Science fiction writers can be eerily prescient. Consider what John Brunner got right about our world in 2010, as described in his 1968 novel “Stand on Zanzibar”: a world shaken up by terrorist attacks and school shootings; the near-abandonment of Detroit; and a zeal for upgrading everything, including our bodies.
When Isaac Asimov envisioned in 1964 what 2014 would be like, he described what we’ve come to know as satellite phones, Skype calls, and driverless cars.
Of course, with all hits, there have been some misses: We don’t have Brunner’s single super-computer that powers the world, but we do have the rhizome of the Internet with servers all over the globe. But we don’t have the moon colonies that Asimov assumed we’d already have.
Still, the power of science fiction comes from the license to dream. We asked six experts: What idea from science fiction would you most like to see become reality?
1. Instant messaging … across galaxies
By Seth Shostak
There are many concepts in science fiction that would be truly revolutionary if they were to change from fantasy to fact. Strong artificial intelligence, for example, would demote us as the rulers of the planet. Our species might take on a new status — as pets.
Building orbiting space colonies is another staple of sci-fi that would have major effect. Getting some of the population away from Earth and mining natural resources from asteroids or other bodies would permanently relieve many of the environmental pressures on our world.
But these things are too plausible, and they don’t violate physics. Here’s something that’s in a different camp altogether: instantaneous communication. It does violate physics, at least the physics that we know. We’re not talking warp drive, but warp communication: the ability to exchange bits of information between any two locations, no matter how great the separation, without delay.
That capability would change everything, and forever. Face it, there can never be a galactic empire in which biological beings cooperate or compete as long the delivery time for messages (“Help, Klingon attack!” or “Join the Vulcan book club”) is tens of thousands of years.
Searching for extraterrestrial intelligence would become trivial and gratifying. All that’s necessary is to systematically ping every star system in the galaxy, and — without delay — check for a response.
Instant communication would put everyone everywhere online. It would unite the cosmos intellectually and culturally.
Seth Shostak is the senior astronomer and director of the Center for SETI Research at the SETI Institute. He hosts the radio show “Big Picture Science.”
2. Pushing past culture clashes
By Bobak Ferdowsi
I’d pick the thing I recognized when I first started watching reruns of “Star Trek” and reading the works of Arthur C. Clarke: international cooperation.
I grew up in a multicultural family. Since my birth, there has been animosity between the nations my parents come from: Iran and the United States. The idea that one day humanity would push past the clashes between nations and cultures to pursue the human endeavor of exploration is immensely appealing. Even more wonderful in this science-fiction universe, cultures are not lost, but instead preserved and appreciated. Even today, we face so many challenges on our own planet that stem from cultural misunderstandings and perceived differences in interests.
If I’m forced to suggest a single technical fantasy to become reality, it would be the replicators from the later generations of “Star Trek.” The ability to readily convert energy into matter opens up the possibility of providing supplies to remote and underserved locations. Ultimately I’d like to believe this technology would minimize many of the conflicts over supplies, which I think could be worsened by climate change, growing populations, and shrinking resources.
Bobak Ferdowsi is a systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
3. My own personal spacecraft
By Leroy Chiao
I want more than just the flying car that we were promised when I was young. I want a personal spacecraft! It would not launch on rockets, or need parachutes or a runway to land. It would not be a vehicle that just propels you into orbit around a body (like Earth), but would instead be capable of travel far beyond.
Inspired by a combination of the flying cars in “Blade Runner” and the fighter spacecraft in “Star Wars” that can land on and depart from planets easily, my vehicle would take off and land vertically. The versions of those kinds of jump jets in existence (like the military’s Harrier) are very loud, but mine would not make a lot of noise. And mine would fly both through the atmosphere, as well as into space. It would be practical for everyday use, just like your car today.
Would this ever be possible? Yes, but several things need to be invented and solved first:
1. A nearly infinite, compact, lightweight power source. This would be absolutely necessary to power the engines and run the systems (including active shielding from radiation that could fry the pilot and passengers once they left the Earth’s protective magnetic force field).
