kuyanatnatdkrx7 I feel bad for all the skeptics that know real science who told us that the alarmists were paid for and bought with taxpayer's money, who won't live to see this corrupt global warming nuts brought to justice. Gore, Suzuki, Hansen, Obama and the rest of the alarmists who took advantage of the simple people of this planet should be jailed. They are so much like Jim Jones, but advanced the scam much further.
And my answer is: Pattern-recognition. They didn't predict the future, but we are extremely good as interpreting the past ideas as being (close enough to) what we see today. Also, sometimes the authors actually inspire the future, H.G. Wells for example basically invented the tank to the point he received a thank you from Churchill for it. It is probable the same is true for aerial warfare.
So instead of prediction, an educated guess would be more precise? But at the same time, prediction is not a bad word. In fact, meteorologist can't really "predict" the weather. All inferences are based off of the pattern-recognition found in data from the past. The same is with Marketing and other industries. But they still use the word predict. I think it turn the power of understanding into a superpower!
kavtoM Inspiring the future would be saying we need to this or that and providing evidence for why, or doing something that someone decided he/she could do better, and did. Predicting the future is saying “we are going to have a gigantic civilisation spanning the Milky way and beyond in the 10 years” and be right about it. In simpler terms trying to predict the future can help inspire people to make your predictions a reality, but trying to inspire people into a certain future is not predicting the future. I might of contradicted myself, but i don’t care.
Science Fiction inspires by example instead of exhortation. Instead of telling people they *should* create something and listing reasons why, they *show* a world in which it already exists, and people can see for themselves how useful something is. It's usually much more effective, because people can see how it would fit into their world and can imagine themselves in that world, instilling a belief in the tech that is hard to match with bare descriptions. Now, if only we could get more modern authors, especially YA authors, to show us inspiring, optimistic futures, instead of post-apocalyptic depressing ones....
@@CritterKeeper01 Say it again. I'm tired of reading about dystopian futures when we already live in a dystopian present. Let's inspire some hope please.
@@kavtoM People always like dystopian futures. It gives you a sense of "I don't want to end like that, what can I make today to avoid it". And hope isn't a totally good thing, look at religion and the bible, it gives a great message of hope, be good and good things will happen, but most of the time just end in wars or bad things.
Does Science fiction predict the future or does it inspire science to create that future. Like the original flip phones - based on the communicators from the original Star Trek.
True. Another good example would be the current prosthetic body parts scientists are working on, ones that connect to the nerves, which are actually mostly inspired by Luke Skywalker's prosthetic hand from Star Wars in many ways.
I've gotten some really great questions about the video over at the blog too, check out the discussion here: www.itsokaytobesmart.com/tagged/Answer-Bag
What if it's not prediction? What if our greatest scientific discoveries are fueled and inspired by our science fiction? I mean, that wouldn't account for discovery of natural phenomena, but in terms of human research, perhaps we're driven by what we read and hear.
They've made hoverboards though... it was after this video was made so that's understandable to miss. They are also only in the testing phase still. But it is possible I believe for there to be a hoverboard by Oct. 15 next year.
you forget people read or watch or hear about science fiction stories and inventions about the future, and this inspires them to make them into actual things
+ben fleming agree but strangely there are people like the famous nostradamus who lived centuries ago that predicts the exact dates of death of well known people
@@nathanjohnpalaogaming4872, "A logic Named Joe" is the name of the book It is the name because "a logic" refers to a weird, old computer and the main character names the "logic" Joe after it gains the ability to have some level of humainity. Information comes from Wikipedia so please take this with a grain of salt.
I am 61. I was lucky enough as a young girl to have a friend who was deeply into science fiction. She had all of Heinlein, Bradbury, Well's, everyone. I remember reading Stranger in a Strange Land with her and the two of discussing what we would use as our identify, our "screen saver". What a wonderful memory. Thank you for this.
My favorite has got to be Star Trek's flip-top phones. To the point where Motorola actually created a phone called Star-Tac. Also the fact that some scientists are actually looking into Warp Drive possibilities...
I know a lot of engineers love reading science fiction so sometimes i feel it is a engineering making science fiction a reality, at least with stuff like the automatic doors.
Sometimes people should wonder if SciFi predicted the future, or created it. For example, if we discover how we could make forcefields, do you really think they'd be called anything but forcefields? And couldn't all of those predictions about the internet have inspired people to create it?
SciFi solves real-life problems with technology that has not been invented yet. But the problems remain, and as the component parts of the imagined technology are slowly developed, engineers adapt them and combine them to create the device that SciFi has been using for awhile. So I believe the key to predicting the future is to correctly identify problems in need of a solution today.
One of my favorite SF predictions is from "The Mote in Gods Eye" by Niven and Pournelle. It perfectly described a modern smart phone connected to the net.
What we don't always discuss is the influence that science fiction has on actual science. We work towards the sorts of goals science fiction sets for us; the example of the Columbia missions is a great one, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the NASA engineers used the name as an homage to Verne. We want to see the kinds of things science fiction authors have introduced to us, and then those things get invented...it doesn't seem like a coincidence to me! Especially now that classic sci-fi like Asimov, Wells, and others are all such big parts of our cultural lexicon, their imaginings seem like goals. And, additionally, I wonder how much of these predictions are actually super spot on - how much of their description is just close enough to be interpreted as something we have today, and how much of it is actually reality.
At least part of it is the fact that science fiction helps inspire some of those that becomes scientists to become scientists and there memories of the books influence what they perceive could be possible.
When it comes to the Total Recall part, I swear I very recently saw a documentary about future technology where they mentioned that memory implantation will be a reality by 2050.
People see things in science fiction and try to make it reality, the submarine was based of the book 20,000 leagues under the sea. The mobile phone was inspired by Star Trek. Voice recognition software started in science fiction.
Me too. Every year. It was really hard for me to leave out Demolition Man from this video too. I mean in the future, all restaurants are Taco Bell. How great would that be?
There are probably many ways Science fiction becomes real. One of the ways i think Science fiction becomes real are because people may be motivated to try to find a way to make it real. And i guess that many things can't be made because we still are far away from having what we need to make it, or it may be impossible to make in any way.
It's interesting how Asimov himself imagined a way of predicting human behaviour, called "psychohistory" in his Foundation novels. An idea that you can predict the future behavior of large groups of people based on simple mathematics is very appealing to me. The wishful thinking that you can explain human nature with something as simple as numbers, and bring some order to the chaos.
Although, of course, the psychohistorians didn't actually get it right. Several of the stories are actually about times when one extraordinary individual knocked the collective prediction on it's ear.
A lot of the reason that good science fiction seems to predict the future could be that scientists and engineers are inspired by good science fiction and set their goals to where the science fiction says they will be.
I think the one aspect that this video doesn't address is the self-fulling prophesy, which I think is best summed up in a quote from the Matrix. "What's really going to bake your noodle later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?" That fact that the act of prediction itself can mold the future. The people who create the technology of tomorrow are often influenced by the science fiction of today and that in turn affects what they create or how they create it.
