50 Science Fiction Technologies and How Long They Took to Become a Reality
Science fiction has long been beloved for presenting creative visions of what humanity might achieve someday. 19th-century classics like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea are often touted as some of the earliest examples of the genre. However, writers and storytellers have explored the potential of technology and human ingenuity since antiquity. Interestingly, many of the imagined technologies and concepts from fiction dating back even thousands of years have real-world analogs today.
Once seen only in fantastical stories of adventure and exploration, things like space travel, artificial intelligence, and advanced robotics have since become reality. The parallels between science fiction and modern tech aren’t mere coincidence—sci-fi has long been inspiring inventors to push the limits of reality. Ideas like video communication, AI, and space exploration have transitioned from fictional stories into everyday technology through years of development and breakthroughs. In this analysis from AIPRM, we’ve compiled a list of 50 real-life technologies to showcase their journey from imaginative concept to tangible reality and explore how long it took to bring these futuristic ideas to life.
Origins and Real-life Analogs for Science Fiction Technologies #
While there has been a broad range of technologies in science fiction, they tend to fall into one of the following categories:
Space Exploration #
Moon Landing #
Sci-fi origin: Lucian of Samosata’s A True History (2nd century AD) and Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon (1865) both envisioned humans traveling to the moon long before it was scientifically feasible.
Real-world timeline: The actual moon landing occurred in 1969 with NASA’s Apollo 11 mission, nearly 100 years after Verne’s vision and over 1,700 years after Lucian’s.
Rocket-Powered Space Ships #
Sci-fi origin: Cyrano de Bergerac’s 1657 tale Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon was one of the earliest stories to describe a machine using rocket power to leave Earth’s Atmosphere.
Real-world timeline: The first artificial object to enter space was the V-2 rocket co-designed by Wernher von Braun and Walter Dornberger. It launched on the 20th of June, 1944.
Space Stations #
Sci-fi origin: Edward Everett Hale’s 1869 short story “The Brick Moon” described a moon-like construction made of bricks that was accidentally launched into orbit with people aboard. The stranded “Lunarians” became the first residents of a space station in fiction.
Real-world timeline: Space stations became a reality with Salyut 1 in 1971 and the continuously occupied International Space Station (ISS), launched in 1998.
Communication #
Video Calls #
Sci-fi origin: Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis introduced the concept of video calls, where characters communicated visually across great distances.
Real-world timeline: The first real-world video phone appeared in 1964 with AT&T’s Picturephone, but video calls weren’t widely adopted until the rise of Skype in 2003.
Wireless Earbuds #
Sci-fi origin: Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1953) described tiny, wireless devices called “seashells” that fit in the ears and allowed users to listen to music and radio privately—foreshadowing modern wireless earbuds.
Real-world timeline: In 2015, Japanese company Onkyo began selling the first truly wireless earbuds.
Robotics & AI #
Home Automation #
Sci-fi origin: E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops” (1909) depicted a future where people lived in automated homes, relying on technology for every aspect of their lives.
Real-world timeline: Devices like Alexa and Google Home are popular today, but the first electronic home automation device was actually the x10, developed in 1975.
Voice-Controlled Computers #
Sci-fi origin: In Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), the HAL 9000 computer could understand and respond to human voice commands, showcasing early ideas of voice-activated technology.
Real-world timeline: Modern voice control technology saw its first real breakthrough in 1990 with Dragon Dictate for Windows.
Artificial Intelligence #
Sci-fi origin: Samuel Butler’s 1872 novel Erewhon introduced the concept of machines gaining consciousness and evolving, a precursor to the idea of artificial intelligence.
Real-world timeline: AI development began in earnest in the mid-20th century, and in 1966, Shakey became the first mobile robot capable of reason and perceiving its surroundings.
Health & Biotechnology #
Organ Transplants #
Sci-fi origin: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) tells the story of a young doctor who uses limbs and organs from various bodies to create life, in a fantastical precursor to modern organ transplants.
Real-world timeline: The first successful organ transplant was a kidney transplant performed in 1954.
Oral Contraceptives #
Sci-fi origin: Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End (1953) told of alien invaders who distributed advanced reproductive control medication to humans.
