10 SCI-FI PREDICTIONS THAT CAME TRUE
TELEVISION
Predicted by: Mark Twain,
From the London Times of 1904, published 1898 the first television was produced in the 1920s, but mark twain had already described the telectroscope that would “make the daily doings of the globe visible to everybody”.
TABLET DEVICE
Predicted by: Arthur C Clarke, 2001:
A Space Odyssey, published 1968
surfing the internet on a portable device was dreamed up long before the turn of the millennium. in the late 1960s, clarke gave his fictional astronauts ‘newspads’ so they could keep up to date with the goings-on back home.
EARPHONES
predicted by: ray bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, published 1953
though the personal stereo didn’t appear until 1977, in the early ’50s Bradbury described earphones piping in constant music and talk.
SCUBA-DIVING EQUIPMENT
predicted by: Jules Verne,
twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, published 1870 Verne described a means of breathing underwater using apparatus that, unlike all existing equipment, didn’t take its air supply from the surface. His idea came from the system developed in the 1860s by french duo Benoit rouquayrol and Auguste Denayrouze to save miners trapped underground.
VIDEO CALLS
predicted by: albert robida,
le Vingtième Siècle. La Vie Électrique, published 1890
the first public videophone service launched in Germany in 1936, and em forster described a communication system that transmitted both audio and visual signals in his short story the machine stops, published in 1909. yet this french author’s 1890 book mentions a similar device called ‘le téléphonoscope’.
ELECTRONIC BOOK
predicted by: stanislaw lem,
return From the stars, published 1961 instead of hardcovers and paperbacks, Polish author lem foresaw books in crystal form, read on devices called ‘optons’ that display one page of text at a time.
TANK
Predicted by: HG Wells,
the land ironclads, published 1903 the tank made its battlefield debut in 1916, but was envisaged by Wells as an all-terrain, armoured vehicle carrying powerful guns. Winston churchill later credited Wells for the idea, but the author’s vehicle was inspired by Brahmah Joseph Diplock’s pedrail locomotive.
ATOMIC BOMB
Predicted by: HG Wells,
The World set Free, published 1914 Wells envisioned a nuclear bomb that would explode continuously for 17 days and have longer-term effects through nuclear fallout.
MOON LANDING
predicted by: Jules Verne,
From The Earth To The Moon, published 1865
more than 100 years before Armstrong’s lunar stroll, Verne had envisioned a trip to the moon – though his protagonists were fired from an enormous cannon at a launch site in florida.
SURVEILLANCE
Predicted by: George Orwell,
nineteen eighty-Four, published 1949 cctV cameras, internet cookies, loyalty cards, nsA data monitoring, social media… the Big Brother dreamed up by orwell in his dystopian novel comes in many guises today.
Predicted by: Mark Twain,
From the London Times of 1904, published 1898 the first television was produced in the 1920s, but mark twain had already described the telectroscope that would “make the daily doings of the globe visible to everybody”.
TABLET DEVICE
Predicted by: Arthur C Clarke, 2001:
A Space Odyssey, published 1968
surfing the internet on a portable device was dreamed up long before the turn of the millennium. in the late 1960s, clarke gave his fictional astronauts ‘newspads’ so they could keep up to date with the goings-on back home.
EARPHONES
predicted by: ray bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, published 1953
though the personal stereo didn’t appear until 1977, in the early ’50s Bradbury described earphones piping in constant music and talk.
SCUBA-DIVING EQUIPMENT
predicted by: Jules Verne,
twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, published 1870 Verne described a means of breathing underwater using apparatus that, unlike all existing equipment, didn’t take its air supply from the surface. His idea came from the system developed in the 1860s by french duo Benoit rouquayrol and Auguste Denayrouze to save miners trapped underground.
VIDEO CALLS
predicted by: albert robida,
le Vingtième Siècle. La Vie Électrique, published 1890
the first public videophone service launched in Germany in 1936, and em forster described a communication system that transmitted both audio and visual signals in his short story the machine stops, published in 1909. yet this french author’s 1890 book mentions a similar device called ‘le téléphonoscope’.
ELECTRONIC BOOK
predicted by: stanislaw lem,
return From the stars, published 1961 instead of hardcovers and paperbacks, Polish author lem foresaw books in crystal form, read on devices called ‘optons’ that display one page of text at a time.
TANK
Predicted by: HG Wells,
the land ironclads, published 1903 the tank made its battlefield debut in 1916, but was envisaged by Wells as an all-terrain, armoured vehicle carrying powerful guns. Winston churchill later credited Wells for the idea, but the author’s vehicle was inspired by Brahmah Joseph Diplock’s pedrail locomotive.
ATOMIC BOMB
Predicted by: HG Wells,
The World set Free, published 1914 Wells envisioned a nuclear bomb that would explode continuously for 17 days and have longer-term effects through nuclear fallout.
MOON LANDING
predicted by: Jules Verne,
From The Earth To The Moon, published 1865
more than 100 years before Armstrong’s lunar stroll, Verne had envisioned a trip to the moon – though his protagonists were fired from an enormous cannon at a launch site in florida.
SURVEILLANCE
Predicted by: George Orwell,
nineteen eighty-Four, published 1949 cctV cameras, internet cookies, loyalty cards, nsA data monitoring, social media… the Big Brother dreamed up by orwell in his dystopian novel comes in many guises today.
Comments
Post a Comment