When you think about it, these predictions aren't too surprising. One driving force in technology has been communication, and so to imagine a world where communication is done more frequently and more easily isn't that much of a stretch. Even accessing information has been a trend for hundreds of years, so predicting that we will all have better access to information in the future also isn't a stretch. Clark didn't come up with geostationary satellites out of the blue, either. He bounced signals off of the Moon's surface when he had down time as a radar expert. He *knew* he could get signals back if the moon was more reflective, but the problem with the moon is that it's not always in the same part of the sky. So he thought of a device that was reflective, and that orbited at a stationary position. That's just smart thinking, not predictability. I think that's what sets these writers apart. They were intelligent enough to think of a problem and develop an elegant solution with the available knowledge that they had. It's not surprising so many of their predictions came true, because they were so well based in science that they were kind of an inevitability.
Science fiction if often not a predictor of the future but rather a blue print of a possible future. Just like project managers good sci-fi writers often know how to avoid scope creep and keep goals realistic.
For me one of the most interesting aspects of great science fiction is that it not only informs the possibilities of tomorrow but informs the questions of tomorrow. For example William Gibson's recent near future novels - the Blue Ant trilogy - not only makes us think about the future possibilities of the technology we interact with, it also makes us think about the repercussions of what this interactions mean. In a world which is increasingly becoming "tomorrow" these are the types of insights that sci-fi (or spec-fi to borrow from Neal Stephenson) continues to offer, more so then the simple (simple being in scare quotes) prognostication of future technical developments.
Actually, it is 2015 and we DO have hoverboards-- a company called Hendo Hoverboards makes them. (Although it is true that they aren't nearly as common as in the movie). Also there are flying cars (go to AeroMobil's website to see a really cool video) but again, not common. Still, they exist!
Update: the Saturn IV that carried Apollo astronauts to the moon weighed 6.2 million pounds. Where do they get off counting only the tip of the rocket so they can align this malarkey with Jules Verne's predictions? I'd say that Mr. Verne's predictions were amazingly close enough without the need to pad them with BS.
While I found this extremely eerie and awesome, I feel compelled to point out that you, yourself, stated that science is about observing the past.... usually. so, to me, it stands to reason to think that the reason these things are considered "right" is because someone read it and said "man, this would be awesome!" and then set to work on learning how it would be possible. it's not so much as a "prediction" as it would be a "inspiration". Based on technological evolution of the times, those who wrote the "predictions" could accurately guess, sure. but, they would serve to give someone else a springboard into something that they would love to have, by laying the groundwork.
+Jherrick Your right but every idea is inspired by other peoples ideas or things you saw. Einstein had a theory about gravitational waves and he set up everything right and did the math. He also put an equation in there that would show an opposite force to the big bang. And now gravitational waves have been proven to exist. Yes those scientist where inspired by einsteins idea, but they figured how to make it work.
This is precisely what I think happens, that scientists themselves are often inspired by the science fiction. But I didn't want to give the answer away in case there are other opinions out there. But don't we get into a chicken and egg problem somewhere? The seed for the sci-fi idea must come out of something plausible and scientific, so where is that born?
One you have forgot is Frank Herbert, with his Dune Series. Bene Tleilax are genetic masters. The weirding module to turn sound into a weapon could be based on Tesla's vibration technology. His long view of history and how cultures change and evolve over time is insightful. We are already hunting for new chemicals in the natural world constantly, we might naught find "spice" per say, but maybe another new compound or substance that will have similar effects.
Yes this. People keep confusing the line of causality when things happen. It's almost like people who invented things read books that give them ideas to work towards. The things we have depend on how easy it is to make something and how badly people have tried to make them happen.
Also check out William Olaf Stapledon’s _Star Maker_, a novel written in 1937. That book is often known for the author’s prediction of genetic engineering & post-WWII societal changes, but what strikes me as genius are his vision that foreshadowed the emergence of many concepts in high-energy physics: String theory, high-dimensional space-time, cyclic universe that preserves information, etc. Olaf Stapledon was not trained in science but he drew much inspiration from contemporary scientific knowledge e.g. relativistic effects on light & time, star formation, etc.. It is this kind of friendly and intellectual flow of ideas between practitioners of science & the arts that keeps modern culture rich and insightful...
If you haven't heard of it, look up the Alcubierre drive. It's theoretical and runs off a massive amount of energy that we don't know how to produce (The equivalent of the mass of Jupiter in negative energy), but they are working on making it cheaper and actually possible. It could make us go 10x the speed of light without breaking Relativity.
+Shane O'Keigan Hmm, how would we break relativity anyway? I believe relativity is a fluid or changing thing. So how could we break relativity? We might be able to tear it, like tearing cloth, but not "break" it, like breaking stone. Unless you mean break the rules of relativity. Then we might able to do that deed. I don't know whether I'm trying to be harsh or not. I hope I'm not. I mean to get usage of words good/right. I'm a stickler for words and usage of words. That's why I was critiquing your use of the term "break".
I think that in the future we'll have smart houses and a lot of things well be connected to the main OS of the house. like there are smart washing machines that notify you on your phone when the washing is done, and those lightbulbs that adjust to the light outside and you can set from your phone etc. I think everything well be connected to a main system and we'll be able to do a lot of thing through our phones. like text the bread maker to start making the bread. and maybe we'll have sensors in the whole house and if think I left my wallet home I can just scan the house through my phone to look for the wallet. any thoughts?
i've sooo waited to talk about this with someone, i think this curious thing (the fact that science fiction seems to predict the way technology develops) it's to attribute to the fact that some of them have been scientists themselves (giving them the means to imagin moreaccurately the way things can develop) the moreromantic explanation for me is that science fiction like any type of narration in ART and art has always had a role in human histor and society, that is inspiring men to dream and do things. specifically science fiction narrates about the future, and what better way to change the future that with the means of science and technology? after all every kid who is passionate about science fiction is very likely to become a scientist having dreamed all his youth about new planets and labs and machines of some sorts. so that's it for me all science fiction and science fiction authors do is inspire the young scientist of tomorrow, who one day will remember the things in this stories and tryendelessly to render them real through science (I'm italian so I don't speakenglish very well, sorry for every blunder)
Often things that are predicted are obviously going to happen if you understand current tech trends and fundamentals in science. Automatic doors are a simple example of this, if electric motors already exist then thinking that people will apply them to doors one day isn't so far sighted.
The Tomorrow Paradox suggests that all future events are unpredictable and unknown... unless they are influenced by an event in the past. Should an event that causes a specific future event not come to pass, then the future event is replaced with another unpredictable one.
"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T MENTION THIS BOOK! QUICK, SOMEONE GIVE ME A SOMA!.....all better now. Sorry, friend. I forgive you.
I know! We decided to leave out Orwell and Huxley because they weren't as "technology" oriented as much as social and political, although their stories certainly have plenty of both. I mean, do we bring in A Clockwork Orange then? The intersection between dystopian futurism and sci-fi is so fuzzy. There's just too much to cover. Sigh.
asimov and clarke, were not only scifi writers but, like sagan, great popularizers of science, and i have enjoyed their nonfiction as much as their fiction since i was a young child. in fact, i first learned about science from a series of illustrated nonfiction children's book written by asimov. this was my first exposure to any of his works. when i was checking one out for the 100th time the librarian told me i couldn't, that it was for the older kids, and i wouldn't understand it, but i took it out anyway the next chance i got
I love all of these! Another answer could be that these were great writers, and the people that read them went on to want to MAKE those things happen, thus the things they predicted came about thanks to their ideas being spread! But it's crazy uncanny hearing Arthur C Clark talking about what is essentially smart phones!
