In the mid-20th century, three science-fiction authors would become known as the genre’s “Big Three” — Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov. These three gentlemen are renowned not only for their literary prowess, but also for their uncanny ability to make predictions about technology in the future.
Here is a look at their contributions to modern technology.
Isaac Asimov
Asimov began his adult life as a Biochemistry Professor at the prestigious Boston University. His most important works included “The Foundation Series” and his “Robot Series“. As an academic, he became a well-rounded author who produced science text books, mystery novels and nonfiction as well as a large array of science-fiction books. In total he wrote/edited over 500 books during his career. One of his great fascinations was with robotics and what they could yield for humanity.
During the 1964 New York hosted World’s Fair, Asimov predicted what the world would look like in 2014. Many of those predictions involved robots, communications and technology. Asimov said that “Gadgetry will continue to relieve mankind of tedious jobs,” and predicted that “kitchen units will be devised that will prepare auto meals,” with the machinery making coffee and breakfast autonomously. This proved to be accurate, as major advancements have been made on the home automation front in recent years, with some systems synchronizing multiple appliances via a smartphone app. Asimov also anticipated Skype, by suggesting that in 50 years time, telephones would be capable of transmitting both sound and image.
Robert A. Heinlein
Heinlein was a military man. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1929 with a Bachelor’s in Naval Engineering. He spent five years serving on aircraft carriers as a communications specialist. He began writing in the late 1930s with a special flair for writing articles and stories about politics, social issues and space travel. One of his most popular novels was “Starship Troopers” (1959), which was eventually made into a movie in 1997.
It is predictable that Heinlein’s best predictions would revolve around science and the effects on society. He predicted that contraception and control of disease is revising relations between the sexes to an extent that will change our entire social and economic structure. This sentiment has been echoed by many contemporary scholars.
Heinlein also correctly anticipated commercial spaceflight. Although interplanetary travel is a few years away, Virgin Galactic (spearheaded by zany CEO Richard Branson) are offering clients suborbital flights that will get you far enough away from earth that you will experience weightlessness
Arthur C. Clarke
He is perhaps the most famous and decorated member of the trio. Although he’s long-since been a household name thanks to works such as “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Clarke also shocked the world repeatedly with his predictions.
After a stint as a radar specialists with the Royal Air Force of England, he studied mathematics and physics. Clarke anticipated geostationary satellites and satellite communications systems as early as 1945 — 12 years before the launch of Sputnik 1! His writings on satellite communication networks established the conceptual basis for internet service and transatlantic television transmissions. He even predicted that a doctor in one country could be an intricate part of an ongoing surgery in another country (teleconferencing), and he also predicted the personal computer.
As Clarke would admit in a 1964 BBC documentary, “Trying to predict the future is a discouraging, hazardous occupation.” He felt that if a person was right, the theory must not have been so far-fetched. If he was wrong, he was a crazy man. By that definition, time has told us that Clarke and his contemporaries were anything but crazy.
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