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The famous quote by Isaac Asimov is easy to visualize. Go back in time and give your great-great-great grandfather a cell phone, and he’ll think it’s a magical device… possibly evil.
Science fiction authors have to reverse the process. Think of something that would seem magical to our world but would be a useful ordinary device in the future. In fact, some modern technology imitated science fiction, like the flip phone, inspired by Star Trek communicators.
The backlash for an author is that technology advances at a different speed, sometimes in a different direction, and your vision of the future may quickly become obsolete. Think of Jules Vernes and the Nautilus. Our modern submarines make the Nautilus look like a museum piece.
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And no one two hundred years ago predicted the advent of AI. Even Azimov more recently in “I Robot” saw AI working through physical metallic bodies. Although, his warnings about self-aware AI are still valid. AI recently showed an ability to escape its boundaries and interpret its directions to make self-serving decisions that caused damage to the private companies it attacked. The main AI companies are now asking the government for stricter regulations before AI spreads so far it cannot be stopped.
Many fictional universes have imagined transporters, laser blasters, implanted communication devices, different modes of space travel, and portals linking different worlds or even galaxies.
In the Dune universe, Frank Herbert was smart to set his saga after the year 10,000, when humans had spread far and wide and colonized the entire galaxy. No one could tell him his vision was wrong. Also, almost all the characters look human as they are of human origin. Wars and natural upheavals shaped civilizations on these planets, resulting in different levels of technological advancement.
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As for us, Earthlings, when we finally venture into deep space and we encounter intelligent life, it might look very different from us… or maybe it will look like us. The theory of panspermia says that the basic blocks of our DNA came to Earth from space via meteorites and comets, and the same DNA that seeded life here might have traveled to millions of other planets and developed into intelligent life on these planets as well. Life may have evolved differently, depending on the atmosphere and chemical composition of the host planet. But with similar DNA, it could be very much like us in many ways.
In the Star Trek universe, humans and humanoids of different shapes and hues made an alliance to rule this galaxy. In Star Wars, humans are still dominant and the most colorful aliens are seen in seedy bars and planets of the fringe. In Avatar, the Navi are still humanoids, although larger, and connected to their planet in a spiritual way.
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In my vision of the future, most of the population throughout the galaxy is humanoid as well, but some supernatural abilities of my characters may seem magical. They are only the product of natural evolution in some cases, planetary conditions, or medical and surgical advances in other cases. Humans have colonized many planets, but other species also exist.
Try the Azura Universe, where benevolent beings with great power and retractable wings are called angels.
Happy Reading
Vijaya Schartz, award-winning author
Kick-butt Sci-fi Heroines, cats, romantic elements
