Fresh Fiction Blog | Jenna Bennett | Let's Invent the Future!

At the risk of giving away my real age, I can remember watching cartoons on a black and white television.

I can remember using rotary phones and the excitement of having my father—who worked for the telephone company—bring home the first push-button telephone I'd ever seen.

I remember learning to type on an honest-to-goodness typewriter, and not an electric one, either.

I wrote my first—unpublished—manuscript on a word-processor.

I can certainly remember what things were like before cell-phones, when you took your life in your hands going on a daytrip in the car. What if you had a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, and no way to phone for a tow-truck? You might be stuck overnight, miles from anywhere!

And you know what? I'm not as old as you think. That all happened within the past 40 years.

Hell, most of it happened within the past 20. Some of it within the past ten. I bought my first cell phone in 2005. Seven years ago now. Almost eight.

It wasn't a smart-phone, either. It didn't take pictures. It didn't play music. I couldn't surf the internet on it.

It was a phone. One I could use to call someone, from outside my house. Some of you will have no idea the amazement some of us felt at the idea of that.

And that's just my lifetime.

If you go back a little further, it was only in 1893 that the first automobile factory opened in the US. Less than 120 years ago. By 1902, 110 years ago, there were 9,000 cars in the entire country. Now, there's something like 260 million.

In 1945, commercial airline flights between the US and Europe began. Now, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of flights between the US and Europe every single day, from cities all over both continents.

The first successful orbital launch was in 1957, while the first artificial object to reach a celestial body was Luna 2 in 1959. The first human in space was Yuri Gagarin in 1961, while the first man on the moon was Neil Armstrong in 1969. All within the past half century, more or less.

I could go on, but I won't. Suffice it to say that things have changed considerably, and in a short period of time, comparatively speaking. Sometimes I think we don't realize how short.

But that's the fun part about writing science fiction. If we could do all this in just fifty or a hundred years, what could we do in another five hundred or a thousand? Especially when we're not hampered by actually having to make it work anywhere but on paper?

Space exploration, certainly. Settling new planets. Planets similar to our own, and planets very different. Discovering new species of plants and animals. Spider-scorpions, poisonous water snakes, flesh-burrowing worms.

And new technology. New and improved ways to communicate with one another. Comm links and implants. Ways to keep tabs on people even when they don't want to be kept tabs on. Along with new and improved ways to kill them once we find them. Can't have science fiction without blasting away a few aliens with new and improved weapons, after all.

Hover-cars. Air-cars. Air-boots. (My kids would love that!) Trans-beams AKA "Beam me up, Scotty." Moving from place to place independent of time and space, almost like magic.

There'll be medical discoveries, certainly. Clones and gene-cleans. Bio-cybernetic humans. Hermaphrodites and quaddies. Surely by 3012, if the earth is still moving, we'll have beaten cancer. We'll have figured out how to grow new organs in vats—we're close to that now—and while we're at it, how to grow babies too. My favorite future invention—courtesy of science fiction writer Lois McMaster Bujold—is the uterine replicator, where the blastocyst can develop in peace and comfort while mommy, along with daddy, gets to go off on hair-raising adventures in space. Talk about gender equality!

The future's so bright I gotta wear shades. (That's from 1986, by the way, in case you were wondering.)

So what about you? If you could fast forward to the year 3012—or go there on paper—what would you like to see? How do think the world—the universe—will be different from today? And what would be your favorite future invention?

One commenter will win a copy of FORTUNE'S HERO in choice of format, so tell us about what you imagine the future or favorite invention will be!

Comments

I have seen a few Sci Fi movies that take the future in polar directions, either returning to the "Victorian Age" or "Blade Runner". If I could fast forward 100 years into the future, I am more likely to think that:
Cures for certain diseases have been found, along with the gene and have been eradicated.
Society has more of an agricultural need and more little farms - everyone cultivating their food -which could be engineered to feed more and have more nutrients
I could believe a break down of the monetary system and more of bargaining or reward
I also can believe that with science possible communication within other galaxies can occur
I think it would take longer but I would love to have a Tardis - that would most likely be my favorite invention
(Carla Carlson 9:59am December 13, 2012)

FAVORITE FUTURE INVENTION WOULD HAVE TO BE FLYING CARS THAT WOULD BE SO AWESOME AND COOL.
(Shelly Caggiano 1:07pm December 13, 2012)

I imagine that there would be ways to live under the sea in
perfect comfort. Would love to be able to dine and sleep
while sea life swam innocuously by.
(G. Bisbjerg 1:57pm December 13, 2012)

