Science fiction writers and scientists are happily married now
A small mistake, a little misunderstanding, a suspicion, a rumor can damage relationships, cause conflicts, collapse stock markets and do other nasty things but when applied to atomic bombs have the potential to annihilate humanity instantly. So, did anyone predict such a threat at the start of the 20th century? History tells us that it wasn’t any bright minded scientists that predicted such an atom bomb — first. Instead, it was H G Wells, the famous science fiction writer, in his novel The World Set Free wrote (written in 1913) of a grenade that would continue to explode indefinitely. Wells’ imagination inspired Hungarian-American physicist Leo Szilard to put those words into action (he read the novel in 1932 and had not done any work in the field of nuclear physics before); in this case, fiction inspired reality, and a chain of events unfolded thereafter.
There exists many scientific inventions that have tantalized the minds of creative artists well before the senses of their inventors. William Gibson’s “Neuromancer” (1984) predicted cyberspace and computer hackers. John Brunner’s “Stand on Zanzibar” (1968) predicted satellite TV and electric cars. Stanley Kubrick (1968) spoke of the modern day tablets that grace our palms today and more.
Besides technological innovations, a subset of science fiction works have and will continue to warn humanity of black swans (rare but high impact events) like an outbreak of pandemic, and climate change apocalypse. With advancements in science in the 20th century, most of these works of fiction now have backing of science. Take for example the case of pandemic.
The Plague (1947, Albert Camus), The Stand (1978, Stephen King), Station Eleven (2014, Emily St. John Mande) have spoken about the pandemic for decades now. Scientists expressed the same emotions during Exercise Sygnus (2016, UK), Exercise Alice (2016, UK), Operation Dark Winter (US, 2001), Atlantic Storm (US, 2005), Clade X (US, 2018), Pandem (EU, 2015) before Covid-19 pandemic hit. Obviously, the lessons were not learnt, and is the reason why Covid-19 is now etched into the minds of everyone for the rest of their lives.
Climate Change is the next big challenge humanity has to solve if they want to see a post-climate change world. In the last decade or so, climate fiction has already turned into climate reality, and the change is accelerating. Similar to the pandemic, creative artists and scientists are working hard to show policy makers, businesses, and masses the future that lies ahead of us. They show us the painful journey, as timelines shrink to bring the future closer to the present: heat and cold waves sweeping lands, floods ravaging entire countries, crops failing to hold their head high, hurricanes creating level playing fields, climate change migration, changing biosphere and other catastrophic chain of events are unfolding before our eyes.
The scientists and creative writers are doing their job.
It is governments’ (acting on scientific advice), businesses’ (putting people before profit), institutions’ (implementing and enforcing policies), and civil society’s (voting for green policies, adopting pro-environment lifestyle, mobilizing action etc.) turn next, I guess.
Whether humans can create history or will become part of the history, eventually, remains to be seen.