I never took War of the Worlds seriously for one main reason....ANY alien...ANY planet...ANYWHERE...distance between them not mattering...Any aliens that are advanced enough to travel to another world would never be so stupid as to just touch down and wander out into an environment filled with microbes they've never encountered before, with absolutely no protection. Beings with such little forethought would never have reached the point of interstellar travel.
Or that the aliens maybe completely robotic. Just as we humans will be someday. I don't see far future man being part flesh and part machine but more all machine. If its possible for us to do so. One day in the far future more people will be plugging themselves up to the matrix before or when they die transfering the mind into a virtual reality world or just transfer thoughts and memories over to some super computer that holds millions of dead souls to be transplanted into a robotic body for them to be immortal beings. To never have to worry about starving or thirst of water. And when they get injured to the point of killing a normal human being. They would have all knowledge at the snap of a finger of how to fix themselves and all collective knowledge of humans past history. Knowing what humans where like and our imperfections and more then likely think of us as primitive dumb creatures with flesh bodies that where so weak. The old flesh bodies will be looked at as inferior designs of a fictional god to them. At the early stages of technology that we have now you already see where most young people gravitate to its robots, video games, computers, and science fiction of the future. We as humans today would not be able to transition to this mind set because of our religious beliefs but our children's children and even further out will become more accustom to the transition over to half human and half machine only to one day be fully machine.
I think that these writers are so well known that most of these inventions are not predicted by them, but rather inspired by them. Enough people read about home computers and wonder, "how can I make this happen?" And it becomes a reality.
Gene Roddenbury predicted a few things as well that came true or are coming true, wireless commicators, tablet computers, touch screens and quantum computing for example. There is a bit of a grey area when it comes to Star Trek however as it inspires scientists to try and build the technology portrayed in the show such as warp drive (not quite a thing but work is being done to see if it's possible) and teleportation.
NASA actually made an Alcubiere drive work in the lab, and confirmed it dose indeed work by warping space time. Plans are already underway to see if the bubble can be made big enough to do anything with. Also, the Large Hadron Collider upgrade going into operation this year makes the beams work EXACTLY like a phaser bank. Additionally we are able to teleport entire atoms now, not just individual particles. Replicators function in the same way as the 3d printer, they jsut do it faster and print anything the clear next step in 3d printer technology. A guy in Brittan has made a forcefield using osselaitng magnetic waves that forms a trek like bubble-shield. Let's see, oh! We have made hardlight objects in the lab that have lasted for multiple minutes. Holograms you can touch are now a thing as well, some guys in Japan have made them using ultrasonic waves. Several companies are working to create a device which is basically a medical tricorder. Hyposprays have existed since the late 80s. Gene Roddenbury is a time traveling space wizard. No other alternatives.
Kyle Rhulain _NASA actually made an Alcubiere drive work in the lab_ No, that hasn't happened. _Replicators function in the same way as the 3d printer_ No, they don't. _A guy in Brittan has made a forcefield using osselaitng magnetic waves that forms a trek like bubble-shield._ That's also incorrect. _We have made hardlight objects in the lab that have lasted for multiple minutes._ So is that.
AlbertaGeek its not a force field it's called an active protection shield and we've had them since 1995 they can stop explosives and the such but little else they most certainly ain't stopping a bullet and they use huge quantities of energy that's why only heavy armour uses that system. No we don't have hard light capabilities the concept is little more than a theory pertaining to plasmas tendency to react to magnetic fields, but we cannot even hold or create enough plasma to test that theory. As for the solid holograms.....you really should know better we haven't even figured out the regular things and we most certainly have made zero advancements towards solid ones.
This could not have come at a better time (well a few months would have helped) I'm writing my Uni dissertation on how Sci fi has influenced our design routes Thanks PBS
Some its also self fulfilling prophecy. People see good ideas in sci fi and want to create them. This is happened to Star Trek tech. Even the warp drive is may leave sci fi for fact. One you definitely left outwith a lot of predictions.
"The Machine Stops" by E. M. Forster is a really good scifi dystopia written in 1906. All human interaction is electronic and limited. Video calls, digital music, meals on demand, speech to text - all there. It's kinda like Forster saw us today and wrote a story about how our electronic dependent social media world could go very very wrong.
I think the people who make fantastically accurate predictions aren't pulling the stuff out of thin air, I bet they thought through these things to the point where if they were given enough money and manpower, they could bring about some of those things rather quickly. In 1914 we already knew about radiation and sort of how it worked and all it would take at that point is a clever mind to connect the dots for the A-bomb. I think one of the most important takeaways is that these people came up with really great ideas far in advance, planting the seeds of those ideas in the minds of the people who read their works who have that lightbulb of inspiration one day on how exactly those ideas could be carried out. In a way it's like a self-fulfilling prophacy. Thank you Joe! This video is my favorite because it points out a very interesting thing that should be considered.
Replicators and 3D printers aren't exactly the same thing, but I think you could turn a 3D printer into a replicator by using nanobots that put chemical elements together and manually build molecules in order to build the stuff of your choice before it gets into the tubes of a 3D printer.
The Jetsons has so many things that are now real. Video phones (FaceTime), Computerized Vegas gambling games, an electronic newspaper with video links (viewable on a machine that looks like a computer but uses soft buttons instead of a mouse), electronic event ticket scanning (but their ticketing system not only validates the ticket but takes you to your seat), and an automatic vacuum that really looks like a Roomba.
+Benjamin Brewer Tried that as a tourist in Hungary. All I remember was being thirsty all the time (very hot) and not knowing the Hungarian for "still water".
Cracked Articles did a thing on Future Predictions. Mr Wells was mentioned a lot. Funnily enough there was a man, who's name evades me, that predicted the Titanics building and sinking way before it was conceived. Had it sunk by an iceberg in the arctic, not enough lifeboats, even the dimensions were almost spot on. Great episode. :)
Your only half right Yes there are people with these amazing predictions, BUT the people who invented it were almost set the challenge of inventing it because of these predictors. I'm kinda saying people enjoy making science fiction a reality. like what Edward Kenway and Huntracony said later in the comment section. Like the comment if you agree ?
There are also a large number of predictions which never become true. We just tend to notice and focus on the ones that do end up happening. I believe it's a combination of ignoring predictions that don't happen, making sensible predictions (we tend to invent things that are useful so if you know what people want and have some idea of science you can make reasonably good predictions), and real life imitating fiction.
H.G. Wells got his idea for 'Atomic Bombs' from a paper by Frederick Soddy that commented on the amount of energy that is released by elements as they decay, saying "The man who can put his hand on this store of energy could destroy the world if he chose." H.G. Wells dedicated 'The World Set Free' to Soddy as well! Another little tidbit: Leo Szliard worked out how to make a nuclear chain reaction possible only AFTER reading 'The World Set Free'! Not only did that book predict the Atom Bomb, it had a direct hand in it's development.
