally valid today, despite the huge technological advances of the last half century. A must-read for the thinking man.