Fact & Fiction
Jules Verne is the father of sci-fi fiction followed by
HG Wells. The former wrote about space and submarines when they were still not
a reality and fired the minds of many experts.
20,000 Leagues under the Sea and Around the World in 80 Days are
timeless classics that changed fictional literature to give birth to a new
genre of writing. Verne published his first book the year HG Wells was born. The latter went on to write great literature
like Time Machine, The War of the Worlds. They set the bar for writers and the
foundation for speculative, imaginative and fantastical writing rooted in
science, to be continued in the centuries to come. Their works of imaginations
and the innovations and inventions have sparked the imaginations of scientists
and inventors for a century. The
question arises – do imaginings lead to reality or reality to imagination.
Jules Verne predicted the moon landing in ridiculous detail
in his book From the Earth to the Moon in 1865. He was slightly off the mark on
the cost and weight of the rocket, but the detail on the weightlessness that
the astronauts experienced was uncanny prediction. ‘They were like drunken men
having no stability in themselves. The three adventurous companions were
surprised and stupefied, despite their scientific reasonings. They felt themselves being carried into the
realm of wonders. If they stretched their legs and arms they did
not fall, their feet no longer clung to the floor ....’
Similarly Mark Twain, besides writing on the famous
characters of Tom Sawyer and Hucklebury Finn, wrote sci-fi fiction, ‘From the
London Times of 1904.’ He dreamt up a telelectroscope which was a phone system
to link the worldwide network of information sharing – the modern internet. This
was in 1898 when the telephone was fairly new and rare.
Arthur C Clark predicted in his writings the presence of
global telecommunication coverage using geostationary satellites above the
Earth’s surface.
Facebook founders named the central communication hub The Wall
for their social networking site; a take from Ray Bradbury’s writings delineating
digital exchange between people.
Michael Crichton treated technology and the human
interaction to create absorbing fiction. He was a writer whose gizmos are more
interesting than his characters. He reads
like a walking encyclopaedia with everything put in from nanotechnology,
submarines, space and genetics to medieval banquet halls. Beginning with Andromeda Strain, his books topped
book sales charts, parleyed into box office films and created iconic genres in
writing and visuals (Jurassic Park, The Lost World).
The struggle of man to master natural phenomenon through
manmade biotechnology formed the bases of many of his books. Creating dinosaur clones from fossilized DNA
is a classic example per se. The books are an outpouring of his
scientific/medical knowledge kneaded with intricate mechanics of a plot. The
delineations of scientific principles involved, convey his deep passion for the
innumerable amazing techno-breakthroughs that he wanted the world to know
through his stories. The books give a feeling of a boy on an adventure trail full
of gadgetry, mechanics, processes and their effect on the world, very much like
a man in love with his car and machines. This takes on a scientific veneer with
his Harvard medical school brouhaha thrown in. A
marriage of make-believe environments with meticulous detail of inner working
of things rather than people, men and women. This mechanics of a made-up world
provides endless engineered entertainment to readers, culminating on a wave of
knowledge. The utter craftsmanship, of
weaving rich scientific knowhow with suspense and elemental fear makes his
works unputdownable.
Does the work of this genre of writers just stop at
entertainment and a thrilling experience or there is more to the story. The
centre for Science and Imagination Arizona brings sci-fi writers into
collaboration with inventors, engineers and technologists. Intel and
HarperCollins are involved to create a network hub where moon shot ideas can be
turned into realty. An unusual variety of people who otherwise would not work
together cut across boundaries to think and execute in a more evolved manner.
Thus imagination turns to reality. A
thread worth exploring. Kudos!
