See the essay "As We May Think:" http://web.mit.edu/STS.035/www/PDFs/think.pdf
An article summarizing it: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/10/11/vannevar_bush_s_1945_essay_as_we_may_think_on_information_overload_curation.html People often anticipate technology long before it becomes possible to make it. In some cases we anticipate -- or at least imagine -- things which are probably impossible, such as time machines and faster-than-light travel. Some people did anticipate cold fusion. That is to say safe, cheap, radiation-free nuclear energy. The existence of Pu-238 showed that it might be possible. They had no idea how it might be achieved. Indeed, it was unimaginable to everyone except Martin Fleischmann. In one of her novels, Ayn Rand described a small power generator that produced only electricity, with no smoke or fuel. I assume she had in mind some sort of nuclear reactor. I did not think much of her books, but this detail sticks in my mind. When I read it I dismissed the idea because I thought that all forms of useful nuclear energy generated dangerous radiation and required more shielding than the gadget she described. - Jed
