Ive been reading and rereading novels of the great writer Ursula K Le Guin over the past year, and they have had me thinking about the difficulty of writing about technologies that will (or wont) be in use in ones imagined future worlds.
Much has been written about the influence of science fiction on eventual science fact. Although writers and filmmakers create fanciful worlds, many of their tech fictions have shaped the actual technologies we end up with years later.
The topic even features in serious academic work. One 2018 study examined how often science fiction has been referenced in papers presented at a top international conference on human-computer interaction, noting: Sci-fi movies, shows or stories do provide an inspiration for the foremost and upcoming human-computer interaction challenges of our time, for example through the discussion of shape-changing interfaces, implantables or digital afterlife ethics.
When science fiction creates particularly compelling representations of future technologies, people remember them. Later on that fictional tech can seem an obvious way of realising the possibilities of real-world technologies when technical capabilities advance.
Star Trek is regularly referenced in this connection, and little wonder: the technologists designing the first 20th century iterations of personal tech were the 1960s kids who grew up with TV Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
No surprise then that mobile handsets might seem an obvious step along the way towards Trekian communicators, with the mid-90s Motorola flip clamshell model paying obvious homage in its StarTAC name.
Then there were the Enterprises touchscreens and its speaking computer. iPads and iPhones and Alexa and Siri, anyone?
Many years ago I interviewed a number of leading voice technology experts and every one referenced Star Trek and 2001 as inspirations. New generations of technologists will have a further half century of screen and fiction technologies to inspire tomorrows devices.
And yet it can take time for us to adapt to new technologies even when weve been given them in fictional format. Again take mobiles. For a lot of us (okay, me) who became the first generation of untethered mobile phone-users in the 1990s, a mobile sure didnt seem like an obvious mass market device.
Which brings me back to Le Guin. Ive been reading her novel The Lathe of Heaven, considered one of her best. Written in 1971 and set in Portland, Oregon, its a dystopian tale set (then) in a future in which climate change and overpopulation has created a bleak, impoverished world.
The climate element is eerily spot on. So-called cli-fi, a term coined in 2007 for climate-related fiction, might seem a more recent invention but step aside Al Gore Le Guin pretty much nailed the how and why of the reality we are living through. Her overpopulated earth is trying to accommodate seven billion people, a number weve surpassed.
The reader eventually discovers that events are unfolding in 2002. Yikes: in what is now our own past.
A minor detail has preoccupied me. On her future earth there are phones. But, jarringly, there arent mobile phones. Characters use landlines. They do not even have anything like an answering machine connected to the phone.
Plot elements involve people not answering their landlines. And yet there are other advanced technologies, such as a device that enables a researcher to manipulate the brain during sleep.
This landline-only futurescape creates an odd feeling of anachronism. By the 1980s the first mega-brick mobiles were in use by shouty financial sector yuppies. By 2002 about half the US population had a mobile phone.
Noticing this is not to critique Le Guin. Id wager science fiction writers do at least as well in guessing what might come next as professional futurologists, the people paid to apply their noggins to this task.
Instead what really intrigues me is how this case of the missing mobile phones exemplifies how hard it can be for any of us, much less the finest of science fiction writers, to imagine the mundanities of how long-standing technologies might morph into something utterly new.
Add in uncertainty about what the general public might want and use. And, of course, what technologists think people will use a device for is often not what it gets used for as writer William Gibson famously noted in a novel, the street finds its own uses for things.
In retrospect, the incremental microchip-enabled changes that replaced landlines with powerful pocket computers, where the ability to make a phone call is now a minor if useful feature, were neither obvious nor a foregone conclusion even in the 1990s, much less the 1970s.
Its the very human flip-side of the supposed science fiction predicts our future technologies truism. Sometimes futuristic fiction later foregrounds how hard it can be to see what is wrongly believed to be the obvious.
In this sense Le Guin makes me (as always) feel a bit more human this time (like the 1990s me) in really not having seen that amazing phone revolution coming at all.
