on the space jump

[solarbird]

Having just watched the space jump - the skydive from near-orbit, the edge of space - I have to say one thing on an old topic.

People talk a lot about things from science fiction coming true, most particularly Star Trek. Star Trek kind of holds the record on that, arguably, and you can quibble about whether that’s prediction or cause (since it

Comments

[agrumer]

What's come true from Star Trek?

We have cellphones that have roughly the same shape as an old hand-held communicator, but the functionality is totally different. (Communicators lack a modern smart phone's computing capabilities; cellphones lack a communicator's range and ability to operate without a cell network.)

I guess the iPad is a lot like the PADD from Next Gen, so that counts as one thing.

And Klingons. Klingons came true, so that's a second thing. But is that really the record?

[solarbird]

Oh, a lot of little things. Not necessarily earth-shaking. And not exact, but people site it all the damn time - and absolutely do consider cell phones to be communicator-like, which I think is valid even if the methodology is different. (The idea of anyone being being able to contact anyone else with a similar device anywhere...) There's a theory of warp drive now that people are talking about, A/V being driven by computers/library computers, small portable computers (even if they look really weird, they had them), sterilisation fields arguably (tho' not for surgery use), a lot of the medical tricorder stuff can actually be done now and is packaged together...

I agree that it's a more in reputation and by generalisation, but all of that is still out there. And it's always the one cited. I just wanted Lost in Space to get its due when it actually got something. :D

[wrog]

I'm told that some of the features of the bridge design in the original series got copied back for use in actual warships. Not necessarily high tech, but cool if actually true...

[pywaket]

Tablet computers really should be credited to Arthur C Clark and 2001, I think.

[agrumer]

And don't we have to credit (or possibly blame) Borges's "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" every time something from fiction escapes out into the real world?

[wrog]

NEWSPAD!

[technoshaman]

They are working on warp drive, transporters, and the first civilian space ship is named Enterprise. There are tricorder apps for smartphones, some of which actually *do* stuff.

Oh! Hyposprays! I forgot about that one.