SCIENCE FICTION & FACT [6f]
(announcer): How far out can you get? That’s the big question in television today, and CBS has the big answer. It’s a fabulous new series, Lost in Space.
In 1965, the CBS Network announced the debut of what would become television’s first prime-time science fiction series.
(announcer): Wouldn’t Dad like to use this gadget to beat that thruway traffic?
Set in the far-future of 1997, Lost in Space told the story of a family of space colonists who become marooned on an alien world. It underscored America’s growing acceptance that mankind’s future was not here on Earth, but out in the vast reaches of the galaxy. This trend continued when the following year NBC premiered Star Trek, the epic saga of a futuristic starship whose crew is charged with exploring the galaxy, seeking out new life and new civilizations, and going where no man – or woman – had ever gone before. Interestingly, both programs would appear in America’s living rooms years before mankind would even step foot on the moon.
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“It is amazing that today we are living in times where only 40, 50 years ago, people were fantasizing about the future. And here we are, experiencing that said future. Not all of it, but many things. Where do we stand 50 years from now? I think science fiction is a part of disclosure. Over time, science fiction has become science fact.” – Giorgio A. Tsoukalos |
Of course, science fiction’s role in pre-envisioning what would ultimately become the world’s “science fact” was nothing new. Space stations, intelligent robots, extraordinary communication devices, even Star Wars-type space weapons were all pre-envisioned in the creative minds of authors like Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Ray Bradbury. And their worlds later formed the basis for countless films and television series.
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“Great innovation has come from science fiction literature. Arthur C. Clarke imagined the satellite before the engineers. They were reading science fiction when they came up with the idea to do that. This has happened repeatedly where a creative artist will come up with a new idea just to tell a story, but it’s coming from the unconscious.” – Jonathan Young, Ph.D. |
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“I mean, look at Jules Verne. Go back and read Jules Verne. It’s really interesting. Like, a lot of the stuff we made, like, he just thought it up.” – Kara Swisher (Executive Editor, Re/Code) |
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“And these ideas sprung out of a man’s mind, and it has become reality. And I think that they’ve turned to reality because of young kids reading these stories and eventually growing up and realizing, ‘Wait a second. We have tall these technological capabilities. What if I can bring it to the next level with a new invention?’ So science fiction can serve as a direct path to science that has been inspired by fantasy.” – Giorgio A. Tsoukalos |
But are many of today’s scientific wonders merely the product of fertile minds and wild imaginations? Or do they have their origins elsewhere, possibly light-years away?
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“There’s an interesting theory, the idea that certain profound science fiction writers may not have just simply come up with the ideas for their stories on their own, albeit they may have thought they came up with the ideas on their own. Perhaps there was an outside force presenting it to them. Have science fiction authors and writers been inspired by extraterrestrials?” – Nick Redfern (Author, Memoirs of a Monster Hunter), |
Could extraterrestrials have given humanity glimpses of its own future through science fiction? And if the creative minds of the past have been able to pre-envision the incredible technologies of the present day, then should we also regard the science fiction of today as a guide to where mankind is headed next?
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“Where do we stand 50 years from now? And if we’re talking about science fiction today, one recurring theme is what happens if we gain the ability to upload our consciousness to some type of a computer? Is it possible that our future may lie in a digital realm? I would not want my thoughts to be uploaded to a computer, because then we really become glass. This planet will cease to exist within two seconds if we all know each other’s thoughts. So, there’s a fine line we have to walk between what can and will ensure our future and what can and will be our assured annihilation.” – Giorgio A. Tsoukalos |
According to many Ancient Astronaut Theorists, the visions of a bleak future – as depicted in today’s science fiction – could, if realized , prove as perilous as they once seemed profound. But they also suggest that the messages that mankind’s visionaries receive may not be dire predictions as much as they are warnings, warnings intended to help mankind avoid annihilation.
Previous: Tsiolkovsky & von Braun | Next: Predetermined Master Plan
References:
[1] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: Season 9. [DVD Back Cover]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™.
[2] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.1 – Pyramids of Antarctica. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
[3] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.2 – Destination Mars. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
[4] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.3 – The Next Humans. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
[5] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.4 – The New Evidence. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
| [6] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.5 – The Visionaries. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
[6a] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.5 – The Visionaries. [DVD Footage: Introduction]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [6b] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.5 – The Visionaries. [DVD Footage: Steve Jobs]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [6c] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.5 – The Visionaries. [DVD Footage: Srinivasa Ramanujan]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [6d] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.5 – The Visionaries. [DVD Footage: Turing & Von Neumann]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [6e] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.5 – The Visionaries. [DVD Footage: Tsiolkovsky & Von Braun]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [6f] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.5 – The Visionaries. [DVD Footage: Science Fiction & Fact]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [6g] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.5 – The Visionaries. [DVD Footage: Predetermined Master Plan]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. |
[7] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.6 – Decoding the Cosmic Egg. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
[8] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.7 – The Wisdom Keepers. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
[9] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.8 – The Mysterious Nine. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
[10] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.9 – The Hidden Empire. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
[11] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.10 – The Prototypes. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
[12] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.11 – Space Station Moon. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
[13] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.12 – Russia’s Secret Files. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
[14] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.13 – Beyond Roswell. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
[15] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.14 – The Returned. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
[16] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.15 – Shiva the Destroyer. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
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