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I have always thought science is inspired by fiction. Cellphones are nothing less than a better communicator, Bluetooth badges are even available on thinkgeek!

noobiemcfoob 8y ago
Inspired by or surfing similar waves of thought. Science fiction can just go further ahead, not bounded by the realities of science and production limitations.
- deleted 8y ago
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njarboe 8y ago
Almost all things need to be conceived by a person before they are created. Its much easier to conceive something than build it. Thus most objects will be written about before they exist. More emergent properties are less likely to have been predicted by fiction authors. Say the decline of good news sources due to the capture of most classified revenue by Craigslist and all the knock-on effects of that.
lsc 8y ago
But a communicator is primarily a voice communication device. If I were to say a cellphone is like a star trek device, I'd say it's more like an undersized PADD (and yeah, I maybe agree that the Apple engineers may have a lot of TNG. The 'too lazy to make actual buttons' set designers, I think, actually inspired apple; it really is a lot easier to design a muti-use interface if the "buttons" are all behind a glass touchscreen.)
- pseudalopex 8y ago
  Feature phones still exist. The Motorola StarTAC was very much like a communicator. I think the iPhone was more inspired by existing products and their obvious drawbacks. The Newton was more like a PADD than the iPhone is. The story I've heard about the TNG set design is "Gene Roddenberry thought it looked more futuristic". Calling it laziness is insulting.
- amyjess 8y ago
  I believe the Motorola StarTAC was directly inspired by the communicators from TOS. Visually, it's pretty similar [0], and even the name recalls Star Trek. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Startac_130_Movistar.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Startac_130_Movistar.jpg
jayd16 8y ago
Sci-fi (and all fiction) are really just the author talking about the present. As such, all the sci-fi tech is just a neat description of an existing problem. Inevitably engineers will strive to solve those problems.
dtech 8y ago
A large portion of tech is conceivable way before it is possible. E.g. self-driving cars and sentient AI robots have been written about for a century already. Doesn't really mean research into those is inspired by the stories.
- int_19h 8y ago
  For something that was conceived in a very public way (e.g. a popular work of literature), I find it hard to believe that research wasn't inspired by the stories at least in part. Not the fundamental research in other fields that made it possible in the first place, perhaps, but the final engineering work.

noobiemcfoob 8y ago

Inspired by or surfing similar waves of thought. Science fiction can just go further ahead, not bounded by the realities of science and production limitations.

deleted 8y ago
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njarboe 8y ago

Almost all things need to be conceived by a person before they are created. Its much easier to conceive something than build it. Thus most objects will be written about before they exist. More emergent properties are less likely to have been predicted by fiction authors. Say the decline of good news sources due to the capture of most classified revenue by Craigslist and all the knock-on effects of that.

lsc 8y ago

But a communicator is primarily a voice communication device. If I were to say a cellphone is like a star trek device, I'd say it's more like an undersized PADD (and yeah, I maybe agree that the Apple engineers may have a lot of TNG. The 'too lazy to make actual buttons' set designers, I think, actually inspired apple; it really is a lot easier to design a muti-use interface if the "buttons" are all behind a glass touchscreen.)

pseudalopex 8y ago
Feature phones still exist. The Motorola StarTAC was very much like a communicator. I think the iPhone was more inspired by existing products and their obvious drawbacks. The Newton was more like a PADD than the iPhone is. The story I've heard about the TNG set design is "Gene Roddenberry thought it looked more futuristic". Calling it laziness is insulting.
amyjess 8y ago
I believe the Motorola StarTAC was directly inspired by the communicators from TOS. Visually, it's pretty similar [0], and even the name recalls Star Trek. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Startac_130_Movistar.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Startac_130_Movistar.jpg

jayd16 8y ago

Sci-fi (and all fiction) are really just the author talking about the present. As such, all the sci-fi tech is just a neat description of an existing problem. Inevitably engineers will strive to solve those problems.

dtech 8y ago

A large portion of tech is conceivable way before it is possible. E.g. self-driving cars and sentient AI robots have been written about for a century already. Doesn't really mean research into those is inspired by the stories.

int_19h 8y ago
For something that was conceived in a very public way (e.g. a popular work of literature), I find it hard to believe that research wasn't inspired by the stories at least in part. Not the fundamental research in other fields that made it possible in the first place, perhaps, but the final engineering work.