Have you noticed how many tech ideas imagined in science fiction eventually come true? There’s a lot. Actually, more than a lot. Almost everything has come true if you go back far enough in time. Obviously not all recent concepts have materialized yet but tech ideas imagined in the 19th century or early 20th century are here today: space travel (Jules Verne), credit cards (Edward Bellamy), Video chat (Hugo Gernsbeck), networked security cameras (George Orwell) and many more. Of course there are lots of recent ones: computers, the Star Trek flip phone, space stations, satellites, laser weapons, self driving cars, robots, voice recognition, flying cars (hovercrafts and a few home made cars) and so on.
What’s around the corner? Quantum entanglement holds the possibility of exceeding the speed of light, there are firms working on versions of the Star Trek tri-corder, 3D printers are close to building human organs, the Star Trek food replicator is almost here now (3D printers), non-living replicators are here now (3D printers) and how far are we from replicating an animal, a human? When will we be able to download the mind of a human and transfer it to another body? In fifty years will we have nano-bots running through our bodies, repairing damaged cells, thereby extending our lifespan into the hundreds of years?
How is this possible? How is it that a huge number of ideas in science fiction come true? Are we just lucky guessers? Do we only imagine concepts that are possible? Or is something else going on?
Now I read that some scientists from Australia are speculating that reality may not exist—that, like in the Matrix, we don’t live in a real world. If it’s true then anything is possible. Our “reality” could change to match our wishes, to match our imagination. Perhaps the fact that so many of our science fiction tech ideas come true is proof that reality does not exist. It’s a scary thought, but my goodness, it does cause the imagination to soar.
And who knows where it will land.
Or what will come true.
All the best,
PG.