SCIENCE FICTION: LIFE IMITATING ART?

Films and literature are powerful sources of inspiration for many people around the world. One media genre in particular has inspired great improvements in science and technology: science fiction. Science fiction, or sci-fi for short, is a form of fiction that deals with futuristic concepts such as advanced technology or major social and economic change. But sci-fi isn't confined to showcasing the writer's imagination. It explores questions about humanity and where it's going. Are we going to reach out to the stars and find our place in the universe, or will we fall prey to some catastrophe¹? In order to better understand where we are going, we can analyze how sci-fi has influenced technology and look at how those technologies affect the real world.

Mass-media and communication technologies are common themes in sci-fi. The 1966 television show Star Trek introduced us to a device called a communicator, which allowed members of the crew to communicate across vast distances. Communicators inspired Martin Cooper, who led a team at Motorola, to develop the world's first handheld mobile phone in 1973. In 1968, the film 2001: A Space Odyssey depicted astronauts Bowman and Poole using tablet devices to watch the news. These are just a couple of examples that make sci-fi creators of the past look as if they could predict the future.

Most people would agree that mobile devices have done much to improve society. We can communicate quickly and more effectively, and we have constant access to news and entertainment. However, sci-fi also points out the potential disadvantages of instant, continuous communication. In George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four (published in 1949), the ruling political party uses "telescreens" to control the media and rewrite the past. They also use them to spy on people. Orwell depicts a brainwashed² population that is monitored and intimidated by the "thought police." Several of his fears have become points of contention today. Many whistle-blowers³ have leaked information about government spying, and people are criticizing mass media for promoting fake news and alternative histories using modern communication technologies.

Another common device found in sci-fi deals with genetic engineering, which appears in films such as Gattaca and Okja. Genetic engineering—a way of changing the characteristics of plants or animals—has many potential advantages. It's currently used to improve the health of crops and prevent the spread of disease. It can also potentially be used to prevent genetic disabilities and illnesses such as certain cancers, blood disorders, and blindness. Yet, no matter how noble the motives may seem, many people are uncomfortable with the idea of artificially altering human biology. For example, in 2018, a scientist was imprisoned for "illegal medical practices" after implanting⁴ gene-edited embryos in two women. The embryos were edited so that the babies would be resistant to HIV. Such instances have created controversy among skeptics of the technology because they believe they create a slippery slopes⁵ toward eugenics (a set of practices or beliefs that aim to eliminate genetic characteristics considered "undesirable").

The consequences of eugenics-inspired genetic engineering have been detailed in both sci-fi books and films. In Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World, he depicts a world where babies are born in test tubes and genetically engineered to have certain traits that divide them into different social classes. At the top of this system are the Alphas and Betas. They're composed of intellectuals, leaders, and skilled workers. The lower classes, known as Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons, are mostly low- skilled workers. In this dystopian⁶ society, babies are born with their future predetermined⁷: social dominance is guaranteed for some, while others are destined for a life of subservience⁸. Critics of genetic engineering recognize that the desire to control human genetics is powerful and could lead to a world where the rich and elite gain further advantages over the lower classes by breeding "designer" babies.

Clearly, sci-fi has made some amazing—and disturbing⁹ — predictions. Sci-fi novelist Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451, said of the genre, "Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn't exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again... It is always the art of the possible, never the impossible." But beyond just predicting how technology will develop, sci-fi emphasizes that it is the ways in which we choose to interact with these new technologies that will ultimately define our future.

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• observe their behavior
• elite individuals
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• structure of society

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• eliminate
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• confine
• genetically
• dominance

Artificial Fear

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a topic of contention in contemporary society and is often cited as a potential cause of humanity's doom. Examples can be found in films such as Ex Machina, the Terminator franchise, as well as the Matrix trilogy. But are these fears rooted in reality?

Currently, Al hasn't advanced to the level depicted in dystopian sci-fi media. Yet concerns are growing about a potential future in which Al has either rebelled against humanity or gained control of it. The tech giant Elon Musk has said, "I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably that."

So is there any proof that Al is leading us toward a dystopian future? So far, no-not really. In a few cases, Al has caused some legitimate concern. For instance, in 2016, Microsoft connected an Al chatbot called Tay to Twitter for twenty-four hours, and in the span of a day, Tay learned many bad behaviors. People called its tweets misogynistic and racist. Al assistants have also caused problems. In 2017, an Amazon Alexa started playing loud music at 2:00 a.m. in an apartment in Hamburg. Since the residents were not at home, neighbors called the police, who were forced to break in and shut off the device. One instance which resulted in injury happened when a robot fell down an escalator in China, knocking over and hurting two shoppers.

Although these cases demonstrate that Al can be problematic, they are far from being the monsters portrayed in film and literature. So far, Al malfunctions have, at worst, led to people being inconvenienced. It looks like Al is one prediction the sci-fi writers got wrong-for now, at least.