When Sci-Fi Becomes Science
July 25, 2010 11:35 AM

What are some examples of science fiction that have become science?

For example, Jules Verne arguably conceived of the fax machine, and Arthur C. Clarke arguably came up with the idea for satellites. What are some other examples of sci-fi that came "true" and are now part of our everyday lives?
posted by juniperesque to Science & Nature (27 answers total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
Personal desktop computers and floppy disks ala Star Trek (the original series). There are many other ST examples.
posted by Mertonian at 11:37 AM on July 25, 2010


Do you know Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward"? Man, almost everything in that book.

From Wikipedia: "Although Bellamy's novel did not discuss technology or the economy in detail, commentators frequently compare Looking Backward with actual economic and technological developments.

For example, Julian West is taken to a store which (with its descriptions of cutting out the middleman to cut down on waste in a similar way to the consumers' cooperatives of his own day based on the Rochdale Principles of 1844) somewhat resembles a modern warehouse club like BJ's, Costco, or Sam's Club.

He additionally introduces the concept of credit cards in chapters 9, 10, 11, 13, 25, and 26. All citizens receive "credit" based on their production, which apparently is more equitable, but in fact may be similar to, say, the USSR, which did not abolish wage labor.

Bellamy also predicts both sermons and music being available in the home through cable "telephone"."
posted by GaelFC at 11:42 AM on July 25, 2010


Waldo and Magic, Inc.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Those are some classic examples.
posted by procrastination at 11:43 AM on July 25, 2010


Microwave ovens were mentioned in the Robert Heinlein novel Farmer in the Sky. See here.
posted by sacrifix at 11:45 AM on July 25, 2010


They were making test tube babies in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1931).
posted by phunniemee at 11:46 AM on July 25, 2010


For what it's worth, Clarke's notion had to do with geostationary satellites, and he proposed it in a completely legit engineering paper, not a work of science fiction. Here it is.
posted by mumkin at 11:46 AM on July 25, 2010


In Heinlein's "Space Cadet", written in 1948, one of the boys has what we would now describe as a "cell phone", a portable phone that he carries in his pocket.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:49 AM on July 25, 2010


Lasers to blow shit out of the sky. Now if they'll just mount that in a cool mecha that change into hovertanks, we can get started.
posted by Askr at 11:50 AM on July 25, 2010


Shockwave Rider: The Internets.
posted by musofire at 11:53 AM on July 25, 2010


And just to be a complete contrarian (you did say arguably), if you're referring to Verne's description of faxing in his 1863 Paris in the XXth Century, that's very much subsequent to Alexander Bain's patent for a fax machine, issued in 1843 (when Verne was 15).
posted by mumkin at 11:55 AM on July 25, 2010


At one point in Gulliver's Travels, Swift tosses off a comment that Mars has two moons. At that time no one knew whether that was true, but it turned out to be.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:00 PM on July 25, 2010


ToDAY third MAY twenty-TEN come aGAIN was an interesting Metafilter post concerning this.

One that I really like is the launch countdown, which was first used in Fritz Lang's Frau im Mond.

The whole matrix/simulated world trope has become much more recognizable and mainstream with the rise of the internet and MMOs in particular. We don't really have any way to simulate human intelligence, but we have in many ways created virtual worlds that we can 'live' in to some extent.

Of course, many spaceflight related concepts feature quite heavily in science fiction before (and after) becoming 'real'. Often the scientists are actually involved in writing or consulting science fiction. Things like spacesuits, moon landings and radio communication pretty much evolve in science fiction before becoming science.
posted by Harry at 12:19 PM on July 25, 2010


Not a ground-shaking example, but Quantum Leap's vision of the "near future" (supposed to be ~1999, filmed in 1989) had noiseless cars with neon lights underneath, and LEDs on everything. They were only about ten years off.
posted by vorfeed at 12:27 PM on July 25, 2010


Neuromancer's description/metaphor for information transit influenced the formation of the WWW.
posted by griphus at 12:54 PM on July 25, 2010


Ender's Game has something very similar to the internet.

I know Star Trek's already been mentioned (and there are so many of these from the series!), but lately I've been watching TNG and I've been amazed at some things they use that are eerily similar to Ipads.
posted by meese at 1:48 PM on July 25, 2010


Somewhere in Isaac Asimovi's Foundation trilogy, a girl's dictation is processed by speech recognition. In 1979, that was cooler than shit.
posted by Joe Beese at 2:16 PM on July 25, 2010


meese: "Ender's Game has something very similar to the internet."

As does Robert Heinlein's Friday (1982).
posted by Joe Beese at 2:18 PM on July 25, 2010


Dick Tracy's two-way wrist TV--an upgrade, which Wikipedia dates at 1964, of his earlier two-way wrist radio--has finally achieved the big leagues with the iPhone's video-chat capabilities, IMO. 'Course, the iPhone isn't worn on the wrist, but the example is close enough.
posted by Gordion Knott at 3:32 PM on July 25, 2010


So many examples; here's one that's rather unusual...to reprint a recent blog posting, which could've been an FPP in the blue,

Did you ever see The Man Who Fell to Earth? A key point is a bit of advanced technology the alien character Thomas Newton (played by David Bowie) introduces, thereby becoming wealthy. It's a camera and/or film which makes instant prints -- in the scene where it's demonstrated, a couple takes pictures of each other while fooling around, then open the camera and pull the already-developed 35mm film off the spool. Digital cameras have leap-frogged all that, in a way, and yet the film's mid-70s futuristic vision has arrived -- the Fujifilm PIVI MP-300 Portable Printer which doesn't use ink, but special paper. The unit also contains a camera, and it extrudes a business-card-sized photo in about 40 seconds. Only available in Japan but a guy selling 'em on eBay's posted a FAQ.


Waldo and Magic, Inc.

I think we mean just the first story, Waldo.
posted by Rash at 4:09 PM on July 25, 2010


When I'm looking for scifi that has become real, Technovelgy is the place I go.
posted by AzraelBrown at 4:39 PM on July 25, 2010


Arthur C Clarke describes something like an iPad in 2001 A Space Odyssey, albeit with a more limited functionality.
posted by Rora at 6:21 PM on July 25, 2010


The inventor of the modern waterbed was unable to get a patent since waterbeds had been described in sufficient detail by Robert Heinlein years earlier.
posted by fings at 7:25 PM on July 25, 2010


The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing houses of Ursa Minor -> Smartphone browsing Wikipedia.


Actually, on a recent reading of the book, I noticed that it didn't quite work that way - it was clear from the description of the update process that the Guide content was stored on the device itself, and periodically updated over something resembling wifi, instead of being stored on a server and retrieved each time you want to view a page. Probably a good idea, since you never know when you might find yourself in need of information but without a Sub-Etha connection. (Traal?)

posted by primer_dimer at 2:35 AM on July 26, 2010


Isaac Asimov coined the term robotics before there were robots.
posted by jander03 at 7:01 AM on July 26, 2010


Heinlen's Starship Troopers introduced the idea of Power Armor, and while the reality of that is still in its infancy, we are starting to see some real advances with powered exoskeletons in different which are already helping people..
posted by quin at 12:27 PM on July 26, 2010


Sorry phatkitten but check the moving sidewalk entry in wikipedia. Then look into The Roads Must Roll by Robert Heinlein (1940) and The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov (1953). HG Wells wrote of them as well, I believe.
posted by Rash at 4:48 PM on July 27, 2010


Your point is valid -- it's just by the time of the Jetsons, they'd become a cliche.
posted by Rash at 4:50 PM on July 27, 2010


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