Science Fiction that Predicted Future Technologies
Today we often take for granted the technology we’ve come to rely on. We casually look up news reports or research everything from recipes to the garage door installers Harrisburg PA has to offer. Our current devices would seem fantastical and amazing to our ancestors.
Visionaries use science fiction to explore the possible future developments of technology. Much of their ideas, such as life on the moon, may seem absurd, but some of their predictions have already come to pass.
Check out these four science fiction inventions that are now part of our every day lives.
1) The iPad
In 1968 Arthur C. Clarke’s famous novel 2001: A Space Odyssey was published. In the book he describes a thin, ‘newspad’ that provided his character with all the newspapers published on Earth. He could flick through headlines or focus on individual stories, much as you can now do with the iPad, the name of which is even surprisingly similar. I wonder if that’s where Apple got the name!
2) Earbud Headphones
Earbud headphones are small, discreet and convenient, but when Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 in 1950, headphones were huge steel contraptions, and technology had no way to compress speakers into such a small size. The idea of casually walking around listening to music or listening to the radio with speakers in your ears as you fell asleep would have been ludicrous!
Nevertheless, in Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury describes ‘little seashells’, thimble-sized radios that are worn inside the ear. With these seashells all the world’s music and news broadcasts could be listened to. I quite like the ‘little seashells’ name – it’s certainly more appealing than ‘earbuds’!
3) Skype
In 1911, Hugo Gernsback imagined a telephone system that would display a moving image of the caller, captured in real time. Today, of course, Skype is a well-known program, used to stay in contact with friends, family and business contacts across the globe, but when Ralph 124C 41+ was written it was a flight of fancy. After all, the first telephone call was only made in 1876!
4) Automatic Doors
It might surprise you to know just how recent the invention of automatic doors is. After all, we see and use them every day. Although not introduced until 1960, automatic doors were imagined by H.G. Wells as far back as 1899, just squeaking into the 19th century. In his novel When the Sleeper Wakes he describes a piece of wall that rolls up to allow entry as people approach.
So, next time you are looking up garage door repair, Mechanicsburg PA on your iPad or walk through an automatic door, marvel at the accuracy of these science-fiction writers of the past.
This post brought to you by guest blogger James who enjoys blogging about everything from the future and past of technology to garage door installers in Harrisburg PA and awnings in York, PA.
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