"we wont have hover boards by Otc. 2015" xD uh... no one told this information to Lexus i guess seeing how they have been working on such a project and so far its working
+parker cole But what they don't tell you about Lexus' hoverboard is that the concrete underneath it was secretly impregnated with magnets so the supercooled superconductors inside the board would actually float. That's trickery! My friend Kyle explained it at Nerdist: nerdist.com/lexus-claims-it-made-a-hoverboard-heres-how-it-works/
+David Wilson And we still dont do :) lexus made 'hover board' that scaled up Meissner effect (perma-magnet above a superconductor) - not something that hovered on pavement and water on its own. its like saying we have a practical 'jetpack' and then show a dude with a fan on its bag doing acrobatinc in a vertical wind tunel...
Great episode, however don't forget William Gibson and Neuromancer, though it was written in the 80's it had great foresight and decent accuracy about the modern internet. "What if the act of writing it down, in fact, brought it about?"
1:44 - Okay, so those figures that Verne gave were 'not bad'. But you don't mention that Verne's spaceship was a bullet that was to be fired out of a cannon with the astronauts inside!
+Bigjakestudios So what is a cannon? You have some explosive matter, ignite it, have a tube shaped device to direct the force in a defined direction and accelerate the bullet along that trajectory while the cannon stays where it is. So what is a rocket? Basically a cannon turned around. An ongoing explosion burning lots and lots of explosive matter until gravitation of the earth is overcome. Forget the bullet and let the cannon itself fly - yet still the same forces and principles at work.
This presentation of ideas has a distinct similarity to the vlog brothers' videos (now going on for more than 7 years) regarding the sciences, history (US and world) and numerous top 10/50 lists of items.
I think one of the best authors of sci-fi and often taken for granted is E. C. Tubb, with his Dumarest Saga. It is based on a more realistical vision of how mankind would spread to other planets and how chaotic and medieval the colonization of some worlds would become, with many discrepancies such as worlds full of wealth and some full of hazards or archaic societies packed with slavery and turmoil. TO date it is my favorite series of sci fi books and a great experiment into human mind and soeciety as a whole. And this is what most sci fi writers hope to achieve when they dream of the future, of how technology will impact our lives.
I agree with the point that you maid, I also think those science fiction writers often inspire scientist to endeavor to make their favourite childhood science fiction technology come true - a sort of self fulfilling prophecy.
When thousands of people make predictions, chances are some will get several things right and this will inspire somebody to make a youtube video about them.
I think a huge portion of the reason great science fiction writers predict the future is simple: Scientists and especially engineers are great fans of great science fiction. The classic works not only predict the future; they create the future by inspiring engineers to make the predictions real.
![MEGACITIES: Reality or Fiction? [Architecture in Sci-Fi]](/img/n.gif)
I feel bad for the guys who didn't live to see the day to say "I told you so"
Yeah me to, that would have been awesome.
kuyanatnatdkrx7 I feel bad for all the skeptics that know real science who told us that the alarmists were paid for and bought with taxpayer's money, who won't live to see this corrupt global warming nuts brought to justice. Gore, Suzuki, Hansen, Obama and the rest of the alarmists who took advantage of the simple people of this planet should be jailed. They are so much like Jim Jones, but advanced the scam much further.
kuyanatnatdkrx7 Albert Einstein - "I told you so"
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. Albert Einstein
+eagleriver elder Uh, whoa! I LIKE that!
And my answer is: Pattern-recognition. They didn't predict the future, but we are extremely good as interpreting the past ideas as being (close enough to) what we see today. Also, sometimes the authors actually inspire the future, H.G. Wells for example basically invented the tank to the point he received a thank you from Churchill for it. It is probable the same is true for aerial warfare.
So instead of prediction, an educated guess would be more precise? But at the same time, prediction is not a bad word. In fact, meteorologist can't really "predict" the weather. All inferences are based off of the pattern-recognition found in data from the past. The same is with Marketing and other industries. But they still use the word predict. I think it turn the power of understanding into a superpower!
Some of these are not predicting the future, but inspiring the future.
kavtoM Inspiring the future would be saying we need to this or that and providing evidence for why, or doing something that someone decided he/she could do better, and did. Predicting the future is saying “we are going to have a gigantic civilisation spanning the Milky way and beyond in the 10 years” and be right about it. In simpler terms trying to predict the future can help inspire people to make your predictions a reality, but trying to inspire people into a certain future is not predicting the future. I might of contradicted myself, but i don’t care.
Science Fiction inspires by example instead of exhortation. Instead of telling people they *should* create something and listing reasons why, they *show* a world in which it already exists, and people can see for themselves how useful something is. It's usually much more effective, because people can see how it would fit into their world and can imagine themselves in that world, instilling a belief in the tech that is hard to match with bare descriptions.
Now, if only we could get more modern authors, especially YA authors, to show us inspiring, optimistic futures, instead of post-apocalyptic depressing ones....
@@CritterKeeper01 Say it again. I'm tired of reading about dystopian futures when we already live in a dystopian present. Let's inspire some hope please.
@@kavtoM People always like dystopian futures. It gives you a sense of "I don't want to end like that, what can I make today to avoid it". And hope isn't a totally good thing, look at religion and the bible, it gives a great message of hope, be good and good things will happen, but most of the time just end in wars or bad things.
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”
― Abraham Lincoln
alriight, i have to agree with this quote.
Thing is, every one of these men look like they could be a Timelord.
What if they're all the same Time Lord in different bodies?
@@1np3rsp3ct1v3 Fashion has changed a lot since the 1800s XD They might have been quite passable back then.
Great joke next time my Tardis center console is renovated since the 1960s BBC perpetuates an image of educated civility.
The NSA part was hilarious! xD
+Bert The Derp "I love the NSA the NSA is my friend"
+Bert The Derp I pray to the NSA
At least i know they are listening
Unlike that shitty "god".
Ruby Honey
YA! XDDD
The nsa probably thought so too
Does Science fiction predict the future or does it inspire science to create that future. Like the original flip phones - based on the communicators from the original Star Trek.
Andrew Marshall this is exactly what I was thinking. Because what a coincidence
I think it's a bit of both, a "Did we invent math or discover it?" kind of question.
There is no 'rule'.... sometimes it happens one way, sometimes the other.
yeah i think we copy the ideas and make it a reality
True. Another good example would be the current prosthetic body parts scientists are working on, ones that connect to the nerves, which are actually mostly inspired by Luke Skywalker's prosthetic hand from Star Wars in many ways.
I've gotten some really great questions about the video over at the blog too, check out the discussion here: www.itsokaytobesmart.com/tagged/Answer-Bag
Great episode today. Reminds me that I have a whole lot of Wells to read yet.
Now I really can't wait to go back to the library. :)
This episode makes me want to read the Foundation series again.
What if it's not prediction? What if our greatest scientific discoveries are fueled and inspired by our science fiction? I mean, that wouldn't account for discovery of natural phenomena, but in terms of human research, perhaps we're driven by what we read and hear.
