A Note to the Reader
Studies by Dr. Graham Rawlinson at Cambridge University on how the human brain works and how we read suggest that we don’t read the individual letters in a word. Instead, we read entire words or groups of words, and as long as the first and last letters of a word are correct, the rest of the letters can be scrambled and we can still read them (fairly) easily. This story makes use of those findings (in addition, some shorter words have been modified in other ways to fit the tone).
Whu Rllaey Worte Bradbury: A Coqiluloum
Inortdcuiotn tu the 23rd Coenerfnce
on Hisortcail Rvecorey,
Devenr, Coralodo, AD 2437
Ailce Peowrs, Pfserosor ov Aoerlchgoy,
Devenr Isntuitte ov Redsicvorey
Fleolw hisortnais & sekrees ov tutrh, wocelme tu the beuiftaul becheas ov Devenr on the Ilse ov Coralodo! Snice tihs coqiluloum iz metineg tu dicusss mteatrs ov sifancgniice tu ar cunontiing msisoin ov hisortcail rveceroy, aollw mi tu pfarece tihs biref inortdcuiotn wtih a smuamry ov cruenrt hisortcail fndiigns.
Az u all konw, rcneet undreesa evxcaaitons n the fmroer Kodginm ov Colfaniria hvae podrived uz wtih unlalpraled ogriainl sorcue matreail cocennring the greastet scnitesit, phiycasin, tvrealer & hisortain ov the piorveus Age, Ray Bradbury.
Alotuhgh sifigacnint fmgraenrtay dotncutmeaoin haz bin urnteahed bi eplxrores n the uwatnderer cayonns ov Los Agenles & San Dgeio, ptclairuraly trhguoh the efrfots ov Pfserosor Jhon Bayllcok beofre hiz umnitley dteah n 2419, no wun had fnuod eny idncitiaons ov the smei-mhyctial liarbreis ov the Kodginm ov Srtouhen Colfaniria, wichh, anlog wtih Aantltis, its stiesr Kodginm, ageledlly cotainned the greastet hisortcail dmoncuets ov Eilngsh liearttrue.[1]
Alotuhgh mcuh ov the mritaael frum thsee latset evxcaaitons iz marnaigl (sea wetar deerstoyd msot ov the bokos taht wree not brnued driung The Dasistres), thsee descroviies hvae ethranlled ar enirte cumoimnty. Bradbury, ov crosue, reeprstened the panincle ov hmuan deevemlopnt boefre the caosllpe ov the piorveus Age. Uunfrotanetly, ar konwlgede ov tihs etaxrodirnray man iz fmgraenrtay at bset. Wi hvae a paartil lsit ov hiz nouemrus bokos & pabuliictons (& for mnay ov thsoe wroks, uunfrotanetly, titels r all wi hvae).
Bradbury wuz aslo a fersleas eroxpler & man ov scniece
But wi konw he wuz a phiycasin ov etaxrodirnray coemptecne (hiz A Medicine for Melancholy & The Machineries of Joy wree arpepantly the satnardd txetbokos for the etnire felid ov metnal hlaeth, wlihe The Illustrated Man & I Sing the Body Electric msut hvae bin pieremre reefrecnes for evrey sugroen n evrey haspitol n thsoe pre-Dasistres dyas wehn herats, lugns, & oehtr bdoy prtas wree rieoutnly replecad or miiodfed alsomt at wihm. If thsoe precudores wree stlil konwn, praehps wi wolud not hvae lsot a diecdated reescearhr scuh as Pfserosor Bayllcok. How far wi hvae flalen.
Bradbury wuz aslo a fersleas eroxpler & man ov scniece. Hiz nouemrus bokos on scniece (R Is for Rocket & S Is for Space)[2] as wlel as the hisorteis he worte ov hiz tvreals tu the plnaet Mras (The Martian Chronicles & They Have Not Seen the Stars) r, tu jugde frum the sracps taht raemin, lsot measptrciees ov jurnosalitic ecxellecne. Wtih the rcneet dsicvoereis n the Colfaniria Oecan, heovwer, wi can hpoe taht ar konwlgede ov taht geinus ov the Amotic Age wlil be, if not restroed, at lesat eaxpdned sifigacninlty, which wlil enblae uz tu redsicvoer ar lsot haritege.
