Aaron Villalobos

Aaron Villalobos

Prof. J. Belli

Science Fiction

5/6/15

What Inspires’ you?

Inspiration is the key to motivation. It can come from anywhere. It can come from a billboard of someone’s idol or a commercial on TV, anywhere. The inventions that are used in our every day lives had to have come from somewhere. A concept sparked in the creator’s head after being informed of something that can possibly impact the world forever. Some people just simply copy and paste, while others observe and innovate from something. Science fiction inspired people to create what most people would assume to be impossible to conceive. Gadgets, machines and some everyday utensils that people use today, were all inspired by it. Most of the ideas that seemed absurd at one point are now a reality and they all have an impact on society. Many inventions have been designed from Science Fiction but these five seem to have had a great impact on society.

Assuming that you’ve never felt the pain of it before, but know what a Taser is. The Taser, used by many cops around the world is one of the most creative and smart gadgets that cops have at their disposal. It’s a non-lethal weapon that temporarily electrocutes the subject and incapacitates them for various reasons, which vary. Jack Cover, who was a NASA researcher got the idea to create the Taser after he read the 1911 novel “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle” by Victor Appleton. He started developing this device in 1969 and by the year 1974, it was complete. In the novel “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle”, the protagonist “ Tom Swift” who was a brilliant inventor travelled through Africa. Within that time, he created an electric rifle to hunt elephants. Jack Cover was inspired by this and not only created the Taser but the word “Taser” became an acronym for Swift’s fictional invention, “Thomas a Swift’s Electric Rifle”.

Whether or not these Taser’s are used for the correct purposes and circumstances, they do have an affect on society. Every single day, a crime happens some where in the world. There’s going to be a time where a cop has to put an end to the foolhardy behavior someone is executing. Instead of them using a tool that can severely damage the individual either with a baton or even something lethal like a gun, they use a Taser. Yes, there are some flaws with the Taser like there is with most gadgets in the world. For example, someone might get a heart attack depending on his or her age or permanent skin damages may occur. Some people have actually died from Tasers according to sources from the web. Either way, people have been affecting by this device one-way mentally and physically.

The Internet as we know it, has become the norm for many people around the world. Funny enough according to the Internet, 20% of the world’s population are Internet users. Many people can’t even imagine themselves living without it. People say it has made the world smaller due to all the social media websites and the ability to search for something whenever you want at super fast speeds. It definitely has improved throughout its lifetime, and that’s just an understatement. 20 years from now, we’ll probably be laughing at how the Internet is today. It’s constantly evolving. Well, there was a time when that was non existent. Until one man, predicted everything.

Mark Twain who is famous for his books such as “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (1875) and its sequel “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (1885) actually predicted the internet as early as 1898. The short story “From The London Times” 1898, takes place 5 years in the future and actually describes an extreme resemblance of the internet. It depicts a phone system generated to contribute information over a worldwide network. He named it the “Telectroscope”, and his prediction saw the light of day in the early 1980’s. Tim Berners-Lee, an English computer scientist is best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He also was inspired by Science Fiction. A science fiction novelist, Arthur C Clarke wrote a book in 1964 called “Dial F for Frankenstein”, describing a platform that allowed computers to communicate with one another. Tim admitted that he read that book as a kid and it inspired him to innovate something that will change the world forever.

Us humans use the internet for millions of different purposes. Many people use it for their email, for social media, for school, for work, for fun, and some use it in a negative way. The internet it a virtual world where people all have the right to search for what they want. People have to ability to make or break their lives on it. Many people have used it to find a lover, some for networking, some for buying and selling things, and some even to plot evil schemes and deeds. It’s still amazing to believe that the internet is still fairly young. People are still finding ways to make it better by trying to see how it can be utilized to it’s full potential. As of today, it’s extremely convenient, and without it, life will definitely be a lot more difficult because then there would be more paperwork and more stress.

Another incredible invention some of us are familiar with while a few are still a bit obscure about, is voice control. The ability to use commands with your voice and having the device perform tasks on it’s own without needing a human hand. There are many different devices that use voice command to their advantage such as iPhone’s Siri, Microsoft’s Xbox, Bluetooth and more. With this ability, people are able to use shortcuts to their advantages. For example, with iPhone’s Siri who is an amazing robotic human within your phone who can perform any task for you without you having to do all the work. Plus, Bluetooth can give someone the ability to talk to their loved one or anyone rather inside their car hands free and is safer. Also, the cops won’t give you a summons since you aren’t holding a phone in your hand.

