Science Fiction into Science Fact? 892
Selanit asks: "I'm a student of English literature at the University of Colorado, in Boulder, with a pronounced interest in all things tech as well. Next term I'll be taking an Independent Study course which combines the two -- the topic will be 'Influences of Science Fiction on Real-World Tech.' The professor and I are still trying to assemble a reading list. So here's my question: what science-fiction novels have had a particularly noticeable effect on the development of technology? I'm mainly interested in books that have been written since World War II. The line of inquiry is not limited to computers; any kind of link between sci-fi and hard tech will do (e.g. Cap'n Kirk's communicator == prototype mobile phone). Books that have lent a name to a technology are also interesting (like the 'Little-Endian, Big-Endian' terms which were lifted from Gulliver's Travels, or 'Babel Fish' from Douglas Adams)."
ACC (Score:2, Insightful)
patent on satellites (Score:2)
If I understand correctly, his description was so good that he actually has a patent on the darn things.
Re:patent on satellites (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.globalideasbank.org/BOV/BV-393.HTML [globalideasbank.org]
The biggest problem about getting science fiction applied in what is laughingly called 'the real world' is the old Catch-22. It is best exemplified by Arthur C. Clarke's explanation of why he is not rather better off than he actually is. When he first had the idea of the communications satellite, he tried to get it patented. 'Come, come, Mr Clarke,' said the people at the Patent Office. 'We're a serious outfit, we haven't got time to waste on fantastic ideas like this.' Years later, when the first satellite (with which Arthur was actively involved) actually went up, and the nations were queuing to get their own satellites up, Arthur went back to the Patent Office. 'But, Mr Clarke,' they said, 'the satellite already exists. You should have come to us earlier.'
Typical Bureaucratic bungling.
and there is more:
The very first paper describing the very first constellation, consisting of three satellites in geostationary orbit. Allegedly the only accurate science-fiction prediction [greenspun.com] ever [mit.edu]. Authored by the famous Arthur C. Clarke [lsi.usp.br], before the space race, before Sputnik 1, and before Arthur C. Clarke became a famous author. (There's a mirror of the paper [lsi.usp.br]. And now we call it the Clarke orbit, and you can simulate the original proposal [surrey.ac.uk].
This Page also discusses the legal issues [lawnotes.com] because at the time Clarke wrote his paper, there was no way to get a satellite into orbit to begin with.
Re:patent on satellites (Score:4, Interesting)
It's worth pointing out that Clarke's original concept involved three enormous manned space-stations in geostationary orbit, not the relatively small solid-state devices we have now. Really, Clarke's idea came down to a lot of foresight and some clever geometry. He solved a problem that nobody had even though to consider at the time.
All I can say is a) Clarke's a very clever guy who deserves an enormous amount of credit for his inventiveness, and b) thank god he wasn't able to patent that idea. As clever as he was for being the first one to have it, let's face it... If you need to send a signal over the horizon, it's not going to take long for you to hit upon the idea of geosync sattelites (assuming you have the resources to put them up.)
I can't precisely say that the solution is "obvious", but I do think a lot of communications companies would have found themselves unnecessarily shelling out to Clarke, regardless of his actual contribution to their efforts.
Re:patent on satellites (Score:3, Insightful)
Under the patent laws of the day, he would have had 17 years. Not very renewable.
1945 + 17 = 1962.
Note, the first geosynchronous satellite was launched in 1964
The patent would have likely run out anyhow.
patent on satellites (Score:2, Insightful)
Considering what's happened to the patent office since then, though, I could probably waltz down to the patent office tomorrow, and they'd have no trouble handing me a patent on staellites. Or large orbiting mind control lasers for that matter.
Re:ACC (Score:2)
Clarke is a scientist with many credientials completely separate from his fiction writing.
The Pain Amplifier (Score:3, Funny)
Snow Crash (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Snow Crash (Score:2)
Re:Snow Crash (Score:2)
NOT Snow Crash. but Neuromancer (Score:5, Informative)
Gibson was so spot on that several commercial products use names from the book, eg BlackICE.
If you can find it, there is this great interview with William Gibson in which he discussed watching two kids playing pong (the original commercial video game, back in the 70s). Gibson realized that, for the players, the world behind the screen was just a real as a tennis court is to a tennis player. So Gibson pursued this "world behind the screen" metaphor and produced a striking, immersive world based an ubiquitous computers communicated via a world-wide standard network. This vision drove a lot of researchers, and still does. Many of us crave the fully, head mounted, immersive 3-D displays used in the book. But I'll take a pass on the Texas Catheter.
Re:NOT Snow Crash. but Neuromancer (Score:3, Interesting)
> players, the world behind the screen
> was just a real as a tennis court is to
> a tennis player. So Gibson pursued this
> "world behind the screen" metaphor
> and produced a striking, immersive
> world based an ubiquitous computers
> communicated via a world-wide standard
> network.
