Weigh in on sci-fi to technology inspirations

I was reading an article the other day that mentioned Neal Stephenson's ground-breaking novel, Snow Crash, and I started thinking that surely, a lot of science fiction has at least partially inspired some of the technology we use every day.

Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash inspired 3D virtual worlds

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

So I got to the office and started researching sci-fi that had a hand in future technology or science. And, sure enough. There's a ton of it.

The result? My package, The sci-fi effect on high tech, which ran on CNET News.com on Friday.

In the package, I discuss the technology inspired by Snow Crash, as well as William Gibson's Neuromancer, Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Minority Report, and several others.

But now, we want to hear from you. We'd love to hear other examples of great sci-fi that inspired technology or science or other innovation. So please post your ideas into TalkBack. And please, know when you do that I didn't omit your favorite example because I don't care. We had a limited amount of space, and besides, I wanted to give you the chance to speak up yourself.

[makuribu]

Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury recently pointed out that his novel was not about
censorship, it was about TV making people into vacant
illiterates, and many people (hello, Boing Boing!) seemed to be
stunned.
The thing I vividly recall about it was the fireman's wife sitting
motionless in front of TV screens that took up three whole walls
of her room, waiting for the day when she could afford to get
the fourth wall replaced by a video screen.
Almost makes me want to take back my 50 inch plasma screen
TV. Almost. But there's an interview with Paris Hilton on tonight.
In HD.
Gotta go!

[djm61]

Heinlein

The waterbed in Stranger in a Strange Land.

[Bill Hembree]

And he was given credit for it, too

by the guy who actually built the waterbed and commercialized it.
This is mentioned in Grumbles From the Grave, the first
posthumous collection of Heinlein's writings.

[srmalloy]

Not just the waterbed.

He also was the first one to describe waldoes; in fact, the name for the device is taken from the title character, Waldo.

[pbg3445]

You couldn't get ten whole books?

Jeez, one play, one magazine article, a short story, and Star
Trek?

How about The Shockwave Rider, by John Brunner
Blood Music by Greg Bear
Ender's Game by Orson Scot Card
Dune, fer chrissake
The Mote In God's Eye, by Niven and Pournelle
True Names, by Vernor Vinge

and that's before stopping to think...

[davidanders]

A site that does that

Inventions from SciFi
http://www.technovelgy.com/
.

[Bear1000]

Imperial Earth - Arthur C. Clarke

Clarke did a fascinating job predicting and describing the functionality of the PDA/pocket computer with his MiniSec, as well as the convergence of the computer (Comsole) with communications and multimedia ability.

[Sysab]

Free lunch

Though it may not have been called TANSTAAFL, the "no free
lunch" concept predates Heinlein by at least 2500 years. One of
the basic tenets of Buddhism is that every action has a
consequence, and even before that the concept of karma existed in
Hinduism.

[Constance Reader]

SCI FI TO TECH

A lot of R&D is already going into it, but I can easily imagine the space elevator coming into existence, as portrayed in John Scalzi's "Old Man's War".