Half Full by Maria Scrivan for October 18, 2023

Great question, Maria. I can’t stick a pin in it but I’d say it was during the ’70s. Probably after the moon landings.

Post-apocalyptic fiction is now in current events.

The very precise year for me was 1957. Ford came out with the hard-top convertible, Shell sold 100 octane gasoline and Sputnik circled the earth.

I wonder what they are watching?

It’s very shrewd for a prophet to use Sci-Fi to popularise his predictions. Safer that way.

Early 19th century, why? As William Gibson said, the future’s already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.

For some reason, this reminds me of the Muppet Labs skits “where the future is being made today.”

https://www.youtube.Com/watch?v=OVnmIbzExOA

When meta joined the phor.

’Round the same time fiction became History Channel? Oh, there are so many answers….

Next!

When did science fiction become sci-fi?

When did Sci-Fi become Syfy?

From the get go!

Most SF (NOT “sci-fi,” ever) is still fiction. It’s only dystopian futurism (which may have no other “SF” elements) that’s become non-fiction.

Happens frequently.

When Sci-Fi writers wrote about current problems and events in terms of the Sci Fi shows and movies. Now I know it was going on before the Twilight Zone or Star Trek:TOS, but those show addressed problems and situations in ways that got around the network censors. And I am sure other, previous, offerings did as well.

Grok the fullness.

Ten inventions that came from science fiction (according to Smithsonian Magazine):

submarine, helicopter, rocket, atomic power,combat information center, robotic arms, cellphones, tasers, Apple QuickTime, Second Life game

All of the Smithsonian ones have sources for how that invention was inspired by science fiction. Wikipedia’s list is far longer and has some really obvious ones like robots and self driving cars.

Most of it is still fictionalized by writers with poor understanding of science (and fiction).

Funny cuz it’s true. I think it was right after most real journalists got laid off from their newspapers, and people started believing what they read online. But that’s just me.

You catch on quick grasshopper…

It’s happened to marvel studios twice now. First Falcon and the Winter Soldier with a pandemic, and then Secret Invasion with Russia invading Ukraine.