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I watched a neat documentary on Discovery last night called "Prophets of Science Fiction"...okay, I actually only watched half of it because I was really tired and fell asleep after the Jules Verne segement, but I plan on watching the rest later today.
Anyway, I'm fascinated by the "prophetic" nature of so much of Verne's writing. And I use prophetic in quote marks because what quickly became clear is that he didn't so much predict the future of science as he did inform and shape it. By using actual science to create his visions he set up several generations of baby geeks, reading late at night under the covers, to go "OMG you can actually DO THAT" when they hit the level of education where the concepts came from. They were predisposed to see the application of scientific concepts the way Verne wanted them to go. How very cool.
'Cause really, if you grab a ten year old with visions of space rockets you've got the adult as well. And it just set me to thinking how important a component fiction is to creating reality. Which is not exactly a ground breaking revelation but it is neat. The possible is given shape and form...a blueprint. If you dress it up as fiction you can influence anything because it's your job to play make believe.
I have no point to this post. Just rambling. And wondering just what's been imprinted on some ten year old's brain right now that she'll be bringing the world in twenty years when she has her "OMG you can actually DO THAT" moment. *g*
Anyway, I'm fascinated by the "prophetic" nature of so much of Verne's writing. And I use prophetic in quote marks because what quickly became clear is that he didn't so much predict the future of science as he did inform and shape it. By using actual science to create his visions he set up several generations of baby geeks, reading late at night under the covers, to go "OMG you can actually DO THAT" when they hit the level of education where the concepts came from. They were predisposed to see the application of scientific concepts the way Verne wanted them to go. How very cool.
'Cause really, if you grab a ten year old with visions of space rockets you've got the adult as well. And it just set me to thinking how important a component fiction is to creating reality. Which is not exactly a ground breaking revelation but it is neat. The possible is given shape and form...a blueprint. If you dress it up as fiction you can influence anything because it's your job to play make believe.
I have no point to this post. Just rambling. And wondering just what's been imprinted on some ten year old's brain right now that she'll be bringing the world in twenty years when she has her "OMG you can actually DO THAT" moment. *g*
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