Is Technology Catching Up With Science Fiction?

That really depends on what science fiction you mean. Some of the science fiction of the 70s and earlier is already here or have even been surpassed. For example, the datapads Star Treks' Captain Kirk uses are inferior to our smartphones.

Other is nowhere in sight or has been shown to be physically impossible.

prosperity4all said:

Is Technology Catching Up With Science Fiction?

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No.
Technology, of the flesh, is driving multitudes to destruction, preventing their salvation,

often. (whoever trusts in it, is cursed)

It seems to me that sci-fi helps to encourage technological innovation. Arthur C Clarke is a great example of this, having come up with things in his fiction that are now very commonplace.

I worry though that there are a lot of researchers out there who are more concerned with whether or not they CAN do a thing than to consider whether or not they SHOULD do that thing. AI and nano-technology is somewhat worrisome to me, as examples.

I say it depends on which decade of sci-fi you're referring to.

If you're talking about before the 1970's, then no. Early science fiction was mostly authored by engineers who were sold on the idea that the progress of mankind would have no limits. There were the occasional dystopian pieces like 1984, but the sci-fi elements in Orwell don't really contribute all that much to the themes explored in the plot. 2001: A Space Odyssey is the archetype of the era--stories about how mankind will thrust out into a completely sympathetic universe populated with enlightened progressive aliens. And this is emphatically NOT the world we find ourselves in as of 2019. We trusted that we would grow with technology to apply it to better and better ends. In reality, technology strains past the biological limits set for us by eons of natural selection. Children who have grown up with iPads and iPhones and iEverything are showing higher rates of mood disorders. We use the Internet to ruin people's lives for minor infractions with the kind of judgmental self-righteousness that would make the Puritans blush. We trusted that SETI would inevitably uncover evidence of alien intelligence, but here we are now facing down the dark implications of the Fermi Paradox.

If you're talking about after the 1960's, then yes. Starting in the 1970's you had a cynical reinterpretation of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the format of Alien: technology is run-down and of a mega-corporate origin, and the universe is a Lovecraftian horror-fest of ways to die horribly. Then, in the 1980's, starting with Blade Runner and Neuromancer, we get science fiction that actively speculates about the terrible implications of the Apple computer: smog-blanketed megapolises laced together by the Matrix, brought to you by Coca-Cola. This also is not quite our present in 2019. The pollution is not nearly so bad, for instance, and the evil mega-corporations actually turned out to be progressive-virtue-signaling Silicon-Valley organizations like Facebook and Google. Synthetic biological robots do not have to empathize with hypothetical tortoises. But the central theme of post-1960's sci-fi--the pessimistic view of technological progress--has come true. And it will only get worse as China makes the ethical sacrifices that we aren't willing to in order to charge ahead in biotech.

No. Absolutely not. Oh a lot of things that were first thought of in Science Fiction have come to pass. But Science Fiction has not stood still and is moving faster and in more directions than actual science can.

I think in all eras you consider the answer I think is no, technology is not catching up with science fiction.

Science fiction claims have always been pretty outlandish (even if certain themes tend to run through certain eras of sci-fi). Besides, can reality, which has the constraints of physics to deal with, ever catch up to the imagination?

But it is neat to see all these ideas in sci-fi become a reality. I think people sort of jump to conclusions when they say things like the star trek communicator lead to the first phone or something, its more likely that these ideas sort of bounce around long before the technology can make them happen, and when an idea comes closer to being able to become a reality more people recognize that so the ideas gain traction in society. But maybe not.

keith99 said:

No. Absolutely not. Oh a lot of things that were first thought of in Science Fiction have come to pass. But Science Fiction has not stood still and is moving faster and in more directions than actual science can.

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Or at least it was...the decline of book publishing is damaging literary SF, and cinematic/tv skiffy has actually regressed, with a few exceptions.

The Liturgist said:

Or at least it was...the decline of book publishing is damaging literary SF, and cinematic/tv skiffy has actually regressed, with a few exceptions.

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True. I can't think of any cinematic/tv stuff in the last decade that even comes close to To Serve Man or The Eye of the Beholder let alone the better written stuff.

I think it is. Virtual reality is becoming more prominent, as is self driving cars, and so on.

Yes, definitely.

There's a science fiction/dystopian series on Netflix called Black Mirror. A few concepts from that series are now either a reality in the world, or becoming one: Robodogs, social credit system in China, Neuralink.

Not to mention there is so much hidden tech that isn't even on the scene yet.

When it comes to Star Trek's warp speed thing going from star to star in moments....not even close. The universe is out there mighty and vast....yet MAN is like chained to say Earth, Moon, Mars or maybe it could be said our solar system just around our Sun but that's it.

keith99 said:

True. I can't think of any cinematic/tv stuff in the last decade that even comes close to To Serve Man or The Eye of the Beholder let alone the better written stuff.

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Arrival, Black Mirror, the Expanse, Ex Machina... I think there's plenty of good science fiction still in production.

Shemjaza said:

Arrival, Black Mirror, the Expanse, Ex Machina... I think there's plenty of good science fiction still in production.

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I think you just made my case!

Shemjaza said:

Arrival, Black Mirror, the Expanse, Ex Machina... I think there's plenty of good science fiction still in production.

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Enh, the Expanse suffers very much from being the sort of show that originated on SyFy.

The Liturgist said:

Enh, the Expanse suffers very much from being the sort of show that originated on SyFy.

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I don't really see it.

I like shows like Killjoys and Dark Matter, but I can accept that they are basically Xena and Hercules with lazer guns.

But the Expanse seems like a much smarter show.