They've made hoverboards though... it was after this video was made so that's understandable to miss. They are also only in the testing phase still. But it is possible I believe for there to be a hoverboard by Oct. 15 next year.
you forget people read or watch or hear about science fiction stories and inventions about the future, and this inspires them to make them into actual things
Maybe these predictions came true because a lot of people were listening to them and trying to make them a reality.
Yeah, maybe. I believe it might be most likely that that is true.
+ben fleming this has proved to be partially true.
That's called a self fulfilling prophecy
+ben fleming agree but strangely there are people like the famous nostradamus who lived centuries ago that predicts the exact dates of death of well known people
As with Moore's law
In 1946 Murray Leinster predicted the internet, Google searches, etc., in his story: "A Logic Named Joe."
That's the best name for a Logic or really anything else
Whos joe?
@@nathanjohnpalaogaming4872, "A logic Named Joe" is the name of the book
It is the name because "a logic" refers to a weird, old computer and the main character names the "logic" Joe after it gains the ability to have some level of humainity.
Information comes from Wikipedia so please take this with a grain of salt.
@@nathanjohnpalaogaming4872 Joe man's is this
I am 61. I was lucky enough as a young girl to have a friend who was deeply into science fiction. She had all of Heinlein, Bradbury, Well's, everyone. I remember reading Stranger in a Strange Land with her and the two of discussing what we would use as our identify, our "screen saver". What a wonderful memory. Thank you for this.
My favorite has got to be Star Trek's flip-top phones. To the point where Motorola actually created a phone called Star-Tac.
Also the fact that some scientists are actually looking into Warp Drive possibilities...
But let's face it, all in all, Star Trek doesn't have the best track record when it comes to good science in their fiction.
I know a lot of engineers love reading science fiction so sometimes i feel it is a engineering making science fiction a reality, at least with stuff like the automatic doors.
Sometimes people should wonder if SciFi predicted the future, or created it. For example, if we discover how we could make forcefields, do you really think they'd be called anything but forcefields? And couldn't all of those predictions about the internet have inspired people to create it?
Hmm very interesting, and would we even push to create force fields if SciFi didn't "create" them?
Exactly. It's too easy to cherry pick stuff from the past too, and just call it what it is today as well. Just like all the Nostradamus crap.
Exactly this.
SciFi solves real-life problems with technology that has not been invented yet. But the problems remain, and as the component parts of the imagined technology are slowly developed, engineers adapt them and combine them to create the device that SciFi has been using for awhile. So I believe the key to predicting the future is to correctly identify problems in need of a solution today.
People may inspire science, but it takes a brilliant mind to come up with something before scientists create it
One of my favorite SF predictions is from "The Mote in Gods Eye" by Niven and Pournelle. It perfectly described a modern smart phone connected to the net.
What we don't always discuss is the influence that science fiction has on actual science. We work towards the sorts of goals science fiction sets for us; the example of the Columbia missions is a great one, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the NASA engineers used the name as an homage to Verne. We want to see the kinds of things science fiction authors have introduced to us, and then those things get invented...it doesn't seem like a coincidence to me! Especially now that classic sci-fi like Asimov, Wells, and others are all such big parts of our cultural lexicon, their imaginings seem like goals.
And, additionally, I wonder how much of these predictions are actually super spot on - how much of their description is just close enough to be interpreted as something we have today, and how much of it is actually reality.
Prediction: Siri + 3D Printer = STAR TREK FOOD REPLICATOR!!!
+Zion J they actually printed the meat paddy for a hamburger for about 10 bucks.
we can also now use tractor beams on a small scale by taking advantage of the waves of sound in air and radiation in a vacuum/we have tractor beams.
Zion J YEEEEAAAAAAAHHH
maybe. except the food won't just com from thin air.
At least part of it is the fact that science fiction helps inspire some of those that becomes scientists to become scientists and there memories of the books influence what they perceive could be possible.
Even though Nikola tesla never wrote Sci fi he also predicted modern-day cell phones
I'm going to school to be a elementary school teacher right now. Your videos have made me want to obtain a middle school endorsement in science now :)
Really liked the NSA part.
I like the nsa, the NSA is my friend
I laughed so hard at that
When it comes to the Total Recall part, I swear I very recently saw a documentary about future technology where they mentioned that memory implantation will be a reality by 2050.
People see things in science fiction and try to make it reality, the submarine was based of the book 20,000 leagues under the sea. The mobile phone was inspired by Star Trek. Voice recognition software started in science fiction.
Thank you for speaking at a non-internet pace. So many internet videos I do not show in the classroom because the speech is too fast for my students.
Still having my fingers crossed for hoverboards next year ;)
Me too. Every year. It was really hard for me to leave out Demolition Man from this video too. I mean in the future, all restaurants are Taco Bell. How great would that be?
:)
I can do without the holographic sharks flying at you though.
***** But it was destroyed in BTTF3, remember? Only the train is left but Doc Brown used it to travel bttf again
I'm from the future. I'm sorry to tell you that it still hasn't happened.
I like the way you present yourself and the things you discuss. You're one of the more natural TH-cam personalities. Thank you
I can understand that you don't mention 1984, after all you love the NSA. ;) Sorry, but I had to mention it...
Science Fiction is so good at predicting the future because both fiction and innovation are made by people who can dream or formulate new ideas.
There are probably many ways Science fiction becomes real.
One of the ways i think Science fiction becomes real are because people may be motivated to try to find a way to make it real. And i guess that many things can't be made because we still are far away from having what we need to make it, or it may be impossible to make in any way.
It doesn't hurt that , often times, scifi becomes reality because once the idea is out there peopel love the thought and strive to make it reality.
It's interesting how Asimov himself imagined a way of predicting human behaviour, called "psychohistory" in his Foundation novels. An idea that you can predict the future behavior of large groups of people based on simple mathematics is very appealing to me. The wishful thinking that you can explain human nature with something as simple as numbers, and bring some order to the chaos.
Although, of course, the psychohistorians didn't actually get it right. Several of the stories are actually about times when one extraordinary individual knocked the collective prediction on it's ear.
A lot of the reason that good science fiction seems to predict the future could be that scientists and engineers are inspired by good science fiction and set their goals to where the science fiction says they will be.
I think the one aspect that this video doesn't address is the self-fulling prophesy, which I think is best summed up in a quote from the Matrix.
"What's really going to bake your noodle later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?"
That fact that the act of prediction itself can mold the future. The people who create the technology of tomorrow are often influenced by the science fiction of today and that in turn affects what they create or how they create it.
Wes Stacey that's a good thing than i guess,otherwise we wouldn't have this tech.I see your point though.
Beautiful explained 10 years after I find myself glued to the screen. good job !
When you think about it, these predictions aren't too surprising. One driving force in technology has been communication, and so to imagine a world where communication is done more frequently and more easily isn't that much of a stretch. Even accessing information has been a trend for hundreds of years, so predicting that we will all have better access to information in the future also isn't a stretch.
Clark didn't come up with geostationary satellites out of the blue, either. He bounced signals off of the Moon's surface when he had down time as a radar expert. He *knew* he could get signals back if the moon was more reflective, but the problem with the moon is that it's not always in the same part of the sky. So he thought of a device that was reflective, and that orbited at a stationary position. That's just smart thinking, not predictability.
