I was thinking about science fiction becoming science fact and started comparing visionaries of the last two centuries. Gene Roddenberry had visions of such things as tricorders/palm pilots, communicators/cell phones etc. Jules Verne foresaw moon launches from the southern tip of Florida, the equivalent of a nuclear submarine etc.
What other items do we now have that was originally envisioned by a sci-fi writer and who has had the most effect on technology. This is open to all authors.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Well, we're only a few bad decisions away from realizing the post-apocalyptic living conditions predicted by any number of sci-fi works...
Posted by Nim' (Member # 205) on :
Well there's the ISS and the equivalent(s) in 2001, I think, although I don't know if that book was the first to think about it.
Also, the envisioned "Sims/Reality-TV"-like entertainment society in "Fahrenheit 451", with people getting addicted to an artificial CGI-family or lifestyle and getting subconsciously depressed so that they pop pills to bear with it.
If the situation today is not precisely what Bradbury had in mind in the book then it is at least closer to that vision now more than ever. And it is intimately connected to breakthroughs in science and technology.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Gene Roddenberry as the greatest futurist of the 20th century? No.
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: Gene Roddenberry as the greatest futurist of the 20th century? No.
Didn't say "Greatest", just comparing the obvious to start.
I know Arthur C. Clarke is pretty much credited with the idea of geosynchronis sattelites.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Bishop John Wilkins. He is one of the first to 'seriously' describe the idea of flying to, and eventually colonizing, the Moon. In 1638!
Another one that comes into mind right now is Fritz Lang. First, Metropolis introduces a videophone-like device, and some devices that might conceivably be desktop computers. Luckily, the M Machine and the lightbulb/clock thing were not actually built.
Die Frau im Monde of course shows a rather well thought out rocket trip to the Moon, but it doesn't really count as fiction, as it was actually built by the German rocket think tank Verein f�r Raumshifffahrt, including smart people like Oberth, Ley and a young Von Braun. The movie's publicity actually resulted in Oberth & co. receiving an army fund to further develop rockets, taking it even further away from scifi speculation.