How to Write Stories People Will Love

Question 100: Future technology for sci-fi

Mysterywriter_007 asks: I'm writing a Science Fiction novel that plays off in the 22nd century with high technology. How do I know what to use as new objects since it's almost a hundred years from now? I don't want my ideas to sound off or impractical. How can I describe new tech and objects in that era?

Today I've got a special guest to answer this question! Brilliant Science Fiction writer, henry_scott, has some insight to share. Here's what he has to say...

What technology will be like a hundred years from now? Great question. It's a futurist job make these types of predictions, and they are wrong more than they are right, so don't feel bad when you can't predict an unknown unknown. However, we do have history to help us. What advances in science occurred in 1921?

· Reached North Pole

· Improved formula for gasoline for combustion engines

· Discovered penicillin, insulin and vitamin D

· Commercial radio implemented

· First facsimile of a photograph

· Invention of the traffic light, cheeseburger, and the bulldozer

Cars and planes were around, but their use was not widespread as today. Television and talking movies were yet to be invented, and only 35% of Americans had a phone in their home.

More interesting were the predictions people made in 1921 for what the world would look like in 2021.

· Weather control

· Moving sidewalks in large cities

· Talking books (audio books)

· Entertainment in the home (television)

· Flying cars

· Vacations on the moon

My take-away from all of this is we over-predict on the big things (flying cars and space travel) and under-predict on what could be considered more important technologies (computers and medicine). So where will we be in another 100 years? It's anyone's guess. Will we have a space resort on the moon? Possibly. Will there be a human colony on Mars? It's likely. But more likely is the possibility of gene modification to eradicate certain diseases. Advances in science to address climate change and world hunger. Subtle but real changes in the world with the proliferation of nuclear energy, electric cars, and autonomous driving. And who could even hazard a guess on social and political developments we will see given the changes we've seen in just the last thirty years.

I attempted to make these same predictions in my story, The Mandela Affection, a sci-fi thriller in which the main character travels to alternate universes in search of love. Sometimes the world was very similar to our own, and in others, everyday life was radically changed based on a few technological advances. I tried to have fun with it, without turning the whole world upside down because if you think about it, life from 1921 to 2021 is very different but similar. We are still people with jobs, family, and friends trying to get by and have a little fun before we die.