For anybody will not be opening the fact that many scientists and engineers are passionate fans of fiction. Books and movies in the genre of science fiction be a perfect source of inspiration for many people who want to connect their lives with science. The most interesting thing about this story is that many devices and technologies that we’ve seen exclusively in the pages of literary works or on the blue screen, with time, become reality, and cease to be something out of science fiction. Today we will tell you about the seven striking examples of such surprising incarnations.
Universal translator
A device that can real time translate from one language to another, was first described in 1945 in the fantastic story “First contact,” the writer Murray Leinster. Other examples of devices can be found in “Star trek”, “Doctor Who” and “Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy”. In the latter film as the interpreter spoke “Babel fish”, which was placed in the ear of the media and translate strange languages in their native language. Today universal translator there are several, and the name “Babel fish” was adapted by Yahoo! for multi-language application translator, released in 1997. There are several models of in-ear headphones (for example — Wavely Pilot) associated with smartphones, which are almost in real time is able to translate from one language to another.
Voice AI-assistants
Today assistants like Siri, Alexa, Cortana, or Alice no surprise. But there was a time when the voice assistant based on artificial intelligence only existed in science fiction films. The most striking embodiment of this technology in the movie was the artificial intelligence HAL 9000 from kubicheskogo “2001: a Space Odyssey” (1968). However, in the movie AI helpers, as a rule, acted as antagonists. Another example of such a character was the onboard computer, “Mother” from the famous sci-Fi horror film “Alien” (1979). In both cases, the artificial intelligence went against the interests of the people. Let’s hope that Siri and Alice did not follow the example of his cinematic predecessors.
Laser weapon
Who needs bullets when you can shoot enemies with laser blasters? The first ray gun was mentioned in the work of Victor Rousseau, “the Messiah of the Cylinder” in the distant 1917. The “Star trek” has entered into popular culture such a thing as “Fazer”, and the stormtroopers from “Star wars” has always carried a Blaster (of which they still no one could get in). Beam weapons leaked even in a series about James bond. In the movie “Moonraker” Roger Moore’s character is shot at the enemy with his Blaster. Today, laser weapons are actively being used and constantly improved by the military of different countries. The greatest success in this field has made the company Lockheed Martin, which built the most powerful laser gun that can shoot down enemy drones over large distances.
tablet PC
Many laughed at Apple when the in 2010 introduced the world to your iPad. But time has shown that the device has the right to life, and many users had to taste. The first tablet was to show the audience all in the same “2001: a Space Odyssey” by Stanley Kubrick. Tablet computers called PADD (Personal Access Display Device) was actively used by the characters of the television series “Star trek”. Today tablets no surprise, so tightly they came into our lives.
Holograms
I will never forget as a kid the first time I watched “Star wars: a New hope” (1977) and Agape watching the scene with the hologram of Princess Leia, which was reproduced by the robot R2-D2. Holographic technology in sci-Fi movies were used very actively, and a list of paintings where you can see something like this, would take more than one page. In reality holograms are still far from perfect, but we can already say with certainty that scientists are close to having to implement something similar to a science fiction film. Scientists from Brigham young University, for example, failed to demonstrate a clear and very vivid 3D hologram projected directly into the air.
Video telephony
As a couple of other technologies mentioned here, video was first shown to the mass audience by Director Stanley Kubrick in his movie “”2001: a Space Odyssey”. Later, the video telephony is actively used by creators in numerous films and television shows from different countries. Today, technology like Apple’s FaceTime or Skype will surprise absolutely no one. But for viewers who lived in 1968, it was fantastic. It would seem that it took some 50 years, and how much has changed in our lives. How wonderful new technologies have emerged. It is true that not all are able to appreciate this technological revolution.
Watch smartphone
For the first time, watch for calls was introduced to the world in the film “dick Tracy” 1946. For children was even released based on this film, which enjoyed great popularity, though not worked as a real Communicator. In 1964 watch the famous detective has learned to make video calls. But only decades later, a similar device went on sale. Yes, we are talking about Apple Watch, Series 3 (the numerous Chinese crafts do not take into account). Let’s hope that the next models of its Apple watch will be able to implement and video calling, as did dick Tracy in 1964.
7 awesome technology and gadgets that came to us from science fiction
Sergey Grey