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Science fact: Sci-fi inventions that became reality

bbc.com

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Re: Science fact: Sci-fi inventions that became reality

#11

Post by 77pt77 »

laumars wrote: post #8

Flip phones were designed from the communicators in the original series of Star Trek. If you're interested in the more theoretical side of the Beeb's article then I'd recommend Michio Kaku's book " Physics of the Impossible "[1] (he also did a TV series on this topic but that wasn't nearly as good in my opinion) [1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/cka/Physics-Impossible-Scientific...

> I'd recommend Michio Kaku's

Take everything kaku writes with a grain of salt.

He frequently borders dangerously on charlatan.

Re: Science fact: Sci-fi inventions that became reality

#14

Post by adrianN »

mtw wrote: post #6

Jules Verne wrote about electrical submarines (Nautilus in 20,000 leagues under the sea), tasers, newscasts and videoconferencing, all became reality

The Nautilus is powered "by the same power as the sun", so you could argue that it is a nuclear submarine.

Re: Science fact: Sci-fi inventions that became reality

#15

Post by GrinningFool »

choonway wrote: post #2

What about actual inventions that weren't inspired from Science Fiction?

How would you be able to tell?

Inventions now draw on inventions of the past - how to be sure than any invention of the last few decades doesn't inherit some science-fiction base from its predecessors?

Re: Science fact: Sci-fi inventions that became reality

#17

Post by laumars »

77pt77 wrote: post #11
laumars wrote: post #8

Flip phones were designed from the communicators in the original series of Star Trek. If you're interested in the more theoretical side of the Beeb's article then I'd recommend Michio Kaku's book " Physics of the Impossible "[1] (he also did a TV series on this topic but that wasn't nearly as good in my opinion) [1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/cka/Physics-Impossible-Scientific...

> I'd recommend Michio Kaku's Take everything kaku writes with a grain of salt. He frequently borders dangerously on charlatan.

I think that's a little unfair. The guy is a respected professional physicist after all. But you often only read about him or see him on TV when he's doing his "fluff" piece - but that's more a problem the with how the media loves to dumb things down than it is with Michio Kaku's credibility.

Regarding the book: it basically takes past scientific breakthroughs to show how tech has evolved, then couples that with current bleeding edge experiments and hypotheses to theorise how sci-fi concepts could/might be solved. It follows a nice balance between factual and entertainment which makes it a refreshing read compared to the dryness of many other books by respected scientific authors.

Re: Science fact: Sci-fi inventions that became reality

#19

Post by gaius »

rexreed wrote: post #10

Sorry but this is total bunk. Moving an object the size of a grain of rice with sound waves is not a tractor beam. And I can go on and on. If I want this sort of crap, I'll check my Facebook feed.

I refer you to my last comment about the BBC https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13004593

Re: Science fact: Sci-fi inventions that became reality

#20

Post by saiya-jin »

mtw wrote: post #6

Jules Verne wrote about electrical submarines (Nautilus in 20,000 leagues under the sea), tasers, newscasts and videoconferencing, all became reality

apart from, you know, being 20,000 leagues under the sea, which is 1.1112e+8 metres accoridng to google. and submarines so deep in the ocean that they are actually deep in the space on the other side... or maybe it's just ISS?
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