What sci-fi books are missing something that seems obvious to us today (and is somewhat central to the story / setting)?
My first thought was Dune with the ban on thinking machines. If you asked just about anyone today they would say the far future would involve computers everywhere. But Frank Herbert wrote Dune in 1965 when computers were huge, specialized machines and we hadn’t even landed on the moon yet. And he saw a future where not only computers became ubiquitous but we’re then rejected.
So what books jump out as missing something that we would find inconceivable today?
Loads of science fiction pre-00s will underestimate communications technology. They’ll be spanning the galaxy at FTL speeds, converting matter and energy willy-nilly, and using clunky hand-held radio-like devices with no screen to talk to each other.
Surprisingly I think TV/Movies got this more right because of the want to show the actors. If you had a sci-fi movie or show it was probably in there. 2001 A Space Odyssey and Star Trek both in the sixties had an, albeit clunkier, face time or zoom. I think with novels with less of a need to show who was talking radio and messages were more common.