We are Wizards Wielding Rocks to Make Magic

In his book “Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible”, writer Arthur C. Clarke pens his famous quote “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”.

Mystical Beginnings

I could not agree more. A single piece of technology goes through various waves of decreasing mysticism. At the start, a novel technological discovery appears to the uninitiated as magic. Take two foundational advancements to modern technology: electricity and computers. Mentions of electrical phenomenon spawn back thousands of years, from the electrical impulses of various animals, to the piezoelectric effects of crystals like quartz, and of course lightning. The 1300s to 1600s were probably home to many homebrew groups of nerdy twenty-somethings thinking about all the possible business opportunities around harnessing electricity and doing something useful with it. It wasn't until the 1700s did our understanding of electricity advance enough that we could harness electricity through inventions like the Leiden jar. As well as Founding Father Benjamin Franklin making additional discoveries around electricity in 1751. Now we take electricity for granted every time we flip on the light switch. Have you ever subconsciously flipped a light switch on even though you knew the power was out? I have. As our understanding of electricity grew, it went from something that could only be explained by myths and legends, to something far less sexy but still something very cool and far more useful.

Rocks to Riches

Computers had another interesting technological history. With the discovery and invention of the transistor in the early and mid 1900s, and more broadly semiconductor devices, our lives were never the same. With the transistor we developed logic gates such as AND, OR, and NOT gates. With that we developed computer logic such as adders and memory such as flip-flops (not the kind you wear to the beach). But when you think about where we are today and the kinds of advancements and trillions of dollars of commerce we have made from computers, it's crazy to think that it all came from a few special rocks we pulled out of the ground. In a very real sense we basically wizards forcing rocks to do magical things.

Science Fiction to Science Fact

On a more theoretical note, its fascinating to think about all the technological advancement that have their inspirational roots in science fiction. Many of them initially conceived in science fiction literature, films, and television shows. Here's a list of my favorite technological advancements heavily inspired by science fiction:

• Wireless energy transfer and communication: The idea that you could power devices without a wire or send secret messages and information through the air are common themes in many science fiction, and helped drive wireless charging and radio and WiFi.
• Communicators (inspired smartphones): Star Trek's communicators foreshadowed modern smartphones with their ability to communicate wirelessly.
• Tablet computers (inspired by Star Trek): The concept of handheld touch-screen tablets seen in Star Trek influenced the development of devices like iPads and Android tablets.
• Voice-controlled assistants (like Siri and Alexa): These were prefigured by artificial intelligence in various science fiction stories, notably in movies like "2001: A Space Odyssey."
• 3D Printers (inspired by replicators): The replicators in Star Trek were machines capable of creating objects seemingly out of thin air, resembling the concept of 3D printing.
• Self-driving cars and drones (inspired by sci-fi): Autonomous vehicles are reminiscent of the self-driving cars and flying drones often featured in science fiction.
• Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR): Concepts seen in various sci-fi narratives have inspired the development of VR and AR technologies.
• Bionic limbs and exoskeletons: Prosthetic limbs and powered exoskeletons for enhancing human capabilities have parallels in science fiction stories featuring enhanced cyborgs and characters with bionic limbs.
• Biometric security: Technologies like facial recognition, retinal scans, and fingerprint authentication have roots in futuristic security systems portrayed in science fiction.
• Space travel innovations: Concepts and technologies for space travel have been influenced by sci-fi, even though we're not yet at the level of interstellar travel as depicted in many stories.
• Medical advancements: Numerous medical technologies, such as non-invasive surgeries, diagnostic tools, and even organ regeneration, have been inspired by futuristic medical technology depicted in science fiction.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI): While still in its infancy compared to AI in many sci-fi stories, significant progress has been made in developing AI for various applications, including natural language processing, robotics, and decision-making systems.
• Hovercrafts and levitating technologies: While not widespread, the concept of levitating vehicles or hovercrafts has roots in sci-fi narratives.