The future is already written

Where does innovation come from? People assume that inventions come from scientific breakthroughs, which then get commercialized and mass marketed to the public. When actually science fiction authors with little or no expertise in science or design imagine miraculous new technologies long before they exist in reality. French novelist Jules Verne “the father of science fiction” wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea in 1870. Simon Lake invented the submarine 30 years later, and received a congratulatory note from Verne. The inventor of the helicopter, Igor Sikorsky, also credited Verne for his invention, noting his inspiration as Clipper of the Clouds (1886).

Rather than a genius scientist toiling in a lab until their “Eureka!” moment, you usually find a science fiction fan trying to fulfilling a childhood dream. Martin Cooper at Motorola said of Star Trek’s communicator, his inspiration for the mobile phone, “that was not fantasy to us, that was an objective”. Babelfish, a precursor to Google Translate, was named for the creature in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which could instantly translate any language to any other. The same novel series also inspired IBM’s Deep Blue, and Google’s Deep Mind, modelled on Deep Thought, a supercomputer programmed to answer the meaning of life. Google Earth came from software in the novel Snow Crash, which also invented the Metaverse that Facebook is trying to bring to life.

In one of the most valuable contributions to invention, Author C. Clarke’s “Dial F for Frankenstein” inspired Tim Berners Lee to invent the internet. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey has been credited with multiple inventions, including space travel, space stations, voice controlled AIs and tablet computers. Samsung filed a still image of the movie in its patent dispute with Apple to show the concept predated the iPad. However Steve Jobs hinted at a different source of inspiration, by featuring the latest Star Trek movie on the screen at the iPad’s 2010 unveiling, a show that conceptualized the “PADD”, or “Personal Access Display Device”. Star Trek inspired an impressive roster of inventions, including 3D printing, MP3s and mobile phones, and Star Wars gave us the ideas for holograms and prosthetics.

It’s not just futuristic technology that comes from fiction: even everyday things like credit cards (Looking Backward, Bellamy), defibrillator machines (Frankenstein, Shelley), and automatic doors (When the Sleeper Wakes, Wells) first appeared in novels. Both wireless headphones and mp3 players featured in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, around 40 years before their invention. Digital billboards were inspired by Blade Runner. The taser used by law enforcement agents the world over, came from Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle. Biofuel came from Gulliver’s Travels. The idea for Biometric Security was popularized by Back to the Future.

Alas, we’re still waiting for hoverboards. Flying cars have been deemed equally impractical, as have James Bond inspired jet packs and submarine cars, though Elon Musk has proposed designs. Being the self-appointed person in the world currently doing the most to bring sci fi to life, Musk also is working on self driving cars (Knight Rider, Larson), brain interfaces (The Matrix, The Wachowskis), and colonizing mars (Red Planet, Heinlein).

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