Read more:
Technology really can be stranger than fiction at times - The Irish Times
- Report: Apple acquires French startup behind AI and computer vision technology - 9to5Mac - April 22nd, 2024 [April 22nd, 2024]
- CACI Awarded $1.3 Billion Task Order to Provide Communications and Information Technology Expertise to U.S. ... - Business Wire - April 22nd, 2024 [April 22nd, 2024]
- What is semi-automated offside technology and how does it work? - The Athletic - April 22nd, 2024 [April 22nd, 2024]
- Can technology save us from an ecological apocalypse? - interview - CyberNews.com - April 22nd, 2024 [April 22nd, 2024]
- Does LaLiga have goalline technology? What about other major leagues? - AS USA - April 22nd, 2024 [April 22nd, 2024]
- Driver Assistance Technologies: NHTSA Should Take Action to Enhance Consumer Understanding of Capabilities and ... - Government Accountability Office - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- OpenAI reveals Voice Engine, but won't yet publicly release the risky AI voice-cloning technology - The Associated Press - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Nexalin Technology Full Year 2023 Earnings: US$0.63 loss per share (vs US$0.30 loss in FY 2022) - Yahoo Finance - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- 'Battle for your brain': What the rise of brain-computer interface technology means for you - WBUR News - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Firsthand Technology Value Fund (NASDAQ:SVVC) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com - Defense World - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Suzhou Anjie Technology Full Year 2023 Earnings: Misses Expectations - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Inside the shadowy global battle to tame the world's most dangerous technology - POLITICO Europe - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- The Technological Pivot Of History: Power In The Age Of Exponential Innovation Analysis - Eurasia Review - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- 'Women Behind the Wheel' explores the intersection of gender, culture and cars - NPR - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Shanghai Weihong Electronic Technology Full Year 2023 Earnings: Revenues Beat Expectations, EPS Lags - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- A Look At The Fair Value Of Powertech Technology Inc. (TWSE:6239) - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Weaver Network Technology Full Year 2023 Earnings: EPS Beats Expectations, Revenues Lag - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- New York City will introduce controversial AI gun detection technology amid subway crime crisis - SiliconANGLE News - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Earnings Not Telling The Story For Beijing CTJ Information Technology Co., Ltd. (SZSE:301153) - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Vontron Technology Full Year 2023 Earnings: EPS: CN0.35 (vs CN0.34 in FY 2022) - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Huawei Revenue Rises as Technology Giant Commits to Growth - Technology Magazine - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Shenzhen Fortune Trend technology Full Year 2023 Earnings: Beats Expectations - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- USPACE Technology Group Limited (HKG:1725) May Have Run Too Fast Too Soon With Recent 28% Price Plummet - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- NYC to test gun-detecting technology in subway system - SILive.com - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Cancer Treatment: 3D Printing and Scanning Technology - Surviving Mesothelioma - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Does Contel Technology (HKG:1912) Have A Healthy Balance Sheet? - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Oppo Find X7 series now supports 5G-Advanced technology with up to 10 Gbps downlink speed - The Indian Express - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- DCPS receives nearly $20k in grants for technology program advancements - The Owensboro Times - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Hangzhou Electronic Soul Network Technology Full Year 2023 Earnings: Misses Expectations - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- International Business Digital Technology Full Year 2023 Earnings: CN0.07 loss per share (vs CN0.019 loss in FY ... - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Analysts Are More Bearish On Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (SZSE:002709) Than They Used To Be - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Daheng New Epoch Technology Full Year 2023 Earnings: EPS: CN0.11 (vs CN0.16 in FY 2022) - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Tesla offers U.S. customers a month's trial of its driver-assist technology - Reuters - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Slam Dunk Technology: How AI Is Revolutionizing The Game Of Basketball - Forbes - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- China Environmental Technology and Bioenergy Holdings Full Year 2023 Earnings: CN0.03 loss per share (vs CN ... - Simply Wall St - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Vuma and Huawei team up to launch industry first 50G PON ... - Light Reading - July 15th, 2023 [July 15th, 2023]
- See What Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner Look Like With Aging ... - E! NEWS - July 15th, 2023 [July 15th, 2023]