And published it about 10 years after
Ted Nelson described the idea (which
he called Fantic Space, by analogy
with the filmic space that cinema
theorists talk about) in his book Dream
Machines/Computer Lib.
Jargon (Score:4, Insightful)
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/index.html [tuxedo.org]
Heinlein invented waldoes (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Heinlein invented waldoes (Score:2, Informative)
That's different plus two other examples (Score:3, Interesting)
However, I think it would be fair to say RAH predicted the Internet (he wasn't the only one and maybe not even the first, but so what). Check out the "public terminals" that have access to everything from lectures on science to live orchestral performances. These are throughout the "Future History" books, but especially so in Friday. It is interesting to note that revenue method Heinlein envisioned for this as well.
Of course he may have predicted several things that have yet to come to pass. For instance, in Harsh Mistress he mentions (actually the plot hinges on this) warfare between the Moon and Earth as well as induction ring launches from both locations.
Re:That's different plus two other examples (Score:4, Informative)
For example, by the time Friday was released, in 1984, as I recall, publically available computer terminals were in existence, BBSes were how you got on-line (except for the fortunate few how knew about and had access to Usenet) and networked BBSes were about to be invented.
My own personal favorite example of an SF prediction is in Bellamy's Looking Backward which, among other things, talked about how the broadcasting of music (live performances over telephone lines as neither audio recording nor radio had been invented or conceived of when the book was written) had become common. I also seem to recall that it had some bit in there about how that led to fewer people being able to play the piano, but that may be my subsequent experiences leaking over as it's been 20+ years since I read that book.
However, it seems to me that the question is not about predictions in SF that come true, but about how SF has driven invention. If, as I say I believe above, SF is a reflection of the culture it's written in, then there can be no direct link. However, I also believe that invention is also a product of the culture it is in, so it is certainly fair to say that, if a work doesn't have a direct effect on invention, then it will necessarily reflect the environment in which the invention is made. Rarely is this made more clear than in "The Man Who Sold the Moon" where Delos D. Harriman talks about what it was like to grow up in the early part of the 20th century.
Further, if one wishes to look at that aspect more closes, I think that one could do worse than looking at the work of Dr. Lienhard of the University of Houston (not his son, who is a professor at MIT) who has a 5-minute daily radio program (and book derived therein) called "The Engines of our Ingenuity" which discusses the whole process of invention and covers quite well the methods by which people derive inspiration. The URL to reach the radio show's transcripts is http://www.uh.edu/engines [uh.edu]
Heinlein invents the waterbed... (Score:2, Informative)
Roll out one of the masters (Score:3, Insightful)
The Forever War (Score:2)
---Spoiler---
Towards the end, which is several thousand years in the future, almost everyone is a clone, and it tells a bit about how this affects the world.
He also really plays with the einstein-rosen bridge (worm hole) quite a bit.
Its not a ton of stuff, but its a -great- read regardless
Also, although its been probably written 20 times by the time I write this, Asimov is often credited with inventing the term "robot".
Robots (Score:2)
If so, he is credited incorrectly. For the term "robot," try Lem instead. Asimov is known for "the three laws of robotics" which, IIRC, were actually devised by Campbell
-- MarkusQ
Re:Robots (Score:2)
And MarcusQ, I thought he co-developed the 3 Laws with Campbell...
GTRacer
- Humans would be better off if they were robots like me
Re:Robots (Score:5, Informative)
Here [czech-language.cz] is one translation of the Czech play.
'Robot' not Asimov. (Score:4, Insightful)
Word History: Robot is a word that is both a coinage by an individual person and a borrowing. It has been in English since 1923 when the Czech writer Karel Capek's play R.U.R. was translated into English and presented in London and New York. R.U.R., published in 1921, is an abbreviation of Rossum's
Universal Robots; robot itself comes from Czech robota, "servitude, forced labor," from rab, "slave." The Slavic root behind robota is orb-,
from the Indo-European root *orbh-, referring to separation from one's group or passing out of one sphere of ownership into another. This seems to be the sense that binds together its somewhat
diverse group of derivatives, which includes Greek orphanos, "orphan," Latin orbus, "orphaned," and German Erbe, "inheritance," in addition to the
Slavic word for slave mentioned above. Czech robota is also similar to another German derivative of this root, namely Arbeit, "work" (its Middle High German form arabeit
is even more like the Czech word).
Arbeit may be descended from a word that meant "slave labor," and later generalized to just "labor."
mahlen
If I want your opinion, I'll ask you to fill out the necessary form.
Re:The Forever War (Score:2)
Robots: Czech (Score:2)
20000 Leagues Under the Sea (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:20000 Leagues Under the Sea (Score:4, Funny)
Please do my research for me,
signed,
lazy student
Asimov (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Asimov (Score:2, Informative)
1984 (Score:3, Redundant)
The Man Who Sold The Moon - Heinlein (Score:2, Informative)
Jules Verne (Score:2)
How about Asimov's Robots/AI? (Score:2, Interesting)
Sony's Aibo, cars & washing machines with computers built into them, automated support systems, expert systems (before someone yells that these things are not widely used in the industry, I'd like to let them know that I'm in the support industry working on automated-support query solving agents). And what about bots which crawl the web and gather data.
