Some of the tech appearing in movies wasn’t the fruit of random predictions but of consultations with industrial designers, futurists and advertising specialists.Liquid-fuelled rocket, 3D gesture-based user interfaces, tablet computer and mobile phones are all examples of technology that first appeared on sci-fi works. However a piece of technology came to be, its undebatable that sci-fi works have accurately predicted and paved the way for many of the pieces of technology we enjoy today.

The Influence Of Sci-Fi On Real Technology

Is a new method for designing technology that explores the futures that ordinary people would prefer. Design fictions are provocative and engage people, encouraging them to envision, explain and raise questions about the direction of future technology and society.Design fictions are now being used in sectors ranging from health to defence tech forecasting, and even policy making. In this way, science fiction can be used as a tool to help design future societies and technologies, giving the public a say on it too.

Design Fiction

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</div>Sci-fi helps us think ahead and predicts future technologies, but most importantly it creates debate by asking – what if? Emmanuel Tsekleves
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Thu 13 Aug 2015 05.05 EDT
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Last modified on Thu 22 Feb 2018 15.32 EST
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<img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/8/7/1438964106766/a39de1c3-4107-421b-bd90-3f22e67ec228-2060x1236.jpeg?width=300&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=c1ec17a386ecb4e455b1ff6553d9808c"/>
</picture><figcaption> Alex Garland’s film Ex Machina. Is reality catching up with science fiction?</figcaption></figure>You may not immediately believe it, but future technologies are a lot closer to science fiction than people think.We often assume that the technologies we use daily come solely from ingenious innovators working in research labs with a mission to solve problems and invent new products. In fact, several of the most pioneering and novel ideas came from people who had little to do with science and technology, but who had the inspiration and talent to imagine future worlds without the constrains of the present moment.Several sci-fi films and novels have very accurately predicted and paved the way for many of the pieces of technology we enjoy today. This isn’t a new phenomenon either - the inventor of the first <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-liquid-fueled-rocket">liquid-fuelled rocket</a>, American Robert H. Goddard, was inspired by H.G. Wells’ science fiction novel War of the Worlds (1898). More recent examples include the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/jun/16/minority-report-technology-comes-true">3D gesture-based user interface</a> used by Tom Cruise’s character in Minority Report (2002), which is found today in most touch screens and the motion sensing capability of Microsoft’s Kinect. Similarly, the <a href="http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/samsung-says-2001-a-space-odyssey-invented-the-tablet-not-apple/">tablet computer</a> actually first appeared in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and the communicator– which we’ve come to refer today as the <a href="http://www.destination-innovation.com/articles/how-startrek-inspired-an-innovation-your-cell-phone/">mobile phone</a> – was first used by Captain Kirk in Star Trek (1966).Does this mean that reality has caught up with science fiction?In the case of the tech portrayed in several of these sci-fi movies, such as Minority Report and 2001: A Space Odyssey, it was not random predictions. The directors - Stephen Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick - <a href="http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/spielberg-and-cruise-and-the-movies">consulted</a> with industrial designers, futurists and advertising specialists, to try to visualise what the future world would look like.This has been taken further with the recent release of Marvel’s Fantastic Four movie, where the well-known American futurist and theoretical physicist Michio Kaku <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-07/23/fantastic-four-science-videos">explains</a> to film fans through a series of <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/d6e6f8900032733963fbde9b79d96c8d.htm">videos</a> why there’s more to the science – invisibility, teleportation and wormholes – of Fantastic Four than you may expect.The value of science fiction has been also recognised in the rise of a new method for designing technology, called <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2013/10/play/patently-untrue">design fiction</a>. If science fiction stimulates the imagination about extraordinary views of the future, design fiction explores the futures that ordinary people would prefer. Design fictions – like short sci-fi films, prototypes and graphic novels – are provocative and engage people, encouraging them to envision, explain and raise questions about direction of future technology and society. Again, a great example to explain this is to look at sci-fi films. The futuristic medical technology products presented in sci-fi, highlight possible real future scenarios. For instance, the DNA-structured society depicted in Gattaca (1997) on one hand foretells the experimentation with biometrics that today’s governments are pursuing; and on the other hand depicts what society could look like if medical technology is taken to extremes. Design fictions are now being used in sectors ranging from <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NtRK5kN17DEC&amp;pg=PA31&amp;lpg=PA31&amp;dq=design+fiction+in+healthcare&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=CG1usK9aen&amp;sig=x7XeAvv4_IP7OJVqaaw8c2yz5FQ&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0CEkQ6AEwBjgKahUKEwiPiuqA7YzHAhUL_HIKHZbaAvw#v=onepage&amp;q=design%20fiction%20in%20healthcare&amp;f=false">health technology discussions with the public</a> to <a href="http://www.humanitarianfutures.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/hfg-1.pdf">defence tech forecasting</a>, and even policy making. The UK government has even launched a dedicated lab - the <a href="https://openpolicy.blog.gov.uk/2014/06/30/welcome-to-the-policy-lab/">Policy Lab</a> - aimed at using design methods, including design fictions to improve the “<a href="http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/uk-cabinet-office-launches-new-policy-design-lab">pace, quality and deliverability of policy in the civil service</a>”. And, UK Research Councils are funding research in this area too, including the pilot <a href="http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/">AHRC</a> <a href="http://imagination.lancs.ac.uk/activities/ProtoPolicy">ProtoPolicy</a> project, part of the AHRC <a href="http://protopublics.org/">ProtoPublics</a>.<img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e20cfd91eead974260042b493ab3be70e99b0e89/49_0_1826_1096/master/1826.jpg?width=460&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=e8bd62a136eaec78fed188f09fadf221"/>In the world of an ageing population, a team of UK researchers, are working with <a href="http://www.ageuk.org.uk/lancashire/">Age UK Lancashire</a> and the <a href="http://www.policyconnect.org.uk/apdig/home">all-party parliamentary design and innovation group</a> to explore how older people want to live post-2021 and what tech could be useful to support independent living.A number of future scenarios were envisaged that sparked debate on the issues and policies around ageing. These included a <a href="http://imagination.lancs.ac.uk/outcomes/Euthanasia_Wearable_Design_Fiction">euthanasia wearable</a> design fiction - a smart watch device which enables the wearer to end their own life when they choose to. A smart <a href="http://imagination.lancs.ac.uk/outcomes/Smart_Object_Therapist_Design_Fiction">therapist</a> design fiction – a fully automated smart home similar to the one portrayed in the Robot &amp; Frank sci-fi film (2012) and a new type of specialist fully equipped to fix the array smart goods and “program” human behaviour, to further support independent living for older people. Therefore science fiction, or what the design world refers to as design fiction, isn’t fiction but a technique for thinking ahead, predicting future technologies, potentially influencing policy, but most importantly creating debate by asking what if? In this way, science fiction can be used as a tool to help design future societies and technologies, giving the public a say on it too.So, as several sci-fi movies have foreshadowed modern day technologies, next time you watch a sci-fi film pay a closer attention as what is portrayed, as science fiction is fast becoming a science fact.Emmanuel is a senior lecturer in design interactions at <a href="http://imagination.lancs.ac.uk/">ImaginationLancaster</a>.To get weekly news analysis, job alerts and event notifications direct to your inbox, <a href="https://register.theguardian.com/media/">sign up free for Media &amp; Tech Network membership</a>.All Guardian Media &amp; Tech Network content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled “Brought to you by” – find out more <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sponsored-content">here</a>.<h2>
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Sci fi helps us think ahead and predicts future technologies, but most importantly it creates debate by asking - what if?

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The Influence Of Sci-Fi On Real Technology

Design Fiction

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