2. Quiet, small, lightweight, powerful, and clean engines. These would run off of the power supply described above.
3. Automated collision avoidance and navigation. This is easier than you might think. With transponders and sensors that are just a bit more advanced than those today, coupled with high-speed connection to data and computing power in the cloud, this could actually become a reality sooner rather than later.
4. Oh, and all of this stuff would have to be inexpensive.
Leroy Chiao served as a NASA astronaut from 1990 to 2005. He flew four missions into space.
4. Beyond the big things, an improvement in nail polish
By Amy Mainzer
Obviously I’d love a transporter for every time I’m stuck in traffic, or the unlimited clean energy derived from banana peels by the Mr. Fusion generator from “Back to the Future.” But forgetting about civilization-changing technologies for a second, one idea that I have always really liked is a much, much smaller one: the futuristic manicure from “Total Recall.”
In the movie, someone figured out how to make nail polish that changes colors with the touch of some kind of pen. It’s just a short moment, but this small detail helps to establish a world that truly is futuristic. It also struck me as something that someone might actually invent one day. Although it’s fun to think of big stuff like warp drive and time travel, I’ve always particularly enjoyed thinking about the smaller ways that technology changes our lives.
Amy Mainzer is an astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
5. Truly clean energy sources
By Steven Gould
I’d like to see cheap, safe, clean energy production, whether in the form of orbiting satellites that can beam solar energy down to the Earth in microwaves (… la Isaac Asimov’s 1941 short story “Reason”) or super-efficient photo-electric panels (as in Robert Heinlein’s 1940 short story “Let There Be Light”). But something that replaces the burning of fossil fuel and drastically cuts our pumping of carbon dioxide into Earth’s atmosphere. The likeliest technology on the horizon is nuclear fusion, (clean energy released by the controlled fusing of atoms) but, sadly, we’re talking a distant horizon. I’d also like to see technology that lets us capture and sequester carbon in high volumes. If these “science-fictional” technologies aren’t forthcoming, here’s the most far-fetched, science-fictional thing yet: that governments of the world start making decisions based on our best scientific consensus and in the best interest of our species and biosphere, rather than unduly considering the vested interests of corporations.
Otherwise we’re going see a lot of science fiction ideas coming true, things like:
• John Barnes’ “Mother of Storms,” in which the clathrate gun hypothesis (where a rise in sea temperature triggers a runaway release of methane that leads to even higher temperatures) causes a devastating superstorm.
• Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Science in the Capital” trilogy, in which the disruption of ocean circulation patterns halts the Gulf Stream with catastrophic results.
• And even J.G. Ballard’s “The Drowned World” from 1962, in which melting ice caps have raised world sea levels.
But don’t count us out yet. We’re clever monkeys.
Steven Gould is author of the “Jumper” books (which inspired the 2008 movie of the same name). He is the president of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.
6. These toys should come with warning labels
By Devon Maloney
From touch screens to psychokinesis, there seems to be little left for science to pluck from the pages of revered sci-fi visionaries like Isaac Asimov or Gene Roddenberry and place in the hands of the consumer. For authors, it’s made predicting the future feel a little like determining the future, which is a pretty cool system.
But one thing that I think often, if not most of the time, gets lost in translation from page to life is perhaps the most vital piece of science fiction’s offerings: the instruction manual. While any inventor can develop a device and bring it into existence, sci-fi authors can pair their imaginings with philosophical and ethical explorations of what tech like this might mean, for individuals, groups, and the future of humanity. The way in which we use the tools we create — and in which those tools might use us — is perhaps even more important than their simple existence. Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” deftly draws parallels between the proliferation of android servants and our present dehumanization of the poor; the protagonist of Octavia Butler’s “Wild Seed” has superhuman abilities but instead of giving her power, they open her to subjugation, directly trouncing the utopian idea that technology will unquestionably be a great equalizer.
Too often we are like children at Christmas, ripping open boxes of sophisticated electronic toys—and ignoring their bright DO NOT GET WET warning labels as we bring them into the swimming pool with us. What a deeply tragic irony that the entirety of science fiction and dystopian fiction might come to fruition: both the miraculous, utopian tech and our inability to see how, if mindlessly utilized, it will most certainly destroy us.
Devon Maloney is an L.A.-based culture journalist and critic.
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