We could go on and on, the basic fact is that although things like Daneel (or for that matter Marvin
Terminology more than fact... (Score:4, Insightful)
For instance, look at Neuromancer. It gave us the term "Cyberspace", which was cool, but then tried to convince us of a guy running around trying to fence one-megabyte ram sticks. Talk about dystopian...
Dune, by Frank Herbert (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, right, that didn't actually happen, did it?
Its obvious (Score:2, Funny)
Two (Score:2, Informative)
Flash Gordon by Alex Raymond.
Jules Verne (Score:2, Interesting)
ST: TNG Technical Manual (Score:3, Insightful)
While this book may be the inverse (or reverse?) of what you're looking for, it is extremely interesting, and will surely help you a lot from a research standpoint for your project. It is basically a detailed description of every technical aspect of the ST:TNG universe, which includes many convergences between science fact and science fiction.
Also don't forget to note the name of the first space shuttle ever: The Enterprise [nasa.gov].
Re:ST: TNG Technical Manual (Score:2)
Huh-Huh, I typed "screw tug".
Re:ST: TNG Technical Manual (Score:2, Insightful)
I would not be at all suprised to see the Navy commission another Enterprise, even if it's a patrol craft, when they finally retire the Big E. Sailors are a superstitious lot.
Re:ST: TNG Technical Manual (Score:2)
1705, according to the history of ships named Enterprise [totse.com].
Re:ST: TNG Technical Manual (Score:3, Interesting)
The Star Trek universe is mostly science fantasy. It's all made-up wizardry cloaked in technical-seaming mumbo-jumbo.
C//
Clarke + Communications Satellites (Score:2)
Arthur C Clarke (Score:3, Insightful)
He predicted the Y2K problem (Ghost from the Grand Banks), and communications satellites (The Fountains of Paradise), and also invented the concept of the space elevator. He didnt invent the AI, but he certainly popularized the concept in film and text (2001 A Space Odyssey). Not to mention a realistic look at the role large corporations would play in space travel (Pan Am flights to the Space Station). I've never read The Deep Range, but it is supposed to be quite visionary as well regarding undersea exploration.
You've been reading too much... (Score:3, Insightful)
They are little more than lab curiosities, with no practical applications. The late 1980's gave us Cold Fusion, and the late 1990's gave us Bucky Balls and Nano-tubes. What will change the world, (and NOT for the better is the continual meddling in cloning and human genetics. The moral, ethical, legal, environmental, and biological problems are not being addressed by those who are doing the research. We are behaving like children with shiny, dangerous toys. One thing many Science Fiction writers have done over the years is examine these things, as they relate to technology.
How can you demonstrate anything? (Score:2)
- Work of science fiction describing some future technology is released
- Some years later, a device similar to the aforementioned technology is released
- You're assuming the latter stems from the former
Who's to say that the "inventor" of the cell phone got the idea from watching Star Trek? Maybe he got the idea from Dick Tracy? Or maybe it's just a natrual evolution of the technology? <SARCASM> Gee, a portable, wireless telephone - what a crazy idea! Thank god for Gene Rodenberry, or we'd never have anything like that! </SARCASM>Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (Score:2, Informative)
Earth, by David Brin (Score:2, Informative)
GIS and MapQuest (Score:2)
not always. (Score:2)
Science fiction sparks the imagination with ideas, and certianly alows people in science to say "WOW, thats a good idea, lets see if its possible".
Science fiction went to the moon first that does not mean someone watched the movies and said, "Hey, lets go to the moon".
I can think of a few things that did come from Sci-Fi, and links to them, but I refuse to do your work for you.
Novels? TV? Film? Influence or just Foreshadowing? (Score:2)
Secondly, I believe that your choice of Star Trek's communicator isn't actually a good example.
I wasn't born then, but I guess that Walkie Talkies and CB radio or their equivalent existed back then, so it doesn't require much effort to imagine a much smaller version of such a device.
It'd be much more interesting to find out about devices or procedures that can be traced back to SciFi that were not just foreshadowing advanced versions of an existing technology.
(I'll answer your question about SciFi devices in real life in another post, since I want to look for some sources to back up these claims...
Btw, being a SF-nut, one interesting thing I noticed about SciFi movies: You can always tell their production era by looking at hairstyles and makeup. Hardly any SF movie has the guts to do something completely out-of-fashion when it comes to the looks of actresses and actors.
Re:Novels? TV? Film? Influence or just Foreshadowi (Score:3, Funny)
Secondly, I believe that your choice of Star Trek's communicator isn't actually a good example.
Specially because there is a much better model of mobile phone from the previous year (1965): Agent 86 and his shoe-phone.
