SkyFitsJeff

Some of the greatest books, movies, and stories ever produced were Science Fiction books, movies, and stories. But is Science Fiction good for anything other than entertainment?

I say Yes! Science Fiction is essential for technological, social, and scientific progress.

First, Science Fiction inspires inventors, engineers, scientists, and others to create new technologies and to explore new areas of science. It opens one's mind to what is possible. Would scientists today be trying to transport electrons from one place to another if Star Trek hadn't given them the idea in the first place?

Second, Science Fiction prepares consumers for the new advances that are made. My parents are amazed at what computers can do and how many things are done online, but I'm not because Batman's computer could do all this before (and he didn't even need to type anything, just talk to it). Star Trek: The Next Generation had computer pads they used to type and read messages on that could download new files from the computer automatically with no wires, so when the Amazon Kindle and the iPhone came out, I was all ready to use them, because Star Trek had introduced them to me twenty years earlier.

Third, Science Fiction teaches more people more science than all the science teachers, professors, and classrooms combined. I learned about coalescence, quantum physics, and timespace from Star Trek, not my science teacher.

Science Fiction has paved the way for advances to be made in the past, and will continue to blaze the trail for things to come!