Can science fiction still predict the future?

In the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke shows us Dr. Heywood Floyd reading his “newspad”, where he can consult any newspaper he wishes. How many future computer engineers read this science fiction classic - or saw the motion picture - and thought: “I want one of those!”? As science fiction fans know, finding examples in earlier fiction that resemble new technology brings a glow of satisfaction at seeing our world foretold. But how has rapid technological development affected such forecasts?

Wondering how scientific advances would shape the future is not a new preoccupation - indeed, rocket propulsion may first have been suggested in a 1657 work by Cyrano de Bergerac, who shoots his hero to the moon with firecrackers. But few have been so enthralled by imaginings of the future as John Claudius Loudon. In the March 1828 issue of Gardener’s Magazine, Loudon ran a review of Jane Webb’s The Mummy!, a novel about an Egyptian mummy resurrected in the $22^{\text{nd}}$ century. So impressed was Loudon by Webb’s steam-powered agricultural machines, air beds, milking machines and smokeless fuel that he arranged an introduction to the young writer. They were later married.

Enthusiasm about such speculation hasn’t been universal. For example, Jules Verne’s 1863 novel Paris in the Twentieth Century depicted a 1960s world of skyscrapers, fax machines and even a proto-internet. It was turned down by his publisher as “unbelievable”, and only finally published in 1994.

In the $20^{\text{th}}$ century, emerging technologies made such ideas more believable. In 1926, the first issue of the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories enthused: “Extravagant Fiction Today... Cold Fact Tomorrow”. In 1928, the British newspaper DailyMail published an issue forecasting the year 2000 - with giant flat-screen tvs in public places -, which caused little surprise. As time goes by, though, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between science fiction and reality.

Of course, some have argued that projecting a plausible future is more science than art. Robert Heinlein was one of many authors credited with “inventing” the cellphone, which appears in his 1948 novel Space Cadet. Those with an ache to foretell the future may want to take a page out of his book: he maintained that his “prophecies” - which included atomic weapons and remote controls - were not born solely of his imagination, but rooted in his science education and knowledge of current research.

(Andy Sawyer. )

No 2º parágrafo, o autor desenvolve uma ideia e, para comprová-La, dá exemplos de inventos presentes em obras de ficção científica.

Identifique essa ideia e cite dois dos inventos mencionados.