Thursday, September 10, 2015

When fiction becomes fact: 6 novels that predicted the future.

A friend of mine recently bought an Amazon Echo. If you're not familiar, it's a voice-activated device that can do everything from report the news to order your next shipment of toilet paper.  All you have to do is say "Alexa, order Charmin toilet paper" and she will place the order through Amazon. No pesky keyboards needed. You can even connect her to home devices including lights, AC, TV, and the garage door for an all-in-one voice-activated hands-free living experience.

If you're a science fiction reader, this probably doesn't sound that novel. Authors have been writing about voice activated technology for years.  Which strikes me as pretty incredible.

Here are a few of my favorite Sci-Fi stories that accurately predicted future technology.

 MT Anderson's FEED

In feed, people access the internet through implanted microchips. But before implants became all the rage, people used glasses very similar to Google's now defunct Google Glass.







Orson Scott Card's ENDER'S GAME

The characters in Ender's Game use a tablet computer device that is eerily similar to today's iPad.







ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis

In this series, food is deliver by an in-room wall system, appearing as if by magic. While we haven't quite invented the wall-delivery technology yet, a Barcelona-based company announced plans to launch a 3D printer that will print food...which will make something like this very feasible in the not-to-distant future.
Into the Still Blue
UNDER THE NEVER SKY TRILOGY by Veronica Rossi

Characters living in the enclosed city of Reverie wear biometric suits to monitor their health, regulate their body temperatures and other science-y stuff. While we're note quite to the suit faze yet, an SF-based company has developed a band aid-like device that will be able to do things very similar to Rossi's imagined suits. It can even measure your calorie intake as you eat.





George Orwell
George Orwell's 1984

Orson's classic imagines a society where everyone is monitored by Big Brother...which bares a striking resemblance to many of the privacy discussions of late around data ownership.







THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY

In Douglas Adam's novel, travelers use a device that can translate any alien language instantaneously.  Turns out, there's now an app for that.








What about you? Read any fiction that turned into fact?

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