I think that's what sets these writers apart. They were intelligent enough to think of a problem and develop an elegant solution with the available knowledge that they had. It's not surprising so many of their predictions came true, because they were so well based in science that they were kind of an inevitability.
Science fiction if often not a predictor of the future but rather a blue print of a possible future. Just like project managers good sci-fi writers often know how to avoid scope creep and keep goals realistic.
5:41 "reminded us that faced with man or even alien technology, bacteria will always win"
2020: Coronavirus
For me one of the most interesting aspects of great science fiction is that it not only informs the possibilities of tomorrow but informs the questions of tomorrow. For example William Gibson's recent near future novels - the Blue Ant trilogy - not only makes us think about the future possibilities of the technology we interact with, it also makes us think about the repercussions of what this interactions mean. In a world which is increasingly becoming "tomorrow" these are the types of insights that sci-fi (or spec-fi to borrow from Neal Stephenson) continues to offer, more so then the simple (simple being in scare quotes) prognostication of future technical developments.
Actually, it is 2015 and we DO have hoverboards-- a company called Hendo Hoverboards makes them. (Although it is true that they aren't nearly as common as in the movie). Also there are flying cars (go to AeroMobil's website to see a really cool video) but again, not common. Still, they exist!
You got my "Thumbs Up" at 5:00 with your NSA joke hahaha.
Update: the Saturn IV that carried Apollo astronauts to the moon weighed 6.2 million pounds. Where do they get off counting only the tip of the rocket so they can align this malarkey with Jules Verne's predictions? I'd say that Mr. Verne's predictions were amazingly close enough without the need to pad them with BS.
Mark Bunds wasn't that rocket the Saturn 5 not 4?
colinp2238 You are absolutely right! I have no idea why I typed IV...duhhh...
While I found this extremely eerie and awesome, I feel compelled to point out that you, yourself, stated that science is about observing the past.... usually. so, to me, it stands to reason to think that the reason these things are considered "right" is because someone read it and said "man, this would be awesome!" and then set to work on learning how it would be possible. it's not so much as a "prediction" as it would be a "inspiration".
Based on technological evolution of the times, those who wrote the "predictions" could accurately guess, sure. but, they would serve to give someone else a springboard into something that they would love to have, by laying the groundwork.
+Jherrick Your right but every idea is inspired by other peoples ideas or things you saw. Einstein had a theory about gravitational waves and he set up everything right and did the math. He also put an equation in there that would show an opposite force to the big bang. And now gravitational waves have been proven to exist. Yes those scientist where inspired by einsteins idea, but they figured how to make it work.
Lost it when he said "From Gallifrey"!
Ricardo Alexis Nolazco Contreras That's where the Doctor Who is from :P
Dokalu Asimov That's what got me laughing! It's time lord technology!
I instantly liked, shared, and favorited the video. Whovians! Allon-sy!
@@CamiloGomezDev military has seriosly about cost
My dad said that the key to being a great inventor was to notice what people most needed. Long before the Internet existed, we really needed it.
What about the influence they make on the sciencists who read those stories?
This is precisely what I think happens, that scientists themselves are often inspired by the science fiction. But I didn't want to give the answer away in case there are other opinions out there.
But don't we get into a chicken and egg problem somewhere? The seed for the sci-fi idea must come out of something plausible and scientific, so where is that born?
One you have forgot is Frank Herbert, with his Dune Series. Bene Tleilax are genetic masters. The weirding module to turn sound into a weapon could be based on Tesla's vibration technology. His long view of history and how cultures change and evolve over time is insightful. We are already hunting for new chemicals in the natural world constantly, we might naught find "spice" per say, but maybe another new compound or substance that will have similar effects.
science fiction doesn't so much predict the future, so much as it presents ideas that are then worked towards achieving.
Stephen Butler I heard some famous person say if you want to predict the future, build one. Can't remember who it was
That's the basic premise behind the TV show William Shatner's How I Changed the World.
Yes, life imitates art.
Yes this. People keep confusing the line of causality when things happen. It's almost like people who invented things read books that give them ideas to work towards. The things we have depend on how easy it is to make something and how badly people have tried to make them happen.
This is easily my favourite video yet. Keep up the good work, fellas. 'Preciate it.
Still waiting for that hoverboard.
I just gotta say that "a nostradamusy candle" is easily in the top 600 clever phrases I've read. And I read a lot.
Sent here from idea channel.
Also check out William Olaf Stapledon’s _Star Maker_, a novel written in 1937. That book is often known for the author’s prediction of genetic engineering & post-WWII societal changes, but what strikes me as genius are his vision that foreshadowed the emergence of many concepts in high-energy physics: String theory, high-dimensional space-time, cyclic universe that preserves information, etc. Olaf Stapledon was not trained in science but he drew much inspiration from contemporary scientific knowledge e.g. relativistic effects on light & time, star formation, etc.. It is this kind of friendly and intellectual flow of ideas between practitioners of science & the arts that keeps modern culture rich and insightful...
You didn't mention William Gibson! =O
dude, I cried with "hang out with people like Carl Sagan". I thank to all involved in this video
It's not complete yet, nor has anyone discovered a way to make it practical, but NASA is now taking a serious look at warp drive.
If you haven't heard of it, look up the Alcubierre drive. It's theoretical and runs off a massive amount of energy that we don't know how to produce (The equivalent of the mass of Jupiter in negative energy), but they are working on making it cheaper and actually possible. It could make us go 10x the speed of light without breaking Relativity.
+Shane O'Keigan Hmm, how would we break relativity anyway? I believe relativity is a fluid or changing thing. So how could we break relativity? We might be able to tear it, like tearing cloth, but not "break" it, like breaking stone. Unless you mean break the rules of relativity. Then we might able to do that deed. I don't know whether I'm trying to be harsh or not. I hope I'm not. I mean to get usage of words good/right. I'm a stickler for words and usage of words. That's why I was critiquing your use of the term "break".
I so hope warp drive becomes a portion of reality!
+Reuben Hitchcock It won't actually allow us to travel faster than light per-se since it works by compressing space.
+Shoes why would compressing space not allow us to travel faster than light?
The Forever War is a great science fiction book from the 70's. Explores time dilation and is a good war novel in general.
I think that in the future we'll have smart houses and a lot of things well be connected to the main OS of the house. like there are smart washing machines that notify you on your phone when the washing is done, and those lightbulbs that adjust to the light outside and you can set from your phone etc. I think everything well be connected to a main system and we'll be able to do a lot of thing through our phones. like text the bread maker to start making the bread. and maybe we'll have sensors in the whole house and if think I left my wallet home I can just scan the house through my phone to look for the wallet.
any thoughts?
+Imola Szilágyi Phone? what is that? you mean google eyes?
i've sooo waited to talk about this with someone, i think this curious thing (the fact that science fiction seems to predict the way technology develops) it's to attribute to the fact that some of them have been scientists themselves (giving them the means to imagin moreaccurately the way things can develop)
the moreromantic explanation for me is that science fiction like any type of narration in ART and art has always had a role in human histor and society, that is inspiring men to dream and do things. specifically science fiction narrates about the future, and what better way to change the future that with the means of science and technology? after all every kid who is passionate about science fiction is very likely to become a scientist having dreamed all his youth about new planets and labs and machines of some sorts. so that's it for me all science fiction and science fiction authors do is inspire the young scientist of tomorrow, who one day will remember the things in this stories and tryendelessly to render them real through science (I'm italian so I don't speakenglish very well, sorry for every blunder)
Often things that are predicted are obviously going to happen if you understand current tech trends and fundamentals in science. Automatic doors are a simple example of this, if electric motors already exist then thinking that people will apply them to doors one day isn't so far sighted.