Real-world timeline: Enovid, the first oral contraceptive, was approved in the U.S. in 1960, just seven years after Clarke’s novel, making it one of the shortest analogs to become reality on the list.
Mood Stabilizers #
Sci-fi origin: In the 1927 film Metropolis, characters in the dystopian city are controlled through medications that regulate their emotions and moods.
Real-world timeline: The use of mood stabilizers, such as lithium for bipolar disorder, began in 1948, revolutionizing psychiatric care.
Weapons & Defense #
Lasers and Chemical warfare #
Sci-fi origin: H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds (1898) featured Martian invaders using heat rays (a precursor to lasers) and poisonous black smoke to subjugate the human race.
Real-world timeline: Chlorine gas was first used as a weapon in World War I (1915), just 17 years after Wells’ novel. Lasers, first demonstrated at the Hughes Research Laboratory in California, became a reality in 1960.
Tanks #
Sci-fi origin: In H.G. Wells’ short story “The Land Ironclads” (1903), he predicted the use of heavily armored, mobile vehicles in warfare, resembling modern tanks.
Real-world timeline: The first tank appeared as a prototype during WWI and was called Little Willie.
Submarines #
Sci-fi origin: Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) depicted the Nautilus, a highly advanced submarine that could travel underwater for extended periods.
Real-world timeline: The first military-capable submarine was created by Spanish engineer Isaac Peral in 1888.
As technology continues to accelerate and evolve, the boundary between science fiction and reality seems to be shrinking. Even just two decades ago, the idea of generative AI creating entire pictures, songs, or stories was limited to shows like Star Trek. In the future, many of today’s sci-fi concepts could become reality for the next generations.
If you’re interested in the possibilities of tomorrow, AIPRM’s AI tools can help you with your next big idea. Whether you’re an innovator or creator, check out our Prompts page to help improve your response time for everyday tasks.
50 Sci-Fi Technologies and When They Became Reality #
| Source + Creator + Year + Type | Description (or name of technology in work) | Predicted Technology and Actual Year of Existence |
|---|---|---|
| A True History Lucian of Somosata 2nd Century A.D. Novella |
A Greek ship was swept up by a storm and blown to the moon where the sailors discover a war between the King of the Moon and the King of the Sun. | 1. Moon landing 1969 - American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk upon the moon. |
| Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon Cyrano de Bergerac 1657 Novel |
“Machine” | 2. Space rocket 1944 - Wernher von Braun and Walter Dornberger launch the first V-2 rocket which became the first human-made object to reach space. |
| Giphantie Charles-François Tiphaigne de la Roche 1760 Novel |
An excerpt describes photography: “This impression of the images is made the first instant they are received on the canvas, which is immediately carried away into some dark place; an hour after, the subtle matter dries, and you have a picture so much the more valuable, as it cannot be imitated by art nor damaged by time.” | 3. Photography 1826 - French physicist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce takes “View from the Window at Le Gras,"" the first photograph. |
| Frankenstein Mary Shelley 1818 Novel |
Doctor Victor Frankenstein constructs a sapient creature using parts from deceased bodies. | 4. Organ transplantation 1954 – A kidney becomes the first human organ to be transplanted successfully. |
| The United Worlds, a Poem, in Fifty Seven Books Mark Drinkwater 1834 Poem |
“Androides” or machines “in the form of man” do all of the heavy labor. | 5. Android 1972 – Waseda University builds WABOT-1, the first full-scale humanoid intelligent robot. |
| The Year 4338: Petersburg Letters Vladimir Odoyevsky 1835 Novel |
Set in the year 4336, a year before Biela's Comet was predicted to collide with the Earth during the 1820s. “Electric carriages” are a part of this society, a prediction of the electric multiple units used for rapid transit. | 6. Multiple-unit train control 1893 – The Liverpool Overhead Railway introduces two-car electric multiple units (EMUs). |
| The Wicked Prince Hans Christian Andersen 1840 Fairy tale |
A cruel, greedy prince, bent on overthrowing God, builds a ship capable of flying to Heaven via the wings of hundreds of eagles. | 7. Airship 1852 – Henri Giffard builds the first successful steam-powered airship. |
| Paris in the Twentieth Century Jules Verne 1863 Novel |
