Writing the future: Computers in science fiction

Although we cannot be certain that science fiction directly influenced the course that computing technology has taken over the past 50 years, the genr e has-at the very least-anticipated the technologies we're using and develo ping. Speculation about our future human relationship to computers-and to technol ogy in general-has been the province of science fiction for at least a hund red years. But not all of that speculation has been as optimistic as those in the computing profession might assume. While cautionary tales in science fiction are plentiful and varied, the gen re is also filled with more optimistic speculation about computer technolog y that will help save time, improve health, and generally benefit life as w e know it. If we take a look at some of this speculation-both optimistic and pessimist ic-as if it were prediction, it turns out that many science fiction authors have envisioned the future as accurately as historians have chronicled the past. Prediction is difficult, goes the joke, especially when it comes to the fut ure. Yet science fiction authors have taken their self-imposed characters s eriously; they've tested countless technologies in the virtual environments of their fiction.