Science Fiction – Imagining the Future

By Earl Hunsinger

The literary term "science fiction" was coined by Hugo Gernsback, who has been called the father of science fiction. In 1926, Gernsback began the magazine Amazing Stories, which is now famous (at least among science fiction fans). The Hugo award for the best science fiction of the year was named to honor him. Although science fiction and fantasy are often lumped together, science fiction (in particular hard science fiction) has always had some connection to science fact. Often such stories are amazingly prophetic. This was true even before they were called science fiction.

For example, as early as 1634 Johannes Kepler incorporated his three laws of planetary motion in Somnium, a fictional story written in Latin that described what it would be like to live on the moon. Shortly after this, Cyrano de Bergerac's novel Voyage to the Moon, was published in 1656. According to a Time Magazine article, he was the first person to suggest using rockets to get to the moon. Jules Verne also wrote about going to the moon far before it happened. In fact, as NASA acknowledges, it is amazing how closely the details in his description match the actual Apollo 11 launch 100 years later. In addition, in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, he describes life aboard a submarine years before one was ever built.

More modern examples of science fiction writers predicting the future would have to include Arthur C. Clarke’s prediction, in 1945, of geosynchronous communication satellites. According to the website Infinite Energy, he also predicted cold fusion.

Of course, the goal of science fiction, like any entertainment medium, is not to predict the future, but to entertain an audience. Even serious scholars trying to predict what societal and technological changes the future holds often get it wrong. It shouldn’t be a surprise then that science fiction writers of the past have often been wrong. Consider the obvious example of George Orwell’s 1984. Although some might argue that the world took his warning to heart, the fact remains that in 1984 the world as a whole was nothing like the story he wrote.

That having been said, what changes might we see in the future, based on the latest science fiction stories? Consider that in the 1940s, long before Star Wars and Bladerunner, Isaac Asimov was writing about robots. Today, the speed and precision of robots is already being utilized in various modern manufacturing processes, with research and development in robotics being carried out around the world. Will scientists ever develop the positronic brain of Asimov’s stories? If so, we can only hope that it is also hardwired with his three laws of robotics, as discussed by the Robotics Research Group of the University of Texas.

How would you like to ride a space elevator? Once the realm of science fiction writers like Arthur C. Clarke and others, this may one day be a less expensive path to space. The materials needed for such an engineering feat are being developed and, according to Nasa, the possibility of building such a device is seriously being discussed.

So what’s next? Matter transporters? Faster than light travel? Who knows, the most imaginative science fiction story of today may be the newspaper headline of tomorrow.