from Hacker News

Science fact: Sci-fi inventions that became reality

by cruisestacy on 11/21/16, 12:32 PM with 33 comments

  • by rexreed on 11/21/16, 2:20 PM

    Sorry but this is total bunk. Moving an object the size of a grain of rice with sound waves is not a tractor beam. And I can go on and on. If I want this sort of crap, I'll check my Facebook feed.

  • by DanBC on 11/21/16, 2:16 PM

    > The story of a 14-year-old girl who won a landmark legal battle to be preserved cryogenically has many people wondering how such technology actually works - for many of us, it seems like something straight out of science fiction.

    For fuck's sake BBC.

    https://suesspiciousminds.com/2016/11/18/cryogenics-and-the-...

    > This case has attracted a lot of Press attention, and as ever, not all of it is terribly accurate reporting. Most of the headlines have been along the theme of “girl wins right to be frozen after death”

    > > 32.All this case is about is providing a means by which the uncertainty about what can happen during JS’s lifetime and after her death can be resolved so far as possible. JS cannot expect automatic acceptance of her wishes, but she is entitled to know whether or not they can be acted upon by those who will be responsible for her estate after her death. It would be unacceptable in principle for the law to withhold its answer until after she had died. Also, as a matter of practicality, argument about the preservation issue cannot be delayed until after death as the process has to be started immediately if it is to happen at all.

    > It is also important to know that whilst JS was a pivotal part of the case and the way it was resolved, the actual legal structure here is a dispute between her parents. When I was hearing the case reported on the radio and TV this morning, without having read the judgment, it made no sense to talk of the child winning this ‘right’ because of course someone has to pay for the cryogenic freezing. This was a dispute between the mother who was supporting JS’s wishes, and the father who was not.

    etc.

  • by lolc on 11/21/16, 1:18 PM

    That was a bit strained. I found the linked article on Asimov's 1964 predictions about 2014 much more interesting.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27069716

  • by mtw on 11/21/16, 1:52 PM

    Jules Verne wrote about electrical submarines (Nautilus in 20,000 leagues under the sea), tasers, newscasts and videoconferencing, all became reality

  • by laumars on 11/21/16, 2:10 PM

    Flip phones were designed from the communicators in the original series of Star Trek.

    If you're interested in the more theoretical side of the Beeb's article then I'd recommend Michio Kaku's book "Physics of the Impossible"[1] (he also did a TV series on this topic but that wasn't nearly as good in my opinion)

    [1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/cka/Physics-Impossible-Scientific...

  • by dfrey on 11/21/16, 6:53 PM

    Why has nobody mentioned massive, undiscriminating government surveillance yet?

  • by JackFr on 11/21/16, 3:09 PM

    The style of cannon was a Columbiad, not the name of the vessel.

  • by nblskdwew on 11/21/16, 1:18 PM

    Thought that was buzzfeed for a minute

  • by jones1618 on 11/21/16, 7:16 PM

    The best compendium of science fiction inventions is Technovelgy - Where Science Meets Fiction: http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/ctnlistPubDate.asp. There are hundreds of inventions listed there, many that have come true and some that haven't.

  • by wiredfool on 11/21/16, 1:58 PM

    No mention of geosynchronous satellites?

  • by aurizon on 11/21/16, 3:37 PM

    Almost all spacecraft had external viewers that displayed on internal screens to keep the hull strong and continuous. Now we have airplane companies thinking they invented the concept and were first (Airbus)

  • by choonway on 11/21/16, 1:17 PM

    What about actual inventions that weren't inspired from Science Fiction?

  • by geophile on 11/21/16, 2:44 PM

    Uhh:

    * Personal computers

    * Cell phones

    * GPS

    * Video phone calls

    * Carrying around your entire music collection in your pocket

    * Self-driving cars

    * Google

    * Speech recognition

    * Computers playing world-class chess and go

  • by RichardCA on 11/21/16, 3:54 PM

    What a lame article.

    I personally think anti-lock brakes on motorcycles are pretty cool.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2tKc8_7jB4

  • by padmabushan on 11/21/16, 3:20 PM

    Anybody made a comprehensive prediction about 2066 ?