Is Sci-Fi a Better Guide to the Future Than Tech Billionaires?
transcript
show notes
Did a 1914 novel help lead to the atomic bomb? HG Wells imagined one, and a physicist who read the book later worked out how a chain reaction could happen. Prophecy, or self-fulfilling prophecy?
This week Richard asks whether science fiction predicts the future or simply hands engineers a to-do list. The man behind the first handheld mobile phone cited Dick Tracy and Star Trek. Nike made Back to the Future's self-lacing trainers.
Holly isn't convinced that counts: if someone builds it because they read about it, is that really a prediction?
Rob, meanwhile, reckons Musk has spent twenty years working from a Peter F Hamilton novel.
We also look at what today's sci-fi suggests could come next, from brain implants to talking with whales.
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