Depicts a remarkably close version of Paris in 1960. Describes vehicles powered by “gas-cabs” along with the necessary supporting infrastructure including paved asphalt roads and gas stations. Other predictions include a network of complex electric calculators that could communicate with each other across vast distances, weapons destructive enough to make war unthinkable, a musical instrument similar to a synthesizer, and even a version of feminism. | 8. Skyscrapers 1884 – Designed by William Le Baron Jenney, the nine-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago becomes the world’s first skyscraper. 9. Internal combustion engine cars 1886 – Carl Benz patents the Benz Patent Motor Car, widely considered the first successful automobile. 10. Weapons of mass destruction 1937 – The term “weapons of mass destruction” is used for the first time by the London Times to describe a Luftwaffe (German Air Force) attack. 11. Internet 1983 - A new communications protocol called Transfer Control Protocol/Internetwork Protocol (TCP/IP) is established, giving computer networks a unified “language.” 12. Electronic dance music 1970s |
| From Earth to the Moon Jules Verne 1865 Novel |
Three Americans aboard the Columbiad cannon which is launched towards the moon from Florida. In 1880, The Pall Mall Gazette describes the vessel as a “space-ship,” the first recorded use of the term. NASA acknowledged similarities between the moon landing mission and the novel; for example, the space agency noted the similarities between Columbiad's shape and size to Apollo 11 spacecraft. |
13. Moon landing via spacecraft 1969 – The United States conducts the Apollo 11 spaceflight, successfully delivering humans to the moon for the first time in history |
| “The Brick Moon” Edward Everett Hale 1869 Novella |
First fictional description of an artificial satellite. A 200-foot sphere of bricks is launched into space with humans accidentally aboard, but they survive, so the story also describes the first space station. | 14. Artificial satellite 1957 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, which helped identify the density of high atmospheric layers. 15. Space station 1971 – The Soviet Union launches Salyut 1, the world’s first space station. |
| Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas Jules Verne 1870 Novel |
The novel features Nautilus, an electrically powered submarine that can conduct advanced marine research. | 16. Electric submarine 1888 – Spanish engineer Isaac Peral designs the first entirely electric battery-powered and first military-capable submarine. |
| Erewhon Samuel Butler 1872 Novel |
Explores the possibility of humanoid machines developing consciousness through natural selection. | 17. Artificial Intelligence 1966 – Shakey the Robot becomes the first mobile robot able to perceive its surroundings and reason about its own actions. |
| Mizora Mary E. Bradley Lane 1880 Novel |
In an all-female utopian society, there are no domestic animals, so the citizens consume chemically prepared artificial meat. | 18. Cultured meat 2013 – Mark Post introduces the first cultured beef burger patty, which costs over $325,000 to produce over two years. |
| Looking Backward: 2000-1887 Edward Bellamy 1888 Novel |
Time travel novel where the hero wakes up in 2000 socialist utopia America. Each person receives the same amount of “credit” on cards they can use to make purchases. | 19. Credit card 1949 - Frank McNamara and Ralph Schneider create the “Diner’s Club” credit card after being inspired by an event in which McNamara forgets his wallet after dining and signs an agreement to pay the next day. |
| Anno Domini 2000; or, Women’s Destiny Sir Julius Vogel 1889 Novel |
Published four years before New Zealand women won the right to vote. In the year 2000, women hold the highest positions in government and poverty has been eliminated. There are “hand telegraphs” that allow instant text communication. |
20. Instant messaging 1971 – American computer scientist Murray Turoff develops instant messaging as a part of the Emergency Management Information Systems and Reference Index (EMISARI) for the Office of Emergency Preparedness. |
| Electric Life (Le Vingtième Siècle. La vie électrique) Albert Robida 1891 Novel |
A prediction of France in 1955, electricity is foundational to society and people consume music, home entertainment, and theatrical performances on “la plaque du télé” or the tele screen. | 21. Electronic television 1927 - Philo Taylor Farnsworth demonstrates the first all-electronic television. |
| "The Great Brown–Pericord Motor" Arthur Conan Doyle 1891 Short story |
