So there was a recent meme going around the social media spheres that applauded Star Trek for predicting our current technology. Here it is (anyone know the original source, I would be happy to credit)
If you talk to Engineers and scientists of today, many will tell you that they were inspired to be what they are today because of watching Star Trek as a kid. In fact it isn’t a stretch to think that these same fans would utilize design framework from the series/movies. But of course my cynical humor nerve focuses in on the word “prediction”.
So I looked back and could have picked any number of 19th/early 20th Century authors like Mark Twain predicting the internet or H.G. Wells (and Dick Tracy’s) wrist phones which are much like our modern day cell phones. But I chose Jules Verne who predicted things like the lunar space program and even many of the things that actually came true (launched from Florida, splash down in the ocean, 3 man crew, etc). He also, much like the Star Trek meme showcases, predicted videoconferencing. The bane of all our work existence.
Any sci fi technology you are still waiting for (except of course the flying car – we all want that)?
Comments
45 responses to “Jules Verne > Star Trek”
It’s not a “stretch” to think they used the framework — a lot of the biologists, chemists, engineers, and designers who shaped modern technology outright admit it. The designer of the first flip-phone said he never would have had the idea if not for the communicators from the original Star Trek. Additionally, a lot of the technologies developed by NASA since its inception were directly inspired by the works of Arthur C. Clarke, and modern software engineers are still pulling inspiration from the works of Robert A. Heinlein (who, among other things, accurately predicted computer drafting software in his novel “The Door Into Summer”).
But that extends back to Jules Verne, as well — a lot of the scientists who led the revolutions in technology in the 2-3 generations after Verne would talk openly about the influence his novels had on their work. They used his ideas as a blueprint for where they wanted to take the world.
As a genre, science fiction has always been filled with people who had very clear ideas about the way the future was heading — which, in turn, have inspired the people who could take us there. The line between prediction and inspiration gets blurrier the closer you look.
Absolutely. But as I even read some of Verne’s predictions he too was inspired by others. He was just a good observer of the technology that was available at the day and could expound on it for his books.
Then again for every right prediction they guys get they probably had 2 wrong. haha
The wrong ones were inspired by me.
Like my flying boat with the low hanging propeller, it had heads spinning!
You spin me round and round
I’m still awaiting my shot at driving a hovercraft and being able to teleport, but for now, I’m doing okay with all of these helpful technologies.
George then you missed this just for you https://plus.google.com/103857459148999991693/posts/1eAXJSMytN8
George, I made a hovercraft using a leaf blower but I could only go as far as the cord would reach. 🙂
You need more cord
If I ever give it another try I am going to use a gas leaf blower.
haha…just don’t expel gas
I think this is George Takei’s photo. Not sure, though, the credit was given on FB 😉
No Takei doesn’t create anything. I saw it way before he shared it.
You think it and someone will make it. It’s just the way things go. This is an awesome post.
Have a fabulous day. 🙂
I want to think it, someone make it but give me money and credit. Is that too much to ask for? haha
Not at all.
Good
The “Simpsons” predicted smart ass kids. Oh wait those have been around even before I was born. First time with the new spiffy comment system here.
And how did it work out for you?
the comment system? – works fine but I didn’t notice it right away because it looks like the next post is starting.
I’ll make it 50pt type haha
Yes, so let’s stop all the wars and fighting and get up in space!
Then we can fight about that
It’s amazing to consider all this stuff. I’m extremely disappointed in the Jetsons as I’m still waiting for a flying car. I also wanna be beamed up by Scotty.
Flying car yes….teleporter no. They would scramble me like in the Fly
I’d like a teleporter — I just don’t want to have to be the first poor sucker put through one. Let them prove the “anti-Fly” filter, first.
I may be one of the few people out there who actually isn’t interested in a flying car. People say, “Flying car,” and my first thought is, “That guy who just cut across two lanes of traffic without signaling, causing everybody to have to brake? Now he’s coming from BELOW YOU, as well.”
Plus, we’ve had a flying car since the 1940’s — but nobody was interested in buying it. http://pinterest.com/pin/30680841184264162/
well ok…but I am waiting for the one to fit in my garage, not be a gas hog, and I don’t need a pilot’s license for.
So, more like this one? (Although I think it still requires a pilot’s license) http://www.terrafugia.com/aircraft/transitionR
Perhaps that’s what happened to me. Scotty tried to beam me up but only beamed my hair & left the rest of me on earth. Maybe my hair is on board the Enterprise daring to go where no hair has gone before…
Maybe your hair is what became the Tribbles
The best thing I can do is time travel.
I go to sleep and wake up several hours into the future. 😉
haha Bill, which is funny because I am usually dreaming of the past (being late for an exam)
Amazing Bill!!!
The power to read your mind.
My mind or anyone’s mind?
Anyone’s mind.
Good…I don’t want you in my head all the time
Much of SF predicts the future, and that has always been part of its attraction. Jules Verne certainly was ahead of the pack, though, writing before SF even existed. I guess he could be considered the father of it.
Flying car, robot servants, androids, self driving transportation, moon vacations, space flight, extraterrestrial living (orbiting space stations), smart computers, effective, efficient governments.
Talking Wombats
It’s always fun to look at concept art about the future… I have a small collection of picture books from the 50’s about what space travel will look like… some got it close to right… others… not so much!
WEll maybe not yet!!
Jules is somewhere in the future with a giant underwater city dome.
Hope he can breath
Great toon! I always thought it would be a cool job to be a futurist designing movie concepts. Minority Report had some great stuff that is coming to fruition. They had several futurists working on its design.
It was kind of funny seeing blue tooth on Minority report just before it became big.
I wonder what science fiction think tanks will come up with next, and therefore something that will soon surface in reality? Perhaps the future really is meant to be backwards, as in Back to the Future, Today and Tomorrow, Jules Verne was a genius, a man way ahead of his time but how exciting a life that must have been my fine and wicked friend, and for the future, well we will just have to wait and see 🙂
Have a superb Friday Bearman 🙂
Andro