One of my favorite genres of fiction is science fiction. It’s fun to see what writers see as being the future of technology. From the original Metropolis to Star Trek to The Fifth Element, mankind has always imagined the next great breakthroughs