The Tomorrow Paradox suggests that all future events are unpredictable and unknown... unless they are influenced by an event in the past. Should an event that causes a specific future event not come to pass, then the future event is replaced with another unpredictable one.
"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T MENTION THIS BOOK! QUICK, SOMEONE GIVE ME A SOMA!.....all better now. Sorry, friend. I forgive you.
I know! We decided to leave out Orwell and Huxley because they weren't as "technology" oriented as much as social and political, although their stories certainly have plenty of both. I mean, do we bring in A Clockwork Orange then? The intersection between dystopian futurism and sci-fi is so fuzzy. There's just too much to cover. Sigh.
asimov and clarke, were not only scifi writers but, like sagan, great popularizers of science, and i have enjoyed their nonfiction as much as their fiction since i was a young child. in fact, i first learned about science from a series of illustrated nonfiction children's book written by asimov. this was my first exposure to any of his works. when i was checking one out for the 100th time the librarian told me i couldn't, that it was for the older kids, and i wouldn't understand it, but i took it out anyway the next chance i got
I think there is no predicting that shirt.
I love all of these! Another answer could be that these were great writers, and the people that read them went on to want to MAKE those things happen, thus the things they predicted came about thanks to their ideas being spread! But it's crazy uncanny hearing Arthur C Clark talking about what is essentially smart phones!
I never took War of the Worlds seriously for one main reason....ANY alien...ANY planet...ANYWHERE...distance between them not mattering...Any aliens that are advanced enough to travel to another world would never be so stupid as to just touch down and wander out into an environment filled with microbes they've never encountered before, with absolutely no protection. Beings with such little forethought would never have reached the point of interstellar travel.
+ZeoViolet good point!
Unless they didn't have microbes or the concept of microbes. (Very unlikely, though).
Satan No, Trump is too toxic to living life forms.
Or that the aliens maybe completely robotic. Just as we humans will be someday. I don't see far future man being part flesh and part machine but more all machine. If its possible for us to do so. One day in the far future more people will be plugging themselves up to the matrix before or when they die transfering the mind into a virtual reality world or just transfer thoughts and memories over to some super computer that holds millions of dead souls to be transplanted into a robotic body for them to be immortal beings. To never have to worry about starving or thirst of water. And when they get injured to the point of killing a normal human being. They would have all knowledge at the snap of a finger of how to fix themselves and all collective knowledge of humans past history. Knowing what humans where like and our imperfections and more then likely think of us as primitive dumb creatures with flesh bodies that where so weak. The old flesh bodies will be looked at as inferior designs of a fictional god to them. At the early stages of technology that we have now you already see where most young people gravitate to its robots, video games, computers, and science fiction of the future. We as humans today would not be able to transition to this mind set because of our religious beliefs but our children's children and even further out will become more accustom to the transition over to half human and half machine only to one day be fully machine.
Hooray!
I think that these writers are so well known that most of these inventions are not predicted by them, but rather inspired by them. Enough people read about home computers and wonder, "how can I make this happen?" And it becomes a reality.
Gene Roddenbury predicted a few things as well that came true or are coming true, wireless commicators, tablet computers, touch screens and quantum computing for example. There is a bit of a grey area when it comes to Star Trek however as it inspires scientists to try and build the technology portrayed in the show such as warp drive (not quite a thing but work is being done to see if it's possible) and teleportation.
NASA actually made an Alcubiere drive work in the lab, and confirmed it dose indeed work by warping space time. Plans are already underway to see if the bubble can be made big enough to do anything with. Also, the Large Hadron Collider upgrade going into operation this year makes the beams work EXACTLY like a phaser bank. Additionally we are able to teleport entire atoms now, not just individual particles. Replicators function in the same way as the 3d printer, they jsut do it faster and print anything the clear next step in 3d printer technology. A guy in Brittan has made a forcefield using osselaitng magnetic waves that forms a trek like bubble-shield. Let's see, oh! We have made hardlight objects in the lab that have lasted for multiple minutes. Holograms you can touch are now a thing as well, some guys in Japan have made them using ultrasonic waves. Several companies are working to create a device which is basically a medical tricorder. Hyposprays have existed since the late 80s.
Gene Roddenbury is a time traveling space wizard. No other alternatives.
Kyle Rhulain _NASA actually made an Alcubiere drive work in the lab_
No, that hasn't happened.
_Replicators function in the same way as the 3d printer_
No, they don't.
_A guy in Brittan has made a forcefield using osselaitng magnetic waves that forms a trek like bubble-shield._
That's also incorrect.
_We have made hardlight objects in the lab that have lasted for multiple minutes._
So is that.
AlbertaGeek its not a force field it's called an active protection shield and we've had them since 1995 they can stop explosives and the such but little else they most certainly ain't stopping a bullet and they use huge quantities of energy that's why only heavy armour uses that system. No we don't have hard light capabilities the concept is little more than a theory pertaining to plasmas tendency to react to magnetic fields, but we cannot even hold or create enough plasma to test that theory. As for the solid holograms.....you really should know better we haven't even figured out the regular things and we most certainly have made zero advancements towards solid ones.
zayuran KightSpider
I think you meant to reply to that Kyle fellow, not me. *He* is the one who believed all those things existed.
AlbertaGeek ha go figure I knew that text looked odd still the first time I see ani one repost a comment sorry broo.
This could not have come at a better time (well a few months would have helped)
I'm writing my Uni dissertation on how Sci fi has influenced our design routes
Thanks PBS
I don't know correct citation style for a TH-cam video, unfortunately.
Some its also self fulfilling prophecy. People see good ideas in sci fi and want to create them. This is happened to Star Trek tech. Even the warp drive is may leave sci fi for fact.
One you definitely left outwith a lot of predictions.
+0011peace Santa, is that you?
yes
+0011peace where is my lambo?
+Krishna Mishra i helped treat Ebola victims in Sierra leone
Krishna Mishra
Finger Hut lost it.
I would like to add phycohistory and predictive search algorithms as another prediction. It has become… eerily accurate.
I thought cell phones were inspired by Star Trek communicators. That's not just an urban legend, is it? Why not mention it here?
"The Machine Stops" by E. M. Forster is a really good scifi dystopia written in 1906. All human interaction is electronic and limited. Video calls, digital music, meals on demand, speech to text - all there. It's kinda like Forster saw us today and wrote a story about how our electronic dependent social media world could go very very wrong.
I hope that Stargate becomes real. \m/
Stargates would be cool, but I wouldn't like giant worms living at the back of my head, thank you very much. TEA!
Xander Halsey-Dam Why not? Something wrong with a junior?
Oh, I just want free will.
What is free will? And how will you lose it? Also, you didn't know about the Tok'Ra?
