The world of science fiction is one that bedazzles both children and adults alike. When Iron Man uses some really cool tech or when the Jedis save the galaxy with the help of their lightsabers or when Cooper travels to other worlds in Interstellar, we are left in awe, wishing that some of those things could happen in real life too.
Science fiction, be it in movies, TV shows or novels, never fails to capture our imagination. It shows us a realm of possibility no matter how impossible it might seem. It gives us something to look forward to as we hope that some of the things that we see or read about may actually happen in the future.
It’s so interesting to think about how science fiction will influence future innovations and lifestyle that we often forget how the same has happened in the past and in fact is happening in the present as well.
Science fiction has always influenced real life. Many innovations, technologies, even way of life, that we take for granted today were in the realm of science fiction which was brought into the real world by some really smart people. They often credit sci-fi as their inspiration for the same. Lets take a look at some of these.
Tablets
Tablets have been around for a long time now even before Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad to the world. We can see people playing games, making video calls, even making art and completing their office work on a tablet these days.
But tablets have been featured much before in television series like Star Trek which showcased a device that is quite similar to the iPad, in the 90s and also in movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey back in 1968.
Of course, they were considered impossible devices and highly futuristic by people back then and no one in their right minds would have thought that a time will come when these device will be common household things.
Mobile Phones
We’ve all got smartphones these days and seldom think about how easy it has been for the last decade or two to contact anyone in the world as long as we have their number. Back in the day however, a person with such an idea would have been called crazy and a century ago, you would have been called a sorcerer!
The idea of a mobile phone was popularised in the Star Trek movies which featured a device called “communicator” which basically served the same function of a feature phone. This device inspired the inventor of the mobile phone, Martin Cooper to design a similar product.
After years of research at the Motorola R&D facility, he was finally able to achieve this and the world saw its first portable phone, something that would change it forever.
Cashless Payments
Growing up, I was really impressed when I saw people in movies just waving a card like thing in front of sensors to make payment or to avail a service like a bus or a metro. I was not aware that such technology was already present in the world, but I was just a kid then
Today, major tech companies have incorporated this into our smartphones which are secured by our fingerprints and we can pay for stuff on the go by just placing a finger on the phone. Of course it seems like a no-brainer today but in the past this idea would have surely confused some people.
But, did you know that payment via cards was first described in 1887, more than a 100 years ago. Novelist Edward Bellamy, in his book Looking Backward, imagined a credit card (yes, he actually used the term ‘credit card’). It was for a different purpose in the novel but it is still interesting that the term was used such a long time ago.
Autonomous Cars
“A car that can drive on its own? You must be high!” That would be the reaction of someone from the 80s or even 90s if you could tell them that one day autonomous cars will in fact be a reality.
Autonomous cars are very new to the scene. In fact most of the world hasn’t even seen one in person. Companies like Tesla and Google are heavily pushing this technologies with Musk led Tesla ahead of the curve! It is predicted that within 5 years, we will have fully autonomous cars with mass adoption starting at around that point.
Autonomous cars have also been featured quite a lot in various sci-fi movies with my favourites being Will Smith’s I, Robot in 2004 and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Total Recall in 1990.
There are tonnes of other technologies that have been inspired by science fiction which have in turn, influenced the real world. I will cover some of them in a part 2 of this topic since this post is already getting a bit lengthy and I don’t want to bore you with an otherwise interesting topic. Until then, May the force be with you?