Which came first: the science or the fiction?

[myrthman]

I was flipping through a Popular Science this weekend and it occurred to me that many of technology's latest innovations have existed in fiction for years if not centuries. I also remember stuff science has done that might inspire a what-if for a speculative author (Jeff loves posting these things; I love reading them).

So which came first, the science or the fiction?

Jules Verne brought us deep sea and under-the-earth adventures. Now we're designing communities of floating cities and underwater hotels and discovering caves of giant crystals in Mexico.

Star Trek communicators undeniably inspired the need for and look of modern cell phones.

Ray Bradbury took us to Mars long before NASA did.

But at the same time, Einstein's theories make stories/movies like Paycheck plausible.

PopSci had an article about a plane-mounted chemical laser capable of destroying a target 3 feet square. Star Wars is just one of several movies that come to mind with such weapons.

So which is it? Is this another chicken-egg argument? Or does fiction tend to inspire scientists and inventors to think beyond themselves and stretch the limits of possibility? Is it the other way around?

[scintor]

It's a both thing. Some authors are inspried by science and some scientists are inspired by stories. Occasionally, you get a scientist who is also an author.

Scincerely,

[e-mail]

[fluke]

Myrthman,

Did you know that automatic, sliding doors were inspired by Star Trek (original series) but even though sliding doors were commonplace during the production of Next Generation, they still used doors on ropes with the pneumatic hiss added in post production.

Frank

[dizzyjam]

I saw an interview one time with the guy who back in the seventies invented the first "cell" phone. It was a big, huge thing. What we have today is solely because of what he did then. He said his inspiration was the communicator of Star Trek.

Or how about DickTracy and his watch walkie talkie? Nowadays that doesn't seem so bizarre.

Another show I watched went through all the technology of Star Trek and showed how people were trying to make each possible. That fellow with the clunky first cell phone was on that one too.

I think if it's a strong enough idea, people will find a way to "make it so".

[Jeff Gerke]

I agree that it's both. How many scientists do we have today who were inspired by Dr. Who or Star Trek or Star Wars? And yet, as myrthman points out, how cool is it as storytellers to play what-if with real science?

It's an unholy matrimony that somehow really works.

Jeff

[Christian Soldier]

Sometimes I wonder if one could exist without the other? Sure, some things would be invented anyway, but others? Cell phones were developed for the Army, but would anyone have thought of it otherwise? Then there's the internet. No one came up with that in si-fi that I'm aware of. (Note: The internet was developed by the Army as well, but science took it over immediately after). Fiction and new inventions all come from the imagination. It's just that we fiction writers spend all day coming up with stuff, so our imagination is very well developed.

[Jeff Gerke]

We've got scientists and SF writers feeding on each other (idea-wise, not in some nasty zombie sense), but you bring up a good point that makes me think we need to add a new playa to the field: the military.

How many of our scientific advancements came because of a quest to gain an advantage over the enemy?

Certainly the electronic computer would have to be a great example here. You would know that, Mr. Artilleryman. IBM developed its first computer as a means to better calculate the aiming and trajectories of artillery.

Jeff

[newburydave]

As an engineer of sorts I realized a long time ago that real Engineers are really inventors. Most don't get billed as that because they "invent" things and methods that solve small real world manufacturing and service problems using applied Science. Actually some of the major Scientific breakthroughs were made by Engineers or people who thought like Engineers.

One trait that all of the best engineers that I've worked with have is a fantastic imagination. They imagine their technical solutions and the support infrastructure needed for them to deal with the problems that their company gives them to solve before they ever put pencil to paper or fingers to CAD keyboard. A lot of successful engineering is really blue sky imagineering.

I don't see a lot of difference between that and what we do as Fiction Writers. The best fiction writers "invent" a world or an entire universe (infrastructure) where they can put characters and technology/magic (methods and devices) to explore and propose solutions to problems that we see in the human condition (the problems that our "company" gives us to solve).

Hard core Scientists do the same type of thing except the "problems" they are tasked to solve frequently are more academic and may take decades before a practical application is forthcoming.

As Christian Speculative Fiction writers of course the "problem" that most of us are trying to solve is how do we package to Gospel truths to reach people that might not otherwise be exposed to God's truth in an effective way. In this analogy of mine the truths of God's Word are the "methods and devices" that solve the most important "problems" of our existance, those dealing with Sin/Alienation from God and Righteousness/Redemptive relation with God.

It strikes me that Science and Fiction (Imagination) are two sides of the same coin in the human cosmos. The coin is innovative problem solving, and we as Christian Spec. Fic. authors are but humble practitioners of the most sublime form of that art. Helpers in the Cure of Souls.

Think about that the next time you are tempted to feel like you're wasting your time on "little stories". It's a calling like any other gifting in God's economy.

Write on Brothers and Sisters

[myrthman]

Well said, Dave.

[firestorm78583]

Hi. New here to the Anomaly, but I thought I'd put my 2 cents in.
"Yesterday's science fiction s today's technology" is a phrase I tell my students all the time. The references listed above are some that I use to illustrate thre point. (I also add that 1960's Batman was the first to have a car phone).
If you think about it, Science and science fiction both have a common ancestor, the question "What if...".
In science it's known as a hypothesis. In science fiction, it's a story-starter.
The truth of the matter is that science was there before it was science. God created the world. We just label our discoveries. The science behind the apple falling from the tree was there before Isaac Newton got hit on the head.
Science fiction is one of those driving forces that keeps us researching and exploring. It keeps our imagination alive and drives us to invent the next big thing.
Thanks, all

Will