Suvi-Tuuli Allan Tal shekka mel!
I think the people who make fantastically accurate predictions aren't pulling the stuff out of thin air, I bet they thought through these things to the point where if they were given enough money and manpower, they could bring about some of those things rather quickly.
In 1914 we already knew about radiation and sort of how it worked and all it would take at that point is a clever mind to connect the dots for the A-bomb.
I think one of the most important takeaways is that these people came up with really great ideas far in advance, planting the seeds of those ideas in the minds of the people who read their works who have that lightbulb of inspiration one day on how exactly those ideas could be carried out. In a way it's like a self-fulfilling prophacy.
Thank you Joe! This video is my favorite because it points out a very interesting thing that should be considered.
The real question is. Does science fiction predict the future? Or does science fiction drive scientists to create it and turn it into science fact?
Excellent video as always Joe. Have read many of these titles but I clearly have more work to do. Some of those predictions are just plain scary!
Has'nt Star Trek had a few correct predictions like for example the replicatior which is a lot like a 3d printer.
Replicators and 3D printers aren't exactly the same thing, but I think you could turn a 3D printer into a replicator by using nanobots that put chemical elements together and manually build molecules in order to build the stuff of your choice before it gets into the tubes of a 3D printer.
Apples and oranges.
The Jetsons has so many things that are now real. Video phones (FaceTime), Computerized Vegas gambling games, an electronic newspaper with video links (viewable on a machine that looks like a computer but uses soft buttons instead of a mouse), electronic event ticket scanning (but their ticketing system not only validates the ticket but takes you to your seat), and an automatic vacuum that really looks like a Roomba.
born too late to explore earth, born too soon to explore the universe just born to suffer crap.
Go to a foreign city where you don't speak the language.
+Benjamin Brewer Tried that as a tourist in Hungary. All I remember was being thirsty all the time (very hot) and not knowing the Hungarian for "still water".
was planning to enjoy libya, or tunisia. I heard the sands are red and warm nowadays
you are living when the best comic book movie saga is happening....
if you are a Marvel fan!!
Aldous HUxley - Brave New World. Incredible predictions! Also Stanisław Lem - an incredible writer with many great predictions!
i love NSA. NSA is my friend.LOL
Cracked Articles did a thing on Future Predictions. Mr Wells was mentioned a lot. Funnily enough there was a man, who's name evades me, that predicted the Titanics building and sinking way before it was conceived. Had it sunk by an iceberg in the arctic, not enough lifeboats, even the dimensions were almost spot on. Great episode. :)
Your only half right
Yes there are people with these amazing predictions, BUT the people who invented it were almost set the challenge of inventing it because of these predictors. I'm kinda saying people enjoy making science fiction a reality. like what Edward Kenway and Huntracony said later in the comment section.
Like the comment if you agree ?
Lol, EXACTLY what I was thinking.
There are also a large number of predictions which never become true. We just tend to notice and focus on the ones that do end up happening. I believe it's a combination of ignoring predictions that don't happen, making sensible predictions (we tend to invent things that are useful so if you know what people want and have some idea of science you can make reasonably good predictions), and real life imitating fiction.
What the flip, Jules Verne! How do you even go about thinking that up?
...One of my favorite people of all time. Thanks for reminding me.
I predict humans will be able to live underwater one day. Maybe 2075.
O Hara
...Sealab 2021
They already have. See: Bioshock.
H.G. Wells got his idea for 'Atomic Bombs' from a paper by Frederick Soddy that commented on the amount of energy that is released by elements as they decay, saying "The man who can put his hand on this store of energy could destroy the world if he chose." H.G. Wells dedicated 'The World Set Free' to Soddy as well!
Another little tidbit: Leo Szliard worked out how to make a nuclear chain reaction possible only AFTER reading 'The World Set Free'! Not only did that book predict the Atom Bomb, it had a direct hand in it's development.
"we wont have hover boards by Otc. 2015" xD uh... no one told this information to Lexus i guess seeing how they have been working on such a project and so far its working
+parker cole But what they don't tell you about Lexus' hoverboard is that the concrete underneath it was secretly impregnated with magnets so the supercooled superconductors inside the board would actually float. That's trickery! My friend Kyle explained it at Nerdist: nerdist.com/lexus-claims-it-made-a-hoverboard-heres-how-it-works/
+It's Okay To Be Smart SO technically they "exist"..... but. lol
+David Wilson :) point is powerful neodymium magnets and super conductors were known WHEN BttF was filmed. as well as Lorenz force :)
+Martynas Stanaitis Sure, but they didnt hover around on boards using them. :-D
+David Wilson And we still dont do :) lexus made 'hover board' that scaled up Meissner effect (perma-magnet above a superconductor) - not something that hovered on pavement and water on its own. its like saying we have a practical 'jetpack' and then show a dude with a fan on its bag doing acrobatinc in a vertical wind tunel...
Great episode, however don't forget William Gibson and Neuromancer, though it was written in the 80's it had great foresight and decent accuracy about the modern internet. "What if the act of writing it down, in fact, brought it about?"
20,000 leagues under the see predicted submarines.
and nuclear power
1:44 - Okay, so those figures that Verne gave were 'not bad'. But you don't mention that Verne's spaceship was a bullet that was to be fired out of a cannon with the astronauts inside!
+Bigjakestudios
So what is a cannon? You have some explosive matter, ignite it, have a tube shaped device to direct the force in a defined direction and accelerate the bullet along that trajectory while the cannon stays where it is.
So what is a rocket? Basically a cannon turned around. An ongoing explosion burning lots and lots of explosive matter until gravitation of the earth is overcome. Forget the bullet and let the cannon itself fly - yet still the same forces and principles at work.
HOVERBOARDS HAVE ALREADY BEEN INVENTED! NOW IT LOOKS LIKE I'M SCREAMING, BUT THAT'S THE POINT.
This presentation of ideas has a distinct similarity to the vlog brothers' videos (now going on for more than 7 years) regarding the sciences, history (US and world) and numerous top 10/50 lists of items.
This channel is freaking amazing, how does it not have more views?!
I wonder if Carl Sagan's Contact will predict anything...
I think one of the best authors of sci-fi and often taken for granted is E. C. Tubb, with his Dumarest Saga. It is based on a more realistical vision of how mankind would spread to other planets and how chaotic and medieval the colonization of some worlds would become, with many discrepancies such as worlds full of wealth and some full of hazards or archaic societies packed with slavery and turmoil.
TO date it is my favorite series of sci fi books and a great experiment into human mind and soeciety as a whole. And this is what most sci fi writers hope to achieve when they dream of the future, of how technology will impact our lives.
I agree with the point that you maid, I also think those science fiction writers often inspire scientist to endeavor to make their favourite childhood science fiction technology come true - a sort of self fulfilling prophecy.
Awesome video. The topics in this video are the kind off things I think of everyday.
When thousands of people make predictions, chances are some will get several things right and this will inspire somebody to make a youtube video about them.
I think a huge portion of the reason great science fiction writers predict the future is simple: Scientists and especially engineers are great fans of great science fiction. The classic works not only predict the future; they create the future by inspiring engineers to make the predictions real.