"Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Everyone needs to understand the impacts of science fiction on technology. Many pieces of evidence explain the advancement of technology through science fiction. It is not surprising that science fiction could be descriptive of our advanced technology. Today, many movies and novels illustrate our future, which in some vision seems to be impossible. However, some influential ideas in today's life came from science fiction stories and movies in the past. Predicting the future played the most critical role in human life in the history of humankind. It is hard enough to anticipate plans or activities for even next week from now. We witnessed how the world changed during the last twenty years due to the advance of technological development. Reading sci-fi stories could lead the readers to the imaginary world. Nevertheless, it might be better to think about the idea of our advanced technologies today. Science fiction is the most precious genre because it played a critical role in the development of technology.
It is essential to understand the science fiction genre, and then it matters to the development of technology. However, science fiction can illustrate the future, but it is not a count as a predictive source. Science fiction begins with the simple questions, "what if ...?" or "if this happens..." when a writer creates a sci-fi, he/she is envisioning an unexceptional event in the real world. Following the questions, many discoveries and technological developments will come to the story. It appears that science fiction novels formed during the development of the Important invention of modern technology in the 19th century. From this perspective, we need to gain knowledge about the way of technological development in the last century.
Electricity and steam engines were the most critical innovations in the 19th century. By developing these technologies, humans experienced a sophisticated lifestyle with modern concerns and questions. The questions such as "what if we go to the moon?" or "if we discover a new place to live...", were the concerns that could be beneficial ideas for scientists too. Writers created many science fiction novels following the questions regarding their era. Also, we witness the development of film productions and their reflections. I believe we cannot read about the atomic bomb without any anxieties about our future. Thus the questions about the future can come to a creative mind.
Many of our advanced technologies exist in the past but not in the real world; they came from science fiction stories and movies. Think about electricity and its role in medical science. We should go back to the movie Frankenstein (1931), it could remind us of the idea of heart-shock machines such as a defibrillator. It is a device that could bring life to heart. "defibrillators have a large role to play in saving lives across the country" (Wagenen). An English author Mary Shelley wrote the story of Frankenstein in 1818. Victor Frankenstein is a scientist who assembled body parts and brought them to life by electrical shock. It shows how medicine and electricity can be close, which in that was only an idea. It gives the idea that scientific developments and science fiction are not truly separate.
The notable French writer Jules Verne was one of the future makers by his vision of the future. Verne created many science fiction stories that came true in our real world. In 1865, "From The Earth To The Moon" was one of his famous novel that predicted the future. Jules Verene wrote about his imaginary rocket ship which its appearance was close to the spacecraft Apollo Command Service Module Spacecraft. It landed the first astronauts on the moon in 1969. Verne's rocket ship made of aluminum and hallow shaped includes three astronauts that launched from Florida and landed in the Pacific Ocean. Surprisingly, it seems he was not only a fantastic novelist, but also, he had an excellent vision of future events too. Most of the details in Verne's story came true by the Apollo command service module spacecraft.
The English author, H. G. Wells, wrote his science fiction "The First Men in the Moon" in 1901. The novel is about a journey to the Moon by Dr. Cavor, a scientist, and a businessman Mr. Bedford. The story tells that they meet the creatures that are the inhabitant of the moon. Soon after, Cavor and Bedford find gold on the moon, and they look after the way back. The story pointed out that the scientist Dr. Cavor has succeeded in prevailing over the earth's gravity to shoot into space. Undoubtedly, Wells' explanation of flying to the moon was impossible at his time, while it seems a little comedy for us today. Whatever his idea was, very simple or impossible, he had an image of the existence future.
Watching movies is one of the best entertainments for spending time. Nevertheless, what would happen if they become in our real world? It might be scary when it comes to the sci-fi genre. Though, how these incredible ideas come to a filmmaker's vision? As we know, many sci-fi filmmakers took their stories or ideas from the novel stories. The French filmmaker George Melies based on Jules Verne and H. G Wells' novels, produced the first sci-fi silent movie "A Trip to The Moon" in 1902. It shows a group of scientists launching moon by hitting to the moon's eye, and they kill many creatures of the moon, promptly they celebrate following their return to the Earth. George Melies not only has pioneered an idea of future technology but also was an innovator in the film industry too. He is one of the first producers in the sci-fi film industry. As we know, today, advanced technology plays a critical role in the filmmaking process. Insofar as visual effects create most of the imaginary characters and creatures of the movies. Thanks to the pioneers such as George Melies technology brought to the film industry.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."
― Albert Einstein
Technology developed based on imagination and idea, which is never stopped and will continue forever. Usually, scientists and engineers are looking for solutions based on human needs and developing ideas to improve technology and transform impossible into possibilities. The history of technology development is the most reliable evidence of the impacts of science fiction on technology. Solar panels and electric cars altered the way of using natural resources. Also, virtual assistant devices such as Amazon Alexa made our life more comfortable than before. In this way, we can predict that our descendants will experience an entirely different world in the next century. It means that they do not need fossil energy resources as much as we need nowadays. There are some examples to explain the influences of science fiction films in today's advanced Technology. Video chats, self-driving cars, or going to space are examples of how science fiction movies view the future.
