From Science Fiction To Science Fact by Joel Levy (book review).
The sub-title of Joel Levy’s book, ‘From Science Fiction To Science Fact’, is ‘How The Writers Of The Past Invented The Present’. This is sufficient to pique my interest, even five years after its publication. The introduction quotes J.G. Ballard, who believes reading SF should be compulsory. As far as I know, only two books from our genre are on the British English school subject curriculum: George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and ‘Animal Farm’, long after I left school, both very political and earthbound.
Essentially, this book demonstrates the extent to which science fiction differed from modern science. In certain instances, such as the atomic bomb, comprehending the science and accurately interpreting it during its actual construction and testing was crucial. Both the real world and imagination guide science fiction, and in some cases, like with submarines, they complement each other.
The five sections cover ‘Military’, ‘Lifestyle & Consumer’, ‘Space & Transport’, ‘Medicine & Biology’, and ‘Communications’. Each of the eighteen chapters looks at SF and reality.
Picking out the usual ones I hadn’t thought of. Drones were present in San Francisco long before the modern era, and some people, like Tesla, even thought of them. However, they were far ahead of technology at a time when there was no such thing as a television, and everything was done by line of sight. I’m still perplexed as to how gunposts could be positioned inside bunkers without risk of attack. SF did get there first, with Hugo Gernsback describing an automatic soldier back in 1918.
Most of us reading this should be familiar with the common currency in SF known as credits or creds, but the first credit card was introduced even earlier in the 1888 novel ‘Backward’ by Edward Bellamy. Even home deliveries, though I’m not sure a tube system would work for all-size objects, are included. Nothing new under the sun. Additional stars are available.
If you’re looking for source books for the early inventions first used in SF, this book increasingly finds some value, and there’s a few I intend to pick up if I can find them at a reasonable price.
Levy’s thoughts on teleportation being destructive and being replicas obviously hit a lot on ‘Star Trek’, although it is the later series than the original, which went further postulating that they had become a replica society. The amount of energy needed to make a cup of tea for Picard is more than that. The atomic bomb used in Japan looks like an unnecessary necessity, and he would have been better with teabags.
When it comes to automated cars, this is the first book I’ve come across that makes the ‘Knight Rider’ connection, although I didn’t know that KITT was originally part of a government mainframe. Levy examines the trolley problem, focusing on whether the AI, assuming it could see the track divisions ahead, would choose the less harmful option of running over several workers or just one. I’ve always believed that this approach simplifies the solution too much. An active AI would entail an active radio system to warn individuals in advance of the danger, or multiple braking systems to prevent a derailment if any passengers were present. If there were fewer passengers than workers on the track, it would be necessary to consider derailment in a real-life scenario.
I must selectively discuss certain aspects of the book to avoid describing the entire work. I would like to raise a point of contention regarding ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’, particularly in light of Levy’s reference to its source material, ‘Cyborg’ by Martin Caiden. The TV series was unable to depict all the surgeries performed on Steve Austin, but the book re-enforced his entire skeleton to enable some of his feats. Strength-wise, Austin could lift the back of a car, a feat in itself, but he wasn’t extraordinarily strong. If anything, his speed and ability to jump were also key abilities.
The examination of PADDS, tricorders, etc. has caught up with the likes of current advanced mobile phones and other tech. When it comes to TV and film, a significant portion of the challenge lies in visualizing and ensuring its functionality. Levy highlights the small screens of the original ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Next Generation’ television series. However, it’s important to note that touchscreens only became a reality with the introduction of LCD screens, and even the originals had large screens. Even with SF, there has to be some credibility with what we have today.
This book covers a lot of ground, and it will point you in the right direction if you’re interested in finding early science fiction books. As a reviewer, I find it surprising that the book didn’t cover cloning and bio-engineering. Both have made significant strides, with science fiction taking the lead in this area. Cyborgs barely touched on the concept of connecting minds to computers.
GF Willmetts
July 2024
(pub: Andre Deutsch/Carlton, 2019. 224 page medium-size illustrated hardback. Price; varies. ISBN: 978-0-233-00609-3)