Two men invent a revolutionary, unmanned flying machine that becomes the catalyst for a murder. | 22. Drone 1917 – The Royal Flying Corps develops remote-controlled aircraft under the cover name “Aerial Target.” |
| The War of the Worlds H.G. Wells 1898 Novel |
Earth is invaded by Martians who wreak havoc with “heat-rays” and a poisonous chemical weapon called “black smoke.” | 23. Chemical weapon 1915 – German specialist troops release asphyxiating chlorine gas upon the Allied line at the Ypres Salient. 24. Laser 1960 - Theodore Maiman demonstrates the first laser at the Hughes Research Laboratory in California. |
| "The Land Ironclads" H.G. Wells 1903 Short story |
Features 80-to-100-foot-long armored fighting vehicles called “land ironclads” that are armed with semi-automatic rifles controlled by stick with a firing button. | 25. Armored fighting vehicles 1915 – A prototype for the British Mark I, Little Willie becomes the world’s first tank with a “modern” configuration. 26. Joystick 1926 - The United States Naval Research Laboratory patents the electrical two-axis joystick. |
| The War in the Air H.G. Wells 1908 Novel |
Predicts a devastated world war dominated by aircraft occurring in the late 1910s. | 27. Military aviation 1909 – The Wright Military Flyer becomes the world’s first military plane. |
| “The Machine Stops” E.M. Forster 1909 Short story |
Humanity lives underground, relying on a giant machine to maintain its existence. | 28. Home automation (smart home) 1975 – X10 is developed, the first communications protocol for electronic devices used for home automation. |
| R.U.R. Karel Čapek 1920 Play |
Stands for “Rossum’s Universal Robots” when translated from Czech to English. First use of the word “robot.” Begins in a factory that creates artificial workers from synthetic organic matter to serve humans. In Czech, robota means forced labor. |
29. Industrial robot 1961 – Joseph Engelberger patents Unimate, a robotic arm that went to work on the General Motors assembly line. |
| The World Set Free H.G. Wells 1914 Novel |
Predicts a world where nuclear energy could be weaponized. Wells coins the term “atomic bomb” to describe a uranium-based device that could continuously explode, rendering cities uninhabitable for years. It may have inspired the actual creation of atomic bombs, as Winston Churchill read all of Wells’ novels twice. | 30. Atomic bomb 1945 – The United States detonates two atomic bombs over Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. |
| Metropolis Fritz Lang 1927 Film |
Joh Fredersen, the master of the city, makes a call on a terminal that combines telephone and visual technology. Negative emotions are also regulated by a psychotropic pill called “soma.” | 31. Video phone 1964 – AT&T debuts the Picturephone at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. 32. Mood stabilizer 1948 - Lithium is used as a psychiatric medication for the first time. |
| Brave New World Aldous Huxley 1932 Novel |
Set in 2540 CE, humans are cultivated within incubators, their growth carefully controlled so they fit into the rigid class system. | 33. Cloning 1996 – Dolly the Sheep becomes the first creature cloned from an adult somatic cell. |
| “Pygmalion's Spectacles” Stanley Weinbaum 1935 Short story |
A professor invents goggles that transport the wearer to a fully immersive and realistic world. | 34. Virtual reality headset 1968 – The Sword of Damocles becomes the first headset that creates virtual reality via a computer rather than a camera. |
| “Reason” Isaac Asimov 1941 Short story |
A space station transmits solar energy to various planets using microwave beams. | 35. Solar panels on spacecraft 1958 – American satellite Vanguard 1 uses solar panels to power one of its radio transmitters. |
| “Things Pass By” Murray Leinster 1945 Short Story |
An excerpt describes 3D printing: “But this constructor is both efficient and flexible. I feed magnetronic plastics — the stuff they make houses and ships of nowadays — into this moving arm. It makes drawings in the air following drawings it scans with photo-cells. But plastic comes out of the end of the drawing arm and hardens as it comes ... following drawings only.” | 36. 3D printer 1986 – First patent for stereolithography was filed by Chuck Hull. His company, 3D Systems Corporation, later released the first commercial 3D printer by the name of SLA-1 in 1987 or 1988. |
| Dick Tracy Chester Gould 1946 Comic |
“2-Way Wrist Radios” are radio wristwatches used by Dick Tracy and other members of the police force to communicate. | 37. Watch phone 1999 - Samsung launches the SPH-WP10, the world’s first watch phone. |
| 1984 George Orwell 1949 Novel |
