Sci-fi movies and books and games as an art form can have a deeper impact than most other genres. It forces us to think about various possibilities and uncertainities. It introduces us to numerous fictional ideas, inventions and concepts so much our conscience retains. As a result it’s not surprising that a lot of these ideas end up permeating our common culture. Today we look at some such popular ideas that made their debut in a science fiction media and became so popular that after their breakthrough they became a part of our everyday life and public and/or scientific discourse:
1. Robot
The word Robot is just as iconic as the idea behind it. Google describes the word Robot as a “machine resembling a human being” - now we have seen crazy stuff in the world of science fiction but this is truly the pinnacle imitation of god’sown creation. Robot was introduced for the first time in the Karel Capek’s 1920 science fiction play R.U.R (Rossum’s Universal Robots). The word Robot itself is derived from the Czech root word “robota” which means forced labour or servitude. The play is set in a dystopian world where the robots are rapidly replacing humans in every aspect of the life. It’s been more than a century since the premiere of the play and even now the the premise of the play is just as relevant as the word Robot. However, the meaning of the word Robot has evolved from what Karel intended it to be. In the play Robot refers to artifical biological organism and not automated machines.
2. Mission to moon
If ever there was a science fiction hall of fame Arthur C. Clarke deserves to be in it. From coining the term Zero-g in his 1952 novel Islands in the Sky to predicting internet and emails, his impact is undeniable. However, his most iconic prediction remains moon rocket launch. He wrote about it it in his first novel Prelude to Space in the year 1947, and sure enough just 12 years ater he wrote about it, the first mission to moon began with Luna1, Luna2 and Luna3 spacecrafts.
Even though for a lot of the terms he coined like automatic control cars or zero-g the concept behind the terms is not the same as what he wrote about, hss
3. Cyberspace
Neuromancer is one of the most famous sci-fi novels for various reasons however did you know that this masterpiece by Stephen Gibson gave the word cyberspace its first breakthrough. In the novel cyberspace essentially refers to virtual reality where peoople can access and manipulate data. THe meaning of the word in the novel is not too far removed from what we use cyberspace to refer to in the actual world.
4. Worms and computer virus
In his 1975 novel Shockwave Rider, John Brunner used the term Worm to refer to a self replicating computer program that moves across networks. Another similar idea Virus was used by David Gerrold for then first time with respect to computers in 1972 story When Harlie was One. In this story he made the first ever verbal analogy between biological viruses and self replicating computer programs.
5. Avatar
The word Avatar has its roots in Hinduism and means descent. However the game designer Rirchard Garriott is behind the meaning of the word avatar as we know and use it nowdays. Garriott started using the word Avatar in the current computer related meaning in the fourth chapter of his roleplay game series Ultima - Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. In this chapter players could create and control an avatar by choosing its name, race, gender and other appearance related details.
6. Atom Bomb
H.G Wells coined the word atom bomb in his novel world set free in 1914. Althouugh the word seems self explanatory and way too intuitive to give someone the credit for coming up with it but that’s retrospective thinking. At the time it could have had any of the countless possible names like fission bomb, radiation bomb, or even nuclear bomb which perhaps would be more intuitive. Hence as self explanatory as it may seem Wells sure should get the credit for it.