Does Science Fiction Influence Society?
Science Fiction has influenced many of the modern technologies we use today, from cell phones to space craft. Science Fiction helps to stimulate people’s imagination about the future. It engages them and encourages them to think about future technology that would benefit our society. Areas like communication, entertainment and transport have been distributed by science fiction, such as cell phones, video calling, and electric cars.
Who here does not have a phone? I bet majority of you have one on you right now. Did you know there are around 61% of people around the world who have a mobile phone and around 44% have smart phones? One of the most famous Star Trek’s gadgets, the “communicator”, looks strikingly familiar to many of today’s cell phones. Seeing Captain Kirk using his communicator on Star Trek, gave Martin Cooper a brilliant idea to invent a handheld phone. “He and his team took only 90 days in 1973 to create the first portable cellular 800 MHz phone prototype.” (HOW STARTREK INSPIRED AN INNOVATION – YOUR CELL PHONE, n.d.) He oversaw the invention and directly credited Star Trek’s communicator for inspiring his visions. Thanks to him we have what we call today mobile phones. So, could you imagine yourself right now sending a letter that takes a few weeks to even get to the receiver? Probably not. What would you do where there is an emergency where you need to contact someone straight away, but you do not have a phone?
Would you rather wait a while to see someone special to you that lives far away from you, or would you just rather video call them almost instantly whenever you want? Video calling was inspired by the sci-fi movie “Metropolis” in 1927, where a man was having a call with someone where he was holding the phone receiver with a screen of a video-like conversation in front of him, also in Back to the Future II and Demolition Man. “While Fritz Lang’s film is noted as being the major pioneer of the sci-fi genre, reflective studies of Metropolis has pointed out its remarkable early use of the video phone concept.” Before Skype and Facetime, the Picture phone was the future. “Metropolis” has inspired Bell Labs to create the picture phone which was the old invention of the wired telephone connected a 5×5.2-inch screen, well suited for a single person showing in black and white in 1964. This quickly led to the iPhones we use today with built-in cameras which is much easier to facetime or video call with.
Could you imagine yourself walking for hours just to get to your family’s home or your school or workplace, or even your favourite shopping centre? I bet you, your answer will be, no. In 2018, there were around 3.3 million people that have electric cars around the world. Electric cars
Science fiction has inspired many of the modern technologies we use today. The 3 mentioned are used by people all around the world almost every day. The cell phone for much easier way to communicate, video calling a way to see someone in only a couple minutes and cars that could get you to any place you want in a much faster way.