Hmmm, the future... more solar powered things... can not imagine what tech can & will be made.
(Colleen Conklin 3:59pm December 13, 2012)

My Granny used to talk about going everywhere by horse or train a d then,
watching a man walk on the moon on TV!!! She was born on 1901. Look at
the short space of time that was. On the other hand, they Promised us
flying cars when I was a kid and are just now getting prototypes!!! And no
one fore saw personal computers or mobile phones then. So it's a mystery
to me what could happen!! ;)
(Penny Mettert 5:54pm December 13, 2012)

favorite future invention would be more cars that are electric and don't require gas
(Dwight Younger 6:15pm December 13, 2012)

I would want to see what my family history is like from the point where I lived to the point I entered the future.
(Donna Holmberg 8:44pm December 13, 2012)

In the future, space travel and space colonization would be available. More food will be soy/soy bean based.
(Kai Wong 8:59pm December 13, 2012)

Can't imagine what the world would be like...that's why I
read. Others have a better imagination than me.
(Mary Hay 9:11pm December 13, 2012)

Let me start off my response by stating that I, too, remember the same things you do, so that must put us in the same age group. I remember going with my Dad to the store to shop for our first Color TV!! It's a bit odd, when you read about it in black and white - makes you look like someone who should be sitting in a rocking chair on a porch somewhere, with a piece of hay between their teeth or a corncob pipe!! LOL Anyway, in answer to your question, I could picture some type of transport to take you to the planet of your choice for a getaway vacation. By then, most, if not all of them should be inhabited and built up. They will be climatically controlled, and if you want to go to a Tahitian-type vacation, for example, then perhaps Mercury would be more to your liking. Venus would be the new "hot spot" for lovers. I'm sure someone would come up with ideas in advertising. They'd probably even have "stretch limo" types, for those that have the big bucks and don't want to drive- so to speak. In the medical world, all of your injections are taken care of by just passing through something like a doorway or like a metal detector. You don't feel a thing. That's all I can think of. Would love to read your book in print, since I'm so old-fashioned!! LOL Have a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year!!
(Peggy Roberson 9:35pm December 13, 2012)

a self cleaning house, laundry area that folds clothes, moving sidewalks, cars that can hover...
(Michelle Schafer 10:00pm December 13, 2012)

I can't even imagine. As fast as technology is going, it just boggles my mind what they will have, if the world is still going!
(Vicki Hancock 11:05pm December 13, 2012)

Oh, and don't forget actually getting up to change the
channel on the tv. I can remember when my grandparents got
a new tv that had this incredibly new feature, something
called a remote. The remote was big boxy and had 6 buttons:
on/off, channel up, channel down, volume up, volume down and
mute. It was the coolest thing ever. The tv that I watched
Saturday morning cartoons on was in black and white and had
3 dials on it. When you stop and think about it, the
changes that have happened in my lifetime just boggle my
mind.

The one thing that I would love to see by the year 3012 are
the molecular transporters like on startrek. Beam me up
Scotty!
(Judith Cauthan 11:46pm December 13, 2012)

A device that would allow one to read any book that's been published.
(Mary C 11:46pm December 13, 2012)

How about a device to alter the weather (sitting in Dublin where it's raining).
(Clare O'Beara 7:19am December 14, 2012)

Definitely more cures for diseases would be great, although I
like the idea of living under the ocean!
(Rebecca Whitehead-Schwarz 12:21pm December 14, 2012)

Those are some awesome suggestions! Thanks for much, y'all, for stopping by and playing!
(Jennie Bentley 2:59pm December 14, 2012)

I imagine that a lot of people will go back to simpler times.
Grow your own food for one. More control over what you eat &
cheaper.
(Mary Preston 5:31am December 15, 2012)

Love the idea of living under the ocean !! More jobs so the economy can get better. I wish they invented more homes for the homeless
(Danielle McDonald 1:03pm December 15, 2012)

I'm sure in the future we will all drive some type of vehicle that uses no gasoline (all electric or some other newbie invention to make them run), and our new homes will all be computerized for everything, and when you go to a drive-up at fast-food restaurants, you'll touch-screen your order in (self-service), instead of giving it to a person on an intercom, and our cars will be equipped with more gadgets including built-in telephone, back massager, remote steering, and a device that suctions away rain and no more wiper blades! More jobs will be done from our homes.
(Linda Luinstra 5:28pm December 15, 2012)

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