In a totalitarian future, a tool called the “Versificator” automatically produces literature and music aligned with the ruling party’s standards, no human input necessary. | 38. AI-generated music 2009 – Emily Howell, an artificial intelligence program created by David Cope, releases its first album of original music. |
| Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury 1953 Novel |
“Seashells” are small radio devices worn within the ear by nearly everyone so they can receive constant government broadcasts. Described as a “hidden wasp snug in its special pink warm nest” which delivers “an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk.” | 39. Wireless earbuds 2015 – A Japanese company called Onkyo releases the Onkyo W800BT, the first truly wireless earbuds. |
| Childhood’s End Arthur C. Clarke 1953 Novel |
Seemingly benevolent alien invaders introduce fail-proof “oral contraceptives” to the human population. | 40. Oral contraceptive 1960 – Enovid, the first hormonal birth control pill, is approved by the FDA. |
| The Magellanic Cloud Stanisław Lem 1955 Novel |
Set in the 32nd century, a device called a pocket receiver is a portable TV with instant access to a library of data. | 41. Smartphone 1994 - IBM develops the first Smartphone, IBM Simon Personal Communicator. |
| “The Minority Report” Philip K. Dick 1956 and 2002 Novella/Film |
In a world where crime is predicted and prevented before it occurs, a facial recognition system is used to deliver personalized ads to consumers. | 2. Facial recognition software 1964 - Woody Bledsoe, Helen Chan Wolf, and Charles Bisson begin training computers to recognize human faces, dubbing the project “man-machine.” 43. Crime prediction software 2010 – PredPol, now Geolitica, creates an algorithm that attempts to predict crime. Its accuracy has not been scientifically proven. 44. Personalized ads 2017 – The Westfield SmartScreen Network launches in New Zealand shopping centers, featuring digital billboards equipped with cameras that gather age, gender, and mood data to create tailored ads. |
| Star Trek: The Original Series Gene Roddenberry 1964 Television show |
Set in the 23rd century, a device called the communicator uses subspace transmissions (a feature of space-time that facilitates faster-than-light transit) to provide nearly instantaneous communication. | 45. Flip phone 1996 – The communicator directly inspired the creation of the Motorola StarTAC, the world’s first flip phone. |
| The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Robert Heinlein 1966 Novel |
During a lunar colony’s revolt against Earth, a sentient computer creates deepfake videos for the purpose of political manipulation. | 46. Deepfakes 1997 – The Video Rewrite program is published, software capable of modifying existing video footage of a person so that it appears they are speaking a different audio track. |
| 2001: A Space Odyssey Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke 1968 Film |
Aboard the Jupiter-bound spacecraft Discovery One, supercomputer HAL is capable of interacting with crew via a voice user interface. | 47. Computer control via speech 1990 – Dragon launches Dragon Dictate, a speech recognition application for Windows. |
| “The Scarred Man“ Gregory Benford 1970 Short story |
Inspired by Benford’s work on the ARPANET project, it describes a software program that copies itself onto other computers. | 48. Computer virus 1971 – Bob Thomas releases Creeper, an experimental computer program that could self-replicate onto other computers. |
| The Shockwave Rider John Brunner 1975 Novel |
Depicts a dystopian 21st-century America dominated by computer networks. The hero has the ability to hack the network using only a touch-tone telephone. | 49. Internet hacking 1988 – Robert Morris unleashes the “Morris Worm,” a malicious program that infects an estimated 6,000 of the approximately 60,000 computers connected to the internet. |
| Judge Dredd John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra 1986 Comic book |
A section of the comics explores the concept of machines that can be fed scripts or portfolios, giving them the capacity to create art in any style. | 50. Generative AI art 2014 – Ian Goodfellow develops a generative adversarial network (GAN), a class of machine learning frameworks that made it possible for AI to create entire images. |
| Snow Crash Neal Stephenson 1992 Novel |
In a 21st-century world where the economy has collapsed, people control avatars in a virtual reality-based Internet called the Metaverse. | 51. Metaverse 2021 – Facebook rebrands as Meta to align with its vision to build the metaverse, a digital extension of the physical world. |