Novels have no effect upon scientific development (Score:3, Insightful)
More simply, engineers don't sit around waiting for writers to come up with the ideas.
A better thesis would be, "What ideas have been foretold by science fiction writers years before technology made it possible?"
Or, "Since writers tend to take the social aspects of technology under consideration more often than engineers, what novels and authors have correctly identified social and techonological necessities long before engineers invented the device that created the situation?"
Yes, they do (Score:5, Insightful)
How much were the scientists who shot the moon influenced by Verne, Welles, and E. E. Doc Smith? If many of them were inspired by these authors' works, then the novels indeed had an impact and influence on technology.
Many authors directly and indirectly influenced our technosphere. Clarke calculated geosynchronous orbit; most satellites orbit in the belt named after him. Larry Niven's warnings about the effects of organ transplants has changed the way people approach the ethics of taking organs from executed criminals. (Incidently, the "Slashdot effect" is really nothing more than a virtual flash crowd, which Niven predicted as a result of easy teleportation.)
The early works about robots and sentient computers have influenced the direction of research in these fields. AI researchers talk earnestly about the three laws of robotics.
Terraforming was an idea first proposed in science fiction. The US First Contact Protocol is based on science fiction scenerios.
SF influences science and research because scientists tend to read science fiction. If that doesn't color our ideas of the world (which in turn influences our research), then our imagination has died.
Re:Novels have no effect upon scientific developme (Score:5, Informative)
Science fiction powers space research
The European Space Agency (Esa) is studying science fiction for ideas and technologies that could be used in future missions.
A panel of readers is currently combing sci-fi novels and short stories published in the early decades of the last century to see if technology has caught up with ideas that were futuristic when first put into print.
Any good ideas turned up in the search will be assessed by scientists to see if they can help the agency in its ongoing mission to explore space.
Knowledgeable fans of science fiction are also being encouraged to send in suggestions to help Esa spot sources of good ideas.
(Follow link above for rest of article, interesting.)
Nice Post (Score:4, Insightful)
The author throws the rules out the window, and does some What-If-ing.
The engineer, trained and bound by rules, but reporting to the demands of the Manager (who has read too much SciFi, and thus believes nothing is impossible), tries to find what technology can perform the task.
More simply, the author goes from task backward to technology, and the engineer goes from technology forward to task. In your post, they have the techology, and want to know what else to do with it. They are not trying to make SciFi come true. (am I nitpicking, here?)
I do think we need more dreamer-engineers, but the cirriculum and managers tend to conspire and weed them out.
Novels = Zero Scientific Influence (Score:3)
The micro-sized cell phones today are an evolution. The first wave came from the idea of merging a phone with a radio, which would allow you to not have to run wires everywhere.
After that, the radio phones were made more portable. Then they were made small enough to carry around in cars. Then small enough to lug around occasionally (check out Danny Glover's cell phone in the first 'Lethal Weapon' movie). Then as small as normal radios. Then smaller.
Science Fiction gets to ignore all the problems and history of actually getting to the point in history where someone can use the gadget -- and Science Fiction has the option of ignoring reality -- which is something Engineers would love to be able to do (it'd make life sooo much easier). Sci-Fi ignores all the hard-won science and discovery that must occur before a magic device is even possible. Scientific discovery is evolutionary -- it builds heavily upon the work of all those previous, and can not exist without everything that came before it.
What we must seperate is the influence SciFi has upon an individual's decision to enter a field. The young engineer (proto-engineer?) finds that SciFi appeals to them, and that engineering sounds cool, and decides to pursue engineering. In that respect, SciFi influences the career choice of the engineer.
However, no engineer goes through college for the express purpose of making real an invention they read in a book when they were 14 years old.
The author, who needs a plot device, gets to ignore enough reality to make the device just plausible enough (to most people) to continue the story forward. To the engineers and researchers familiar with the subject matter, they can list for you reason after reason why it's impossible, or why it won't work.
Heinlein (Score:2)
Heinlein, especially in his early years, is full of technology that is commonplace today that was pie-in-the-sky when he wrote it. He just didn't always call it by the same names we do today.
I'd have to go digging for specific technologies in specific titles, but it's all good-to-great reading anyway.
Expect to find mobile phones, faxes, video phones, voice dictation, computers of various intelligences, maglev, flywheels for energy storage (we use 'em as a UPS in datacenters; he used 'em in spaceships), sophisticated chemical synthesis (Venusians making real maple syrup from a sample), all sorts of rocketry and space tech, and lots more.
Also good is Niven, though more of his things (such as matter transporters and indestructible ship hulls) are still in the distant future. Zahn likes to take some form of technology, such as $6M-Man-like soldiers (Cobra et al.) and see what it might do to people and society--you get a chapter or two of a space western and the rest of the book of social analysis and commentary.
