The space travel thing didn't turn out as they guess, but on the other hand we now have regular cheap plane travel -- an ordinary guy can hop on a plane from Europe to New York without breaking the bank.

Not to mention the fact that you can even read what I am writing -- thousands of miles away, after it has been beamed through space and traveled under the Atlantic. Aside from This Perfect Day I don't know any science fiction which deals with an extensive communication network like that. And even in that book it was strictly used to control and lord over the citizens.