From Telepathy to X-Ray Goggles: How Science Fiction Becomes Science Fact

The influence fiction has had on scientific achievement has been, at times, quite profound. Innumerable are the designs and innovations that were directly inspired by the minds of creative writers of speculative fiction, whose imaginations have spelled out the future of mankind’s advancement in short stories and novels over the years.

In retrospect, when we watch a film like 2001: A Space Odyssey, we are met with a number of fictional elements which, resemblant though they are of modern technology, are a number of years–if not decades–behind. We see telecommunication in use aboard the Clavius Moon Base near the film’s outset, which bears striking similarity to modern video chatting systems like Skype. On the other hand, mankind is still many years away from manned missions to other planets like Jupiter, let alone the construction of a lunar base on Earth’s own modest little satellite.

It might be argued, however, that Clarke’s actual vision of the 21st century would not have fallen in line with what we see in 2001. An interview with Clarke, conducted by the AT&T company in 1976, indicated what turns out to be a far more accurate vision the author had of what future life on Earth might afford us through technological innovation. Among Clarke’s predictions had been communications systems which, according to Clarke, would consist of “a high definition TV screen, and a typewriter keyboard,” through which any kind of information could be exchanged with others around the world.

Read more @ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2016/01/from-telepathy-to-x-ray-goggles-how-science-fiction-becomes-science-fact/


"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~