Fiction meets future
Jules Verne (1828 – 1905)
Fiction: Throughout his total literary legacy (Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, etc.) – from his first novel in 1863 till his death in 1905 – Jules Vernes was bold enough to envision the future. 100 years before Apollo 11, the French foreteller described the launch of a space capsule toward the Moon, as well as the futuristic submarine Nautilus and means of communication with which humans can see and converse with each other across long distances in real time, plus early versions of smart cities.
Reality: In 1969, the lunar landing Verne had anticipated became a reality and, even before that, electric submarines did. A few years ago, video conferences via Zoom and Teams started becoming part of our everyday life. Modern cities have been connecting infrastructures using automated technologies and digital communications like Verne once described them in his miraculous novels.
Isaac Asimov – I, Robot (1950)
Fiction: The subjects are ethical rules, the responsibilities of the creators of robots, and the challenges posed by AI.
Reality: AI systems such as ChatGPT or DeepMind engage in conversations, write code, create art – albeit without (yet) being sentient.
Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
Fiction: In the novel, people are wearing seashells in their ears that constantly transmit music, news, or sounds devoid of meaning. Everyone is immersed in their own acoustical world.
Reality: Today, wireless earbuds are an everyday accessory for listening to music or podcasts or for making phone calls and engaging with digital assistants. Just like Bradbury’s seashells they make it possible for people to immerse themselves in a private world of sounds.
Star Trek (since 1966)
Fiction: A replicator produces food or tools at the push of a button.
Reality: 3D printing has become a standard practice in medicine, aviation, and architecture – up to and including the production of meat alternatives and entire buildings.
Arthur C. Clarke – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Fiction: Astronauts are reading news and watching videos on flat, rectangular devices – called newspads.
Reality: Today, tablet computers are omnipresent and look amazingly like the devices in the movie. They’re used for media consumption, communications, and work – anywhere anytime, including in space travel.
Martin Caidin – Cyborg (1972)
Fiction: In Cyborg, test pilot Steve Austin is “restored” after a serious accident with the help of advanced technology, being provided with bionic limbs and an artificial eye.
Reality: Today, bionic prostheses linked to the human neural system are a reality. Modern arm prostheses can be controlled via muscular impulses or even via thoughts. A “bionic eye” is another subject being investigated – initial retina implants provide blind people with limited eyesight.
Douglas Adams – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
Fiction: An in-ear Babel Fish translates all languages.
Reality: Real-time language translators or AI-based apps enable the Babel Fish vision – by means of earbuds, smartphones, or headsets.
Knight Rider (1982–1986)
Fiction: The talking car KITT understands spoken commands and executes complex tasks. KITT can drive autonomously, dodge obstacles, connect itself with computers, and even make decisions.
Reality: Modern vehicles have voice control systems for all sorts of features such as navigation, music, or even seat heaters. Some models respond with default settings or generated voice responses. A new model created by Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD challenges KITT because, like its American role model, it can jump across potholes.
Short Circuit (1986)
Fiction: Military robot “Number 5” is struck by lightning, causing it to become sentient including a sense of humor and a personality.
Reality: The quest for making machines more like humans has been a central driver in the field of robotics and AI research. Although today’s humanoids are not truly sentient yet but systems with the capacity for learning, emotional reactions, and human-like movements make them appear more realistic than ever before.
Innerspace (1987)
Fiction: The movie seizes an idea previously presented in the movie Fantastic Voyage in 1966: A crewed mini-submarine is shrunk to a microscopic size and injected into a human body for the purpose of performing a life-saving mission.
Reality: What sounded like pure fiction in those days has since become a real-world research field due to medical micro-robots, capsule cameras, and nano technology – with tangible healthcare benefits.
Ray Kurzweil – The Age of Intelligent Machines (1990)
Fiction: Computers beat world chess champions, understand voice messages, and carry out creative tasks.
Reality: In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov. Today, AI systems write texts, compose music, and assist in medical diagnostics.
Neal Stephenson – Snow Crash (1992)
Fiction: The “Metaverse” – a virtual, three-dimensional online world in which humans interact as avatars.
Reality: Meta is pursuing the development of the Metaverse at full stretch and with high capital expenditures. Platforms such as Second Life are implementing similar concepts too. VR headsets, digital identities, virtual goods, and even digital real estate (e.g., Decentraland) already exist.
Matrix (1999)
Fiction: Mind reading, brain control of equipment, memory manipulation – in the movie Matrix, people are directly connected to a virtual world via an interface. Learning, communication, and motion are controlled by the mind.
Reality: The development of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) is moving such visions into reality step by step. Today, among other things, it’s possible for paralyzed people to move cursors, operate wheelchairs, or write texts by means of BCIs – merely by using the power of the mind.
Minority Report (2002)
Fiction: The movie whose script is based on the basic idea of the same-named short story by American author Philip K. Dick from 1956 sketches a world in which crimes are prevented before they occur. That’s enabled by a super-human intelligence (Precogs) predicting future criminal acts.
Reality: Predictive policing is no longer fiction. Algorithm-based predictions of crimes based on historical data, risk-prone areas, and potential perpetrators are used, for instance, in the United States – entailing an ethical controversy concerning the error-proneness of the predictions.
Schaeffler on a lunar mission
Schaeffler is actively advancing the shift from science fiction to science fact. For decades, the motion technology company has been partnering with space travel projects. The globally operating group of companies has been part of the close supplier network of the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The pilots of the Artemis II lunar mission are going to maneuver their Orion spacecraft – unless the computer is in control of it – primarily by means of the translational hand controller (THC) and the rotational hand controller (RHC). The RHC controls the Orion’s flight attitude or the direction the spacecraft points to. The THC moves the spacecraft forward and backward. Both contain a total of five Schaeffler high-precision bearings for aerospace uses.
NASA’s Artemis 1 lunar mission was equipped with Schaeffler technology as well. Schaeffler Aerospace produced bearings for the turbo-pumps of the four engines at the Schweinfurt location. For the first time, these pump bearings have ceramic roller elements. Also during the space shuttle era, Schaeffler created its own material that can cope with high speeds up to 25,000 revolutions per minute: the extremely robust and corrosion-resistant Cronidur 30 material that has since been adopted for use in many other areas, for instance in helicopters.
