How did Futurist L. Ron Hubbard Make Innovative Predictions Known?

By writing a series of ten science fiction books that include a plethora of innovations and predictions of the future. Of course!

Any human being smart enough to become an Eagle Scout at 13 years old, pilot motorized airplanes in their infancy, earn a license to captain any vessel at any tonnage on any ocean, write 19 New York Times bestselling books, have over 300 million books and lectures in circulation, and to have founded the only major religion of the 20th century, deserves some technical study.

Some Smart People

I’ve known some smart guys. Some off-the-charts smart guys. Like Frank Herbert (author of Dune), who talked me into running for Congress in 1978. Larry Ellison, for whom I was the one-man ad agency that took his Oracle from $15 million to over $1 billion in sales over six years. Marc Benioff, for whom my hired-gun agency did Salesforce’s advertising early on. Jeff Walker, the founder, and genius behind TenFold. And Ken Cohen, probably the single smartest guy I’ve ever known, who left Oracle to become a Rabbi. I’ve not met Elon Musk, who may be in the same sui generis¹ world as the above. And I’ve never met L. Ron Hubbard. I’ve just read his science fiction.

Hubbard, or LRH as his fans refer to him, at least through his writing, kind of eclipses these guys as one of the greatest futurists who ever put pen to paper. I’ll make my point by reviewing one of the best satire books, or ten-volume series of books, called Mission Earth.

Any entrepreneur looking for cool ideas for creating the next billion-dollar portfolio should read Hubbard’s Mission Earth “dekalogy,” as the author dubbed the series.

Prediction of the Future

In those ten science fiction books, LRH created 29 inventions, ten of which still haven’t come into existence. You can read a full list in my Amazon review of Mission Earth. Here are just the ten killer ideas that I’d love to “seed” in today’s market.

1. Hubbard invented some athletic games yet to be monetized by the Metas of the world, any one of which could put all the rest out of business.
2. Hubbard’s rock-climbing cleats, with drills in both the toes and heels (I’ll bet my buddies Bob Berger and Thomas Wilkinson, both climbers who have summited Everest, would love these).
3. He invented a “platen code” encryption system that would be unbreakable by the NSA or even some future quantum computer.
4. My personal favorite, color-programmable car paint, where you can make your car any color (or design) you choose.
5. Light-activated/color-shifting cosmetics or hair dye (my wife’s favorite).
6. Athletic eye protection with thin layers that can be peeled off after becoming pitted by sand. At least ten layers before you need to buy new goggles.
7. Paper you write on and then fold. Ten hours after it’s opened and read, the writing evaporates (perfect for prenuptial contracts you’d rather not be held to).
8. Body heat simulators to confuse infrared sensors.
9. Metal-disintegration landmines that turn anything metal into sand.
10. Ultimate 3-D rendering machines that can build homes/castles out of regular sand.

An 11th is too far out except for maybe Elon Musk to pull off: THE ULTIMATE CITY DEFENSE. Encase a city 13 minutes into the future (using a black hole??), so nobody could attack it. Lob a nuke into the location, only nothing is there. Like I said, this is too far out, so I didn’t include it in my magic ten.

The Biggest Sci-Fi Multi-cast Audiobook

The next-biggest reason to look at (or rather, listen to) Mission Earth in the near future: 120 hours of FULL-CAST audiobooks with 278 actors performing 978 characters. It’s the biggest sci-fi multi-cast audiobook ever created. Imagine 60 full-length movies playing in your head. I know it is not released yet, but rest assured, it is coming. Opt-in here if you want to be notified of its release.

If You Can’t Laugh at Yourself, Don’t Even Bother

Now for the books’ cons. If you don’t believe there is institutional organizational conspiracy afoot in corporations and the government, don’t even bother with this unadulterated (and unapologetic) satire. Ditto if you are a CIA agent, a lawyer, or are LGBTQ, and you can’t laugh at yourself. If any of the above are among your sacred cows, then Mission Earth will have the same general effect on you as an intravenous mercury injection. You will have serious and possibly permanent brain damage.

Voltaire’s Candid and Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 (two classic books with satire) entertained everybody but the object of their humor. As Hubbard pointed out in his preface to Volume 1, a satire about communists will be enjoyed by everyone but communists.

Caveat emptor.²

^1. sui generis: Constituting a class alone, unique.

^2. caveat emptor: From Latin “buyer beware.” The principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made.