Let’s rewind to the over 50 years ago where none of this was even a thought in people’s minds. It was first introduced during the 50s and 60s, when Bell Laboratories made its ‘Audrey’ system, which could observe digits spoken by someone’s voice. It wasn’t until Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film “2001: a Space Odyssey” where a talking computer named HAL, who was responsive with voice control was shown to the audience. It showed a man speaking with the machine and the machine responding back to him. That was just the spark that paved the way for all the imaginations and possibilities. Who knows, maybe in 10 to 20 years from now, we’ll be seeing a ton load of different things that utilize voice control.

In addition to these cutting edge innovations, the ability to talk to one another through video seems normal today but that was unheard of over 30 years ago. The opportunities are endless with video chatting. You can do live interviews, casual chats, a marriage, doesn’t matter. It was brought to the world in the 70’s but was quiet costly. Videoconferences were created in those times as part of AT& T’s development of Picture phone technology. In the 1990s something radical was developed. IP based cam chat was created and had more productive video confining. Jump to 2015, and we have a bunch of video calling services such as Oovoo, Facetime, Skype, chat.com, tinychat.com, and more. This phenomenon didn’t just invent itself, so where did it come from?

Ever watched a sci-fi cartoon show called “The Jetsons”? Many predicted video chats, but The Jetsons were among the first to foresee it. It was an American cartoon show produced by Hannah Barbera, formerly airing in primetime from 1962 to 1963, then later with new episodes in 1985 to 1987. Many of the gadgets that were used in that shown, are in use today. One of them happened to be video chatting. It was used very often with the characters talking to their friends from far distances. It was a great convenience for them, and it’s a reality for us today. It took a lot of years for it to be available for all us, but we’re thankful for The Jetsons for the inspiration.

Last but not least, there is one device where I’m sure you, your uncle, your great aunt, your second cousin and your mother in law’s niece has, and that is the a cell phone. It’s something that has become a must have for most of us. In fact, globally 75% of people own a mobile device according to the internet. Every phone has the same purpose just with different features. Even the most simple and basic phone gives us the ability to talk to people over a public cellular network. The first commercially available cell phone was “The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X” in 1984. It evolved into phones like the Samsung Galaxy Edge 6 and the iPhone 6 in 2015.

Martin Cooper is the man responsible for “The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X”. He is the director of research and development at Motorola. He got his brilliant invention inspiration from the Sci-Fi series Star Trek, a show that started airing in 1966. There was a device in the show that was called the “Star Trek Communicator”, and was shown being used by the characters to talk to each form far distances. It wasn’t as advanced as the first phone he created but it was only the beginning of the outbreak of mobile phones. It paved the way for other companies to mimic his idea and create similar phones that later evolved into the phones we have today.

Cell phones have to be one of the greatest inventions of all time. There’s a reason why almost everyone has one. It’s extremely useful. The phones now unlike the ones 20 plus years ago, gives you the ability to talk to any one, at any time, and anywhere, with service. The first phone was only able for use of 30 minutes after 10 hours of charging. Now there are phones that charge fully in just 15 minutes. With phones you can make life-changing decisions on it, and talk on it for as long as you want until the battery dies. It can be used in emergencies, getting to know someone, browse the web, play games, use the calculator; there are so many things.

Science fiction is one genre that is definitely an inspirational one. It’s ironic how in the name “Science Fiction”, there are two words that correlate. The science aspect of it, gives a huge form of motivation to people because it is real. It’s possible. The fiction part, at one point in time, isn’t achievable but years later could be proven to be possible. For example, when people first saw the Jetson’s on their TV, there wasn’t a slight thought of possibility in video chatting being created in their lifetime. Science fiction becomes a reality in time. Without the genre of Science fiction, none of these inventions would’ve even been thought of. A concept has to come from somewhere. Inspiration has to kickoff from somewhere so that someone can use that idea and establish something revolutionary.

Works Cited

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