Sounds like a fun project, if for no other reason than the reading list!
b&
Dreams... (Score:2, Informative)
The Diamond Age "Predicted" Electric Paper (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:The Diamond Age "Predicted" Electric Paper (Score:4, Informative)
dreams, etc (Score:2)
We seem to be missing this kind of vision these days, cynicism being much more fashionable.
The Other Star Trek References (Score:5, Interesting)
I've been told from a retired Navy man that control rooms on latter-day vessels are based on the Enterprise model, which didn't exist until the show did. Previously, key combat stations (such as the helm and tactical) were not in the same room as the skipper. Note: I have not been able to confirm or deny this story; anybody else want to?
In the original series, whenever one character handed another character computer data, the prop they used was a brightly colored square wafer. IMHO, it looked 3.5" on a side--The microfloppy.
Again, unconfirmed: did the taser descend from the "stun" setting on the phaser? Trek showed just how useful it was to have a less-lethal weapon.
The military uses needle-less pneumatic hypodermic injectors to do mass injections--perhaps lining up a regiment to all get a Tetanus booster or something. How is this related to McCoy's spray hypo? I'm not sure.
Finally, a case of ST influencing technobabble rather than technology itself. Under the Unix operating system, the graphics package (X11) easily allows for one computer to run a program, but for its windows to appear on another machine's display. This is often referred to as "Beaming the app over", based on terminology for the transporter.
Here's a selection (Score:2)
- First the obvious: "Cyberspace" was first made popular in William Gibson's Neuromancer, the first of the cyberpunk novels.
- Biotechnology, and the possibility of reviving extinct species with trans-species surrogate mothers or eggs is almost a commonplace concept now, but when Jurassic Park (Michael Crichton's book, not the movie) came out, it was path-breaking.
- Books to watch in future are Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age for nanotech and "replicators," and Snow Crash, for the
future evolution of virtual worlds as well as pizza delivery...
:-)
- The obscure: the concept of vacuum energy was actually propounded in a Physical Review Letters article by Robert L. Forward before Asimov borrowed it to power his spaceships (the starship "Forward") - I forget the book, but it might have been Friday.
- And the obvious once again: geosynchronous sattelites were predicted (but not patented) by Arthur Clarke - that's why they are called Clarke orbits. And watch for the Beanstalk to be built some day, on Mars if not Earth.
- Speaking of Mars: Robert Zubrin's book, The Case for Mars, pitches a serious plan for the manned exploration of Mars that has at least forced some re-thinking at NASA. The ideas were borrowed, reworked and expanded somewhat in Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars: look for a future manned Mars mission to use many of those ideas.
- Of course, the Three Laws of Robotics have influenced AI researchers, if not AI research...
That's a smattering - I'm sure there are many many more that others will list.1984: Couple decades off... (Score:3)
Don't forget 1984 by Orwell for the depiction of an un-blinking eye of surveillance controlled by the government.
::cough:: carnivore, echelon, face recognition ::cough::
Re:1984: Couple decades off... (Score:3)
Orson Scott Card (Score:2, Informative)
I'd include email, but that was already invented (although I doubt he knew about it)
I'm working on a project that is somewhat related. (Score:2)
Check out Variety for listings of reviews for related movies.
There is also a reference book that I found in the Pop-Culture library: Film by Genre, Daniel Lopez, 1993 There are plenty of references to Sci-Fi, etc there.
Enjoy.
Neal Stephenson books (Score:2)
Then there is Snow Crash, with its metaverse, of course, and all of the associated online virtual reality as well.
Only one other thing I could think of as relating to real world but not by Neal Stephenson is Orson Scott Card's Ender's game series' ansible technology, which seems to be similar to some kind of quantum entanglement based (the closest thing I think it resembles) instantaneous communication over long distances (measured in light years).
Pulp fiction, etc. (Score:2)
Examples that I remember (in no particular order) (Score:3, Insightful)
It is claimed that the 1929 movie "Woman in the Moon" invented the launch count-down [filmsite.org].
Star Trek PADD and today's PDAs [unc.edu]. (I believe that the Newton actually has been designed with the show's device in mind.
IIRC, pressurized, needle-free vaccination devices have been designed after watching McCoy doing medical treatment on Trek. After a short web search, one of them appears to be the Gene Gun described here [hbcollege.com].
Farenheit 451 (Score:5, Interesting)
-ShieldWolf
Re:Farenheit 451 (Score:3, Insightful)
e.g. example walkmans have increased our social isolation.
You could say that. You could also say that it finally provided an alternate avenue for those of us who had always preferred listening to music to always talking to people.
I think casual social interaction is overrated. All the extroverts decided it was important and nobody spoke up to disagree. I am personally satisfied with a few friends and the spiral of downward moderation I receive on /.
Product literature (Score:4, Funny)
These bold and exotic claims were so influential, consumers actually started to want a reliable and fast OS from the company, and today, 5 years later, they are starting to produce such an operating system. It still amazes me how fiction can someday turn into fact.
