Science Fiction
Both proponents and critics often point to science fiction stories as the origin of exploratory engineering. On the positive side of the science fiction ledger, the ocean-going submarine, the telecommunications satellite, and other inventions were anticipated in such stories before they could be built. On the negative side of the same ledger, other science fiction devices such as the space elevator may be forever impossible because of basic strength of materials issues or due to other difficulties, either anticipated or unanticipated. Or, like the submarine, it may prove not to be; in recent years – after their appearance in science fiction.
Read more about this topic: Exploratory Engineering
Famous quotes containing the words science and/or fiction:
“Copernicanism and other essential ingredients of modern science survived only because reason was frequently overruled in their past.”
—Paul Feyerabend (1924–1994)
“Coincidence is a pimp and a cardsharper in ordinary fiction but a marvelous artist in the patterns of facts recollected by a non-ordinary memorist.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)