More Examples for Andrew, Plus Some Questions

I'm not sure how much +Andrew Perazzo's last post works into his overall topic of Brandon Sandersen and Awe, but I figure it couldn't hurt to give him a couple more examples of how sci-fi has inspired real-world research and discoveries.

1-Genetic Memory
This video was one +Greg Bayles sent to me me last semester about how a study confirmed that at least some kind of "memory" indeed can be passed through genes, an idea made popular in the fiction of the Assassin's Creed vidoegame series.

I asked the question then, and I'll ask it again now. Would that study have been done if that idea wasn't already popular because of Assassin's Creed and other works of fiction that have played with the idea? Is one functional aspect of awe in fiction to inspire us to create more awesome reality?

2-Tablet Computers
Long before the iPad, people saw this on their TV screens all over America:

A "tablet" in Star Trek: The Next Generation

Now, ironically, thousands of people watch those shows on devices that look eerily similar. It might sound like a silly question, but is part of the iPad's success because it's the closest to what sci-fi promised us? There were tablet computers before the iPad, believe it or not, and arguably much more productive and feature-rich ones. But the iPad won in design, and fulfilled people's dreams more fully.

It was a kind of tragedy for me when I saw Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and half of their awesome futuristic gadgets were either run by iPads or were just iPad apps. Can we seriously not think of anything cooler, even in fiction? Do we need a new wave of sci-fi/fantasy writers to push the limit again to inspire real-world innovation?

3-Consumerism

This one's different, but super important to me. Aldous Huxley predicted in Brave New World 1931 (1931!) that in the future "...all country sports shall entail the use of elaborate apparatus. So that [people] consume manufactured articles..." Reading it that way, it sounds ridiculous--all you need to play soccer is a ball! How terrible to defile sports with such blatant consumerism! But what does it take to play soccer today? Ball, pads, jersey, shoes, membership fee to a team or whatever, travel expenses (nailed it, Huxley!), and on and on. Even running today requires $200+ shoes, special non-chaffing shirts (protect your nipples!), brand-name energy boosting this and that, and on and on.

Reading Brave New World in its own time caused awe at the thought of a future that could ever possibly be like that. Reading Brave New World today inspires awe because in so many ways the world has become like that.

So, the question arises, what are science fiction and fantasy writers saying about the future today? Should we be paying more attention? Is awe, at times, meant also to warn, or to instruct?



There's some stuff, Andrew. Hope it helps!