Neuromancer (Score:3)
Scientology (Score:5, Interesting)
Were Lafayette Ron Howard and Analog's Editor (Joseph?) Campbell pulling everyone's legs with a fake science and fake religion? Was it just a tax scam? Or was it a legitimate effort that went horribly wrong?
This isn't just an idle question - Scientologists have shut down web sites, even seized computer hardware and essentially destroyed it while the Federal courts did nothing, because they published religious "trade secrets" about the evil god Unix. I mean Xinu. I mean Xenu. (Hmm, makes you think....) They have flooded newsgroups with bogus posts to make it hard to find the on-topic posts. They have bought the top 40-odd places on search engines that provide "sponsored links," to make it hard for the casual browser to find critical sites. They have created "safe harbor" web browsers that protect their members from "objectionable" material.
You don't have to agree with my opinion of Scientologists to see how they're linked to many of the most controversial issues facing us on the 'net. And it all started with a science fiction writer and a magazine editor discussing psychology based on "science," not Freud.
Re:Scientology (Score:3, Informative)
Enterprise Holodeck! (Score:4, Interesting)
Its a small, but notable influence.
Asimov, Verne (Score:3, Insightful)
I would say that Isaac Asimov's "robot" series of books probably had the biggest effect on both fiction AND science. Although the robots in existance today are nothing like the robots in his novels, the inspiration and the name "robot" came from him. Asimov's robots were a lot like Star Trek's character Data. They looked human, had positronic brains (dreamed up by Asimov, of course), and could think and act on their own. Most of our robots today are nothing like that. They are controlled by computers, which are programmed by humans. Robots are designed for specific purposes and carry out only that purpose. For example, a six axis robotic arm might be installed in an automotive assembly line and programmed to perform the same exact action thousands, tens of thousands (or even vastly more) times. The idea, however, stems from Asimov's dream of machines that could perform actions for humans.
Another great writer, Jules Verne, wrote science fiction novels that eventually became science fact. From the submarine in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, to the rocket in From the Earth to the Moon, to the trip Around the World in 80 Days, Jules Verne came up with some truly incredible ideas that soon became very credible indeed.
There are many others. I'm too busy to list them all, or I'd take the same kind of course. OH WELL
Re:Asimov, Verne (Score:5, Interesting)
The term robot actually comes from a 1920's play by Karel Capek called "RUR, Rossum's Universal Robots" and is a derivitive of the Slavic word for "work". Therefore Asimov simply popularized the term. Asimov would have been about 3 when the phrase Robot was first used and 7 I believe when 'Metropolis' came to the screen. So these may have had more of an influence on his writing than anything else.
People keep brining up Jules Verne and the Nautilus but debunking the 'nuclear' aspect because the engine burned salt. What people fail to mention is the process it used to 'burn' the salt could it have been a nuclear reaction. Additionally noone mentions that the ship gets the salt from the surrounding water through either some desalinization process (too long) or a shorter electrochemical process like a catalytic converter. Parrallels to these processes would be the ramjet/scramjet that collects it's fuel from the surrounding atmosphere and current fuel cell and hybrid engines that are designed to convert simple water into base elements for consumption.
There also has been no mention of the "fulgurator" which holds more than a passing resemblance to a nuclear missile/atom bomb.
"Water is the coal of the future. The energy of tomorrow is water broken down into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. These elements will secure the earth's power supply for an indefinite period."
Jules Verne -- 1874
Please anyone correct me if I'm wrong on any of these points
THX-1138 - obnoxious phone tech support (Score:4, Insightful)
Gene Roddenberry (Star Trek) (Score:3, Interesting)
knowledge of it as well as making many contacts for obtaining more and
ongoing information.
It is more likely that Roddenberry (sp?) created fiction based upon fact
and genuine science theory than the other way around. Though at some point
there is bound to be the creative license use.
One such example of technology existing prior to use in the show is what
many would recognize as the newer type of communicators, the combadges.
As it turns out, the technology these combadges are based on has existed
since before the original Star Trek show. That technology is what you can
do a google search on "neurophone".
And having been one who got a chance to play around with a prototype, I
can say that it does in fact work and what you read about it being better
for the high end of the hearing range is correct.
But this doesn't much support the imagination to reality direction, for
Roddenberry wanted to make his show as realistice in information as he
could and often would bug NASA for technical info (and they were glad to
help because in turn the show helped gain public interest in the space
program) while incorporating current social issues into the plot of each
show.
However, there were a few shows that Roddenberry did in fact write the
plot around the concepts of moving imagination into reality. In fact "Q"
was such a character capable of such power.
The reality is that there is a truth to it. In the process of creating
anything, we must first be able to imagine it. Take the general picture
and begin filling in the details. Really not so unlike the process of
creating software.
There is even an identified formula for it:
T1 (I + E) = v T2 (k)
T1 = non-mystical thought, T2 = things in physical reality,
k = the active constant, I = degree of Intent, E = degree of Effort,
v = velocity of conversion
A formula that like any math equation, makes two statements.