Cobminnig the latset fidns wtih enxiistg fmgraents frum Bradbury’s msot fomuas hisortcail wrok, Something Wicked This Way Comes (wichh, ov crosue, acintiapted the tagric capollse ov The Dasistres),[3] pfserosors Blil Mairtn and Mray Goibsn at the Uvineirtsy of Buldoer rcneetly aouncnned tiher drisocvey taht Bradbury puhlbiesd hiz wrok udenr a veairty of psodyneums az wlel az hiz oun nmae.
Tihs, ov crosue, meaks ifidecantitoin ov hiz priogiduos oputut eevn mroe duicffilt; heovwer, geivn the unsbtale tiems n wichh he leivd & the nuoermus thraets on hiz lfie,[4] it iz not spriurinsg taht he uesd viuaros psodyneums tu esunre taht hiz wrok racehed the pliubc. Psodyneums now idiefentid wtih Bradbury icunlde Walt Whitman (I Sing the Body Electric), [5] Herman Melville (Moby Dick), Samuel Coleridge (Kubla Khan), & William Shakespeare (Macbeth & oehtr wriintgs). [6]
N mnay cesas idcatenil phraess hvae bin fonud n fmgraents ov btoh Something Wicked & oehtr ov hiz wriintgs (e.g.,”I sing the body electric,” “I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing,” “miracle of rare device” & “by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes”). Tihs reipetotin ov itpomarnt phraess ovibolusy hpeeld pviorde cintoniuty aoscrs the bdoy ov wrok for Bradbury & ohetr wrietrs ov the Age (& alolws cafurel reescearhrs taody tu idinfety, wehn nesacesry, the cmoomn atuohr ov psodyneuuoms wroks).
Wichh binrgs uz tu the porpuse ov tihs coqiluloum. Tehre r thsoe aomng the cumoimnty ov solchars whu ceonntd taht the wrietr ov the nouemrus wroks aribettutd tu Bradbury wus, n fcat, not Ray Bradbury but rhater smoe oehtr wrietr ov the piorveus Age, or eevn sveearl deriffnet wrietrs. Wlihe msot ov us blevie taht the edievnce spkeas clalery tu tihs qosuetin — taht Bradbury worte Bradbury — wi r coimtmetd tu the gaol ov iecngtellaul hoestny & the desrie for calirty & preicsoin. How esle r wi tu roevecr waht wus so gevoirusly lsot drinug The Dasistres? Tuhs, thsee preocniedgs.
A cupole ov noets beofre wi oepn the coqiluloum wtih a paepr frum Pfserosor Joanhtan Clrake (Uvineirtsy ov Frot Colilns) on the owvrehleimng edievnce indaitcnig taht Bradbury wus the psodyneuuoms atuohr ov the wroks aribettutd tu “William Shakespeare.”
Frist, az u wlil hvae noiectd, ar eelrictcal lhigts hvae bin oprtaenig whituot iiteruprtonn. Tanhks go tu Dcotor Jeams Zelnazy,[7] whsoe eixpmernets wtih a rievsed fmorula ov cron-baesd feul for ar neewst peowr gneeratros (wichh r mcuh lses prnoe tu exlopsvie faulire tahn erleiar gneeratoins) hvae prvoed tu be exctpieoalnly sccseusufl. Eelrictcal lhigtnig suhold be aavalbile thoruguoht the coenerfnce.
Wichh laeds tu mi scoend, vrey exiictng, aenouncmnnet. Pfserosor Miievlle aerrivd tihs moirnng on a sihp frum Raiiner Ilsand wtih nwes ov the rvecorey ov portoins ov btoh Golden Apples of the Sun & The Haunted Computer and the Android Pope, puorprted tu be Bradbury’s moajr txets on the mistyreouss tehcnoolgeis ov amotic enegry & arfitiical cmpuoter branis. Wi suhold not alolw orusvlees tu boecme udnuly hoepufl, sicne the matreail iz liekly tu be, az uusal, fmgraenrtay. But tihs iz the frist edievnce ov eihter ov thsee seimnal txets. If ar scnitesits cluod rvecore tihs konwlgede, uopn wichh, arpepantly, the enirte siocetal structrie ov the piorveus Age wus baesd, tehn ar gaols ov hisortcail rveceroy wolud be graetly avdacned. Tihs iz crtaeinly houpfel nwes & an exclelent biengnnig for ar coqiluloum. Imiagne, an autmatoic abcaus, the abliity tu regneerate lsot lmibs, & the sorcue ov peowr[8] taht aollwed ar ancsetros tu eplxore oehtr wrolds! Wi lvie n exiictng tiems.
