The Future Is Driven by Fiction

Writers write for a variety of reasons. Some people have a story that must be told, while others enjoy creating worlds that can be shaped and molded by their own thoughts and desires. Whatever the reason, the end product is more than just ink on paper or words on a screen; it is a blueprint that can be used as inspiration for new ideas and a driver of innovation and technology that can be developed further in the future.

There are numerous examples of fiction influencing real-life events. Science fiction is especially good for generating ideas for technological advances. Cell phones, the moon landing, and many other events and inventions began as ideas that were once just words read by someone who thought the ideas represented by those words might be possible.

As a science fiction and fantasy author, I long for the day when a scientist discovers a way to travel across the universe, back in time, and through a parallel dimension. I'd also like to see material sciences develop special fabrics and metals with spatial properties that allow us to access the empty space within atoms or create a true invisibility cloak. As strange as some of these concepts may appear, many of them are already being researched and developed.

Cryogenics has inspired scientists to develop new fields in medicine such as bio-vitrification, which is currently used in organ transplants, as well as companies such as the Alcor Life Extension Foundation to investigate methods of creating operational states of suspended animation.

I am confident that we will be able to use these technologies to build multigenerational ships that can travel across the galaxy, allowing mankind to explore and colonize the vast reaches of space and beyond, as well as to extend man's life to near immortality.

Fiction has not only driven technology; it has also served as a platform for social commentary and the identification of problems within societies and governments. It has allowed philosophers and thinkers to speculate on what the world would be like if certain events or societal constructs were different.

Utopian and dystopian stories have flourished as outlets to describe what ills society in a fictional setting that can be analyzed and digested apart from its own reality and political constraints, from William Shakespeare to Thomas Moore to George Orwell and Ayn Rand.

The products of these forefathers and thinkers have resulted in paradigm shifts and cultural renaissances that have provided some of the greatest leaps in human evolution.

While many people believe that the human race will self-destruct in the near future, I am not one of them. I am a believer in the future and an optimist. It is true that people frequently disregard history's lessons, but it is also true that man has been steadily progressing. While the march has not been uniform, it has nonetheless been present.

It has been present because, since the Egyptians invented papyrus, Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press, and Amazon invented the Kindle, people have continued to write; people have continued to inspire, and people have continued to lay the foundation and framework for future generations in the form of the written word.

While not every word will cause the reader to have an epiphany, there will be some; there will be a few, and there will be that one in a million idea that began as a scribble on a piece of paper or keystroke on a computer used in a fictional work by an unknown author that changed the world.

It has been present because, since the Egyptians invented papyrus, Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press, and Amazon invented the Kindle, people have continued to write; people have continued to inspire, and people have continued to lay the foundation and framework for future generations in the form of the written word.

While not every word will cause the reader to have an epiphany, there will be some; there will be a few, and there will be that one in a million idea that began as a scribble on a piece of paper or keystroke on a computer used in a fictional work by an unknown author that changed the world.