Here it is: All things in physical reality can be comprehended and
all things that can be comprehended in non-mystical thought can be
created.
But it really does all begin with imagination and the application of consciousness [mindspring.com] (see concepts)
.
Not to be nitpicky, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Some folks here have actually attempted to answer the original question, like the guy who suggested the Navy adopted the use of key tactical stations in the same vein as the Enterprise. Others, however, seem to confuse the mere mention of some "futuristic" concept as "having an effect" on the realization of the concept.
I've read Verne, and I find it hard to believe his ideas (futuristic as they were) had any influence on modern nuclear technology. I think Selanit has taken on a formidable task: How does one prove a cause-effect relationship between sci-fi and reality? I've seen little evidence here I would consider "proof" in this regard.
Maybe Selanit would be so kind as to publish a link of his/her work on
Thanks from original questioner -- pls mod up (Score:4, Troll)
The reading list is not likely to include Neuromancer. Why? Because I read that one this term in a different course, with the same professor. We've already decided not to allow any overlap on the reading lists between the two courses. We are likely to be reading some early Heinlein, possibly Waldo Inc. Many people have suggested reading Jules Verne, and that is certainly a possibility; I was hoping to do more twentieth century stuff, but we'll certainly consider starting with some older material.
Tonight (or possibly tomorrow night) I will read each and every post which has been submitted (even the -1 posts). I may contact some of you via email for further discussion on some of the more interesting points raised.
Thanks again for all the terrific comments!
Tribes and Democracy in Ender's Game (Score:3, Insightful)
For years I've felt like this was slowly becoming true. I think Card's vision of a future Democracy powered by highly sophisticated online discussion groups is the most likely form of government that would rise to manage such tribes.
Take the society described in Sterling's "Distraction" and add the tribal ideas in Stephenson's "Diamond Age" and then the government from Card's "Ender's Game". I think together that is an excellent picture of what the western world will look like 20 years from now. Read Copland's "Microserfs" to see a good current example... or just realize how powerful Slashdot is in organizing (un)productive energy in the young tech community.
Also, I recommend that you seek out authors who genuinely come from scientific backgrounds or clearly take these subjects very seriously. David Brin, Vernor Vinge, Bruce Sterling are brilliant people who spend a lot of time thinking about these ideas.
Others (Gibson) are more interested in the pop culture metaphorical aspects and are in my opinion highly overrated. Gibson did not in any way "invent" virtual reality. Famously he refused to use e-mail for years. Not long ago he wrote for Wired about finally discovering the appeal of the Internet when he began shopping for antique watches on eBay. Whatever.
If you're interested in good idea sci-fi from the last few decades, find the authors who helped build The Well, or were writing stories inspired by the precursors to the Usenet in the 70s.
most missed prediction: PC industry (Score:3, Insightful)
If anyone came close to predicting this, it may have been Asimov. I recall a short story (in Nine Tomorrows?) about a society entirely dependent on PDA devices. When a savant comes along who can do arithmetic in his head, then that society goes into chaos.
Another close Asimov prediction are his robot plantations where armies of robots do all kinds of labor. In some sense the all of embedded CPUs are like this army.
Ender's Game (Score:3, Interesting)
Ray Bradbury & E.M. Forster (Score:3, Interesting)
Ray Bradybury's short story, "The Veldt," is about parents who worry that their children are spending too much time in a holodeck-style entertainment room. (OK, the holodeck is still science fiction, but Bradbury aptly defines the anti-videogames suburban hysteria that crops up in the media from time to time.)
His 1953 novel _Fahrenheit 451_ features interactive talk shows and soap operas, projected on wall-sized TV screens. It describe the protagonist's wife obsessing about upgrading her equipment (buying an attachment that will make it look like characters in the TV shows are speaking her name, thus including her in the experience). He also predicted O.J.-style helocopter chases. From a Salon interview with Bradbury [salon.com]:
The day after news helicopters pursued O.J. Simpson fleeing in a Ford Bronco, a New York Times columnist noted that the chase was the "real-life fulfillment" of "Fahrenheit 451."
I'm saving the best for last...
E.M. Forster's "The Machine Stops" describes a future civilization in which all but the lowest classes associate with each other chiefly via long-distance communications devices, rather than in person. In this passage, a woman has just spent three minutes disconnected from the network in order to speak privately to her son. She logs back on (so to speak), and is assaulted by a flood of incoming messages.
To most of these questions she replied with irritation - a growing quality in that accelerated age. She said that the new food was horrible. That she could not visit the public nurseries through press of engagements. That she had no ideas of her own but had just been told one-that four stars and three in the middle were like a man: she doubted there was much in it. Then she switched off her correspondents, for it was time to deliver her lecture on Australian music.