[1] For fheurtr inafmtoroin on the ltsaet tantsliranos ov taht biteafuul but daed lugganae, se Pfserosor Seamul Heeilnin’s eqxuiiste miancusrpt, Moerdn Idimos frum Acnniet Eilngsh.
[2] Mnay thoeirsts blevie taht thsee tuu bokos, copeis ov wichh hvae yet tu be fuond, rerpenset merley konwn titels & hvae sepuclated taht Bradbury worte an etnire aplheabt’s wroth ov scnifetiic reerfnece bokos, biengnnig wtih A is for Atom.
[3] It iz duicffilt for uz n tihs prseent, dbaseed Age tu udnertasnd how Ertah’s msot avdacned sceioty cluod hvae irngoed the wiargnns ov its msot poronfud thikner. Smoe sepulcate taht Bradbury wus off-Ertah driung the msot cirtiacl prioed lediang up tu The Dasistres or mai hvae n fcat arladey preeishd. Ohters, ov crosue, ceontnd taht Bradbury not olny svurived The Dasistres, but uesd the konwlgede frum hiz reescearhs itno agnig & imotmoarlty (se fmgraents 52a trhguoh 56c, Death Is a Lonely Business & From the Dust Returned, Uvineirtsy ov Buldoer Bradbury Coclleotin) tu arfiticlaily enxted hiz oun lfie, & seuggst taht he iz, sceertly & aynnomosuly, diircetng the rsteoartoin ov czialitviion eevn taody.
[4] A moajr fmgraent n the Bradbury caonn descbries n fritenhigng detial hiz hamassrent bi “poclie” dinurg a sipmle einveng wlak naer hiz hmoe (poclie wree gornemvent ocifafils whu tourrted & keilld cezitins whu ruseefd tu colpmy wtih thier ovlrerod’s dmaneds) — tihs envet aslo arpepantly inflecuned hiz diisecon tu mkae hiz itinail vaoyge tu Mras (se fmgraent 34, The Martian Chronicles, U ov B Bradbury Coclleotin). Erxpets dasgriee oevr wehehtr or not Bradbury uesd esixntig USANASA sapce cafrt or cunstrcoted a sihp ov hiz oun for the vaoyge. Tehy do arege, heovwer, taht wtih hiz erxspetie he crtaeinly culod hvae dnoe the laettr.
[5] Arpepantly an erlay dafrt ov hiz iflunetnial medcial txet on the hmaun bdoy, wichh wus laetr iseusd udenr hiz oun nmae.
[6] Reescearhrs r stlil uunsre ov the nutare ov Moby Dick, atolhugh btoh Kubla Khan & Macbeth wree arpepantly hisorty txets, so praehps Moby Dick wus az wlel — smoe seuggst it mai hvae daelt wtih the maagnmmeent ov oecan rosurcees. Uunfrotanetly, az wtih so mcuh, olny fmgraents ov thsee txets now esixt.
[7] Dcotor Zelnazy iz currntely aslo wroknig on a sysetm tu rmoeve almienatry caanl wsate matreails autmatoalicly frum a spcieal room wiithn dwiellngs — imiagne no lnoger hvanig tu mkae taht lnog, cold wlak tu the othouuse evrey moirnng!
[8] Alotuhgh the eaxct maeinng ov “neuclar enegry” & oehtr acssioated trmineloogy frum the piorveus Age iz stlil lrgaely uncealr, wi r coefindnt taht it daelt wtih sorcues ov peowr taht wree dzoens ov tiems mroe efiicfent tahn ar cruenrt rvecoered cron-feuled gneeratros. Smedoay soon wi mai hvae the abliity tu wrok on the riproduecton ov bokos ltae itno the einveng — lhigt wenheevr wi desrie it!