- AFRL conducts swarm technology demonstration > ONE AFRL ... - afrl.af.mil - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Shell to use new AI technology in deep sea oil exploration - Reuters - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Former Google CEO says AI at 'center' of technology competition between US and China - Fox News - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Agriculture and technology combine to drive the industrys growth - Times of India - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Technology and the Skills Shortage - Financial Times - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- New License Agreement Announced for Next-Generation Base ... - BioPharm International - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Orion Governance Licenses Technology from GE to Deliver Next Generation Data Governance Solution - Yahoo Finance - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- World needs to be 'vigilant' as AI technology improves and ... - KTVZ - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- After Losing Son, Ridgefield Mother Pushes For Technology to Prevent Hot Car Deaths - NBC Connecticut - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- After last year's fan violence in Queretaro, has Fan ID technology ensured safety for Liga MX fans? - ESPN - ESPN - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Bleach: The Soul Reapers' Gigai Technology, Explained - CBR - Comic Book Resources - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Cogito Tech - Catalyzing Transformation in Global Healthcare ... - Business Standard - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Barriers to Use of Technology in Diabetes Management - Patient Care Online - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Blue technology startups presented at the inaugural Gulf Blue ... - The University of Southern Mississippi - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- CureVac files expanded patent lawsuit against Pfizer/BioNTech over ... - Reuters - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Harrison Ford defends use of de-ageing technology in new Indiana Jones film: I know that that is my face - Yahoo News - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Sanwo-Olu: Nigeria needs technology to compete with likes of China - Guardian Nigeria - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Prejudice in technology, and the necessity of time: Books in brief - Nature.com - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- New technology uses ordinary sunlight to disinfect drinking water ... - Stanford University News - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Incredible AI technology shows what UK cities will look like in 2050 - LADbible - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Your Firm and Your Tools - Top Technology Initiatives - CPAPracticeAdvisor.com - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Tom Hanks: I could appear in movies after death with AI technology - BBC - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Transform your career with Chief Technology Officer online course - Economic Times - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- e-Learning Jamaica Technology in Education Conference Slated for ... - Government of Jamaica, Jamaica Information Service - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- Andrew Maynard | What's a Luddite? From Industrial Revolution to ... - TribDem.com - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- At Yale, Kaloyan Kolev used technology to create and to make ... - Yale News - May 20th, 2023 [May 20th, 2023]
- This technology could alter the entire planet. These groups want every nation to have a say. - MIT Technology Review - April 17th, 2023 [April 17th, 2023]
- The secret lives of snakes and how Georgia College uses technology to study them - 13WMAZ.com - April 8th, 2023 [April 8th, 2023]
- Technology Innovation Institute to host 2nd 'Additive Manufacturing the Future' seminar in Abu Dhabi - Devdiscourse - April 8th, 2023 [April 8th, 2023]
- Can Array Technologies Inc (ARRY) Stock Rise to the Top of Technology Sector Thursday? - InvestorsObserver - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- Here's Why We Think Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology (ETR:PFV) Might Deserve Your Attention Today - Simply Wall St - February 18th, 2023 [February 18th, 2023]
- Will WM Technology Inc (MAPS) Stay at the Top of the Technology Sector? - InvestorsObserver - February 18th, 2023 [February 18th, 2023]
- Ways in which technology can enhance the abilities of law enforcement agents to assist the community - Times of India - February 7th, 2023 [February 7th, 2023]
- Meet The Titans: Google And OpenView (Microsoft) Faceoff On Chat Technology Innovation - Forbes - February 5th, 2023 [February 5th, 2023]
- MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:MTSI) Stock Has Been Sliding But Fundamentals Look Strong: Is The Market Wrong? - Simply Wall St - February 5th, 2023 [February 5th, 2023]
- WVU Dept. of Ophthalmology acquires state-of-the-art technology for simulation lab - WV News - February 5th, 2023 [February 5th, 2023]
- Executive Vice President of Technology & Operations Alok Sethi Just Sold A Bunch Of Shares In Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) - Simply Wall St - February 5th, 2023 [February 5th, 2023]
- Is Now The Time To Put Amkor Technology (NASDAQ:AMKR) On Your Watchlist? - Simply Wall St - January 27th, 2023 [January 27th, 2023]
- There Are Reasons To Feel Uneasy About New Oriental Education & Technology Group's (NYSE:EDU) Returns On Capital - Simply Wall St - January 27th, 2023 [January 27th, 2023]
- Technology has set us on a path toward one of two dystopian scenariosbut its not too late to save democracy - Fortune - January 17th, 2023 [January 17th, 2023]
- IonQ Acquires Entangled Networks And Locks In Quantum Networking Technology Critical To Its Future Success - Forbes - January 10th, 2023 [January 10th, 2023]
- Industrialization 3.0 - How Technology, Wall Street, And The Government Can Help The US Win In A World Of Re-Industrialization - Forbes - January 10th, 2023 [January 10th, 2023]
- Connect with aspirational India through technology and work in interest of world: Anurag Thakur to NRIs - Economic Times - January 8th, 2023 [January 8th, 2023]