The clumsy system of public gatherings had been long since abandoned; neither Vashti nor her audience stirred from their rooms. Seated in her armchair she spoke, while they in their armchairs heard her, fairly well, and saw her, fairly well. She opened with a humorous account of music in the pre Mongolian epoch, and went on to describe the great outburst of song that followed the Chinese conquest. Remote and primæval as were the methods of I-San-So and the Brisbane school, she yet felt (she said) that study of them might repay the musicians of today: they had freshness; they had, above all, ideas. Her lecture, which lasted ten minutes, was well received, and at its conclusion she and many of her audience listened to a lecture on the sea; there were ideas to be got from the sea; the speaker had donned a respirator and visited it lately. Then she fed, talked to many friends, had a bath, talked again, and summoned her bed.
Bear in mind, Forster was writing in 1909! Here's one online copy of the text:
http://brighton.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~prajlich/forster.h
Missing the point? (Score:3, Insightful)
E.g., if you were writing a story in 1870, descrbing how everyone would be driving around in cars in the future is amusing, but not important. How the automobile will change society by giving people a much greater range of movement is what is important.
I'd say the biggest influence of SF on future technology has been inspirational. A lot of people involved in the space program in the 60's and 70's got hooked by reading SF, especially Heinlein's works, for example.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Everything2 (Score:3, Funny)
There's an annual conference (Score:3, Informative)
There are tons of paper cover the exact topic you are exploring. A Comparative literature professor is an expert in the field and has managed to build the largest scholastic collection of science fiction. In 1997, the second closest collection had half the number of books.
Everyone seems to be mentioning the big names, but there are a lot of smaller authors who influenced the science fiction genre. There are a lot of science fiction experts in the Comparative Literature field, so consider looking there for really specific information with citations. I won't bother trying to remember the essays I've read in those topics. The material is numerous and the field of study is about 20 years old.
Trek dissed e-books (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Star Trek (Score:2)
There was certainly some pop science, but the show wasn't leading the way or subliminally teaching the masses. Stuff like Transporters and Tricorders and Communicators were rather simple Deus-Ex-Machina methods to deal with some general problems.
That's not to say Star Trek didn't influence a lot of us to at least have a greater interest in science (as if the Apollo program didn't do that already!), but all you have to do is think back to some episode like the giant amoeba in the center of a black hole to realise the closest that show came to serious science or science fiction was New York Post headlines. It was an adventure-soap opera. In space. And in the future.woof.
[1] Yeah, I know... "Amok Time". Couldn't think of it at first, and my title's better.
Re:Star Trek (Score:3, Funny)
"How do you land the ship?"
"Umm... you don't have to. We can kinda land the people. Hell, send 'em wherever we want them to go."
"'K."
Of course this led to the amazing coincidence that ~50% of all planets have weird fields/mineral deposits/alien entities with the effect of completely neutralizing transporter technologies.
I was suddenly picked up on this in Enterprise; I don't know why I hadn't seen it before. The transporter was an ad hoc solution to a design flaw that worked so well that they had to scramble for new deus ex machina transporter difficulties in every other episode.
By now, it's almost canonical:
1. Enterprise picks up a subspace distress call.
2. Away team beams down.
3. Red shirts die, Captain kisses girl.
4. Transporter trouble prevents timely rescue of crew.
5. Engineer modifies the main deflector to emit a tachyon pulse, solving the problem. He does this in 1/4 the amount of time expected.
6. One week later, the crew of the Enterprise has forgotten the whole incident, but may make side remarks about events (shore leave, &c.) that did not occur in any episode.
Re:Good. (Score:2)
William Gibson and the future that wasn't (Score:4, Interesting)
However, one of his short stories you might find really fascinating, in that he illustrates the opposite of what you are asking. In his collection of short stories Burning Chrome he has a story named "The Gernsback Continuum" where he describes visions of the future that never quite came to pass... but what if they did? Things like flying cars from the 50's and huge single airwings with 100's of propellers. Think about 20's gothic architecture and those early visions of going to the moon. It would be a nice counterpoint in your work to what were "probable" visions of the future versus what was in the imagined future.
Burning Chrome is also a good basis, because little works like "Johnny Mnemonic" and "Fragments of a Hologram Rose" show him developing the ideas that later became the astounding Neuromancer.
TurtleBlue
ps - 62-36, nice - I was there.
Re:Neuromancer (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm a big Neuromancer, Gibson, Stephenson etc. fan, but I think your statement is way too strong. Neuromancer might have provided a social context for some subcultures, as you suggest, but I fail to see how, say, Linux wouldn't have existed without Neuromancer.
In general, I think authors are often given too much credit for both "predicting" and inventing things in their work. The canonical example is Clarke's communication satellites. That may very well have been a real invention, which he might even have patented. Most work in books, though, is nowhere near as original as that. What the best speculative authors mostly do amount to thought experiments which integrate and extrapolate from current trends. In some cases, such as Neuromancer, this is done well enough that the result ends up with strong echoes of something that subsequently happens. This doesn't mean that Neuromancer caused those things. It can mean that it influenced the way many people thought about them, though.