Was the flat screen TV inspired by Orwell's “1984” or was it a sudden idea? Did Jules Verne invent the submarine when writing “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”? Should we blame “The Liberation of the World” and Wells for inventing the atomic bomb, or did the Manhattan Project guys do it all themselves?
As a great fan of the future, but also of science fiction, it is inevitable that I periodically ask myself questions like these. In fact, the more science fiction you read, the more you realize that over time, an outdated "fantasy" resembles current reality. Science fiction predicts the future? Or simply influences enthusiasts and researchers, leading them to turn it into reality?
The line between prediction and influence is blurred. I have my own idea: For me, science fiction authors have changed the course of the future over the last two centuries. Just as scientists are important in inventing new things, science fiction authors and works have been important in giving birth to new ideas. Here are three that may have inspired, or rather: influenced, the future.
A Logician Called Joe – Murray Leinster
We have become dependent on the Internet: it is difficult to imagine going back, and for those born after the 90s it is almost impossible to remember what was there before. All our important documents are in the cloud, our messages are around via email and social media: the internet is part of our lifestyle.
Since the early 900s, there have been many science fiction works that have predicted this technology. Or something similar. Among all, “A Logician Called Joe” by stands out Murray Leinster, pseudonym of the American writer Will F. Jenkins. This 1946 story describes a future in which every home has a device called Logic. Logic is capable of transmitting and storing information and serves as a source of entertainment and news.
You know how logicians work. You place one in your house. It looks like an old image receiver, except that instead of knobs it has a keyboard: you tap on the keys to ask for what you want. It is connected to the large-capacity memory via the Carson selective circuit. For example, type “SNAFU Station” on the keyboard. The Carson circuit clicks and whatever visual program SNAFU is beaming appears on your logician's screen. Or you type “Sally Hancock's Phone”, the screen winks and sizzles and you find yourself connected to the logic of her house, and if someone answers you have an audiovisual connection. And that's not all: try asking the weather forecast or who won today's race in Hialeah or who was the first lady in the White House during Garfield's presidency or what PDQ & R is selling today, and all of this will appear on your screen too .
From “A Logician Called Joe”, 1946
What does it remind you of?
Looking Back – Edward Bellamy
When science fiction was still a relatively new thing, Edward Bellamy wrote a book about the future in 1887, predicting what the world would be like in 2000. Although his predictions were mostly positive and do not reflect reality as we know it today, the book contains formidable insights.
The story: A man battling insomnia is hypnotized to fall asleep and ends up waking up 113 years later in the basement of his house, in which (of course) new tenants now live. He now finds himself in a world where poverty doesn't exist and people can retire at 45 after working just a few hours a day at a job they love. Everyone is equal, regardless of gender identity, beliefs or background. In essence, Bellamy imagined a socialist utopia where everything worked perfectly. Probably unachievable for much longer, or perhaps never.
In the details, however, it's all there. The author envisioned an Amazon-like online store, displaying his items for people to see and order, to have them delivered to their home via a tube system. The payments? Through special "credit cards". Amazing. There is even space for the description of an on-demand music service that seems like a precursor to Spotify.
If you don't know it, read it.
1984 - George Orwell
Much has been said about this extraordinary masterpiece. Works like this offer so many political, social and ideological insights that even here someone has left out some interesting details. Among all, 1984 introduced large screen televisions.
In the nation of Oceania, the protagonist of the book, everyone had to have this large device at home to look at, and be observed by. This ante litteram TV could literally see every corner of the house. It is the exact description of the technology we have in our homes today, apart from the surveillance function, perhaps.
George Orwell's novel also talks about facial recognition and text-to-speech conversion software, technologies that are still being perfected today thanks to artificial intelligence. With his expression “Big Brother is watching you”, Orwell anticipated a future of “induced public opinion”, of pervasive media and conditioning.
A dark look, in this case, at an all too probable future.