It is necessary to mention the way of development of the video call as an example to review the impact of science fiction on technology. From the first innovating videophone created by AT&T company Bell Labs in the 1920s to Apple's Facetime in 2010, all inspired by the science fiction in the past. Films such as Star Trek 1966 and A Space Odyssey1968 indicate that some of the advanced technology designers and engineers are indebted to the story creators in the past.
To explain how science fiction movies were influential in technology, we need to reconsider a popular TV series "Star Trek" in 1966. It shows a foldable communicator device with the antenna, which is an inspiring idea to design the first mobile phone by Motorola in 1973. Despite this, the first mobile phones were large and heavy as much as they seem odd today. Eventually, technology finds its way to smaller phones and, finally, smartphones. TV series "Star Trek" could be count as a clear example, which cannot be ignored.
"A Space Odyssey," directed by Stanley Kubrick in 1968, is another reliable example to understand how technology and science fiction are related. The film is about a scientific station in space with many scientists who left their beloved people on Earth. In a scene, one of the characters tells his colleague, "I have a couple of phone calls..." after he went to a small room with a big size computer, he called his wife on the Earth and talked to his daughter. In this film, Kubrick demonstrated the impact of science fiction on technology, which inspired the telecommunications company of Skype and, ultimately, video calls by personal computers. At first glance, we understand that the development of technology was not separate from science fiction. Not only the design and idea of advanced technology are not accidentally, but also, they came from science fiction directly.
Now, the question is why we need to understand the relationship between science fiction and technology. In other words, the impacts of science fiction on our daily life. According to research, while science fiction talks about a fictional world with many imaginary characters and events, but usually it merges fantasy and reality. A creative mind absorbs the real-world elements to his/her imaginary world. It might be better to think about self-driving cars or even sky-driving cars. How science fiction pictures our future? It might be more beneficial to look at some more examples.
It seems the idea of self-driving cars came from science fiction films too. The movie "Demolition Man" in 1993 is one of the best examples of inspiring films that leads today's engineers to create a self-driving car such as Tesla. Even the appearance of the car in this film could convince us that the idea of Tesla self-driving cars came from this movie. Also, Sky-driving cars are not far from today's view of the future. According to news, a Japanese automotive company Toyota announced its new technology of flying cars in 2020. The idea of flying cars could create a new imagination for building our house in the sky. Yes, it is far from our real world, but by the population growth rate, it seems to be a solution.
Another example of innovative technology that inspired by science fiction is Microsoft Hologram. It is an innovative hologram that can transform a person into a digital speaker with any other language. Director Alex Garland gives a close idea of Microsoft Hologram by his sci-fi film "Ex Machina," in 2015. The movie is about a programmer Caleb Smith, who has been chosen to test a robot "Ava" to determine its abilities and consciousness. Finally, it shows that Ava is more self-aware than they thought. The idea of the robot can lead engineers and scientists to design Microsoft Hologram technology.
We evaluated the relationship between science fiction from the past to the exists technology today. It is deserving of thinking about those science fictions that talks about the far future. Recent science fiction explains how our far future would look like be. One of the best examples is a TV series "Continuum," which is about a detective from the year 2077 who came to the year 2012. It shows "Alec" is a teen computer genius in 2012, who will be the most powerful man in 2077. In addition to all the advanced technology of the future, Continuum explains how technology has political power in the future. It shows that the political system transformed into the networking system, which controls people by technology. This idea makes a new vision of government, politic, and laws, which are entirely different from what we have today. It is another statement that could be a revolutionary idea in the future. Also, this TV series shows how technology and science fiction are close together. By going back to the present time, we can see Alec's imagination changed the world in the future.
As a result, I found science fiction interesting not only because of its fictional world but also due to its vision of the future. There is a creative vision behind every technology that we use every day. Thinking about the future requires us to take a look at science fiction. While we watch sci-fi movies or read science fiction as entertainment or spending time, they make a statement of our future in our minds. We usually have a better understanding of our environment through our vision and experiences. The evidence shows that science fiction can impact our life quality when an innovative idea came from a creative mind to develop a useful technology in real life. Lack of knowledge could make room for ignorance.
However, reading science fiction tells us there is nothing impossible in the real world too. Sci-fi movies have a significant impact on our vision of the future. Thinking about smart cities, driving in the sky, or using solar power as a primary energy resource, all are notable subjects for researchers, scientists, and engineers in the present day. Thus, everyone needs to understand the impacts of science fiction on technology. According to my research, I can say science fiction can predict the future; however, it came from an imaginary world, but it draws the future.
In conclusion, However, science fiction starts with the simple question, "what if?" or "what will happen if..." but in the end, we witnessed there will be many improvements in technology, which has a direct impact on our daily life. The examples in this research paper are only a small part of these events. Everyone needs to understand the influences of science fiction on technology by going deep into the history of technological development and its relationship to science fiction. Science fiction inspired people of the future. Everything changed by their vision, such as fashion, home accessories, even toys. There will be severe changes in their relationship and how they will have a connection to each other.
I guess kids will get an education in virtual schools in the future. Thus, they will find their friends around the world. I believe science fiction is related to advanced technology, which plays a decisive role in our lifestyle. Thinking about the future is not only exciting but also could be frightening for our modern-day societies. Predicting future events will happen when we look at the past. The evidence provides that there is nothing impossible in our world. From today's smart devices such as smartphones to drive in the sky in the future, all lead our life to a new world. Also, it is essential to understand the way of advancement in technology because of our children, who will live in the future that we make it today.
