SciFi and Science a symbiotic relationship
Talk about a post long overdue (not to mention sitting in my "to write" pile for a long time). Anyway there was (is?) a meme going around where people are posting this list of Sci Fi books and marking off the ones they’ve read. After looking at the list, I decided that I’m not going to bother, I haven’t read most of the books … heck I haven’t heard of a lot of them. There were a few books not on the list that I think (IMHO) should have been there (Stranger in a Strange Land for one which gave the world the uber-geek term "grok"). Regardless, that isn’t the point of this post. The point here is how much Sci Fi has influenced Sci. Real science. Let’s go back to luminaries like Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Then up to icons like William Gibson (one of my personal favs). SciFi written by dreamers inspires would-be (and already) scientists. Makes them wonder, gee could that work?
We’ve seen the results. Space travel. Wireless global communicators (cell phones). Submarines that never have to surface (except for food for the crew). There was a great (albeit tongue in cheek) show called "How William Shattner and Stark Trek Changed the World". Laugh all you want, but it is true. The man who invented the cell phone freely admitted that he was inspired by the communicator.
So here’s to the dreamers and the do-ers.
1 Comment
I and a lot of scientists that I know are avid sci-fi readers. And yes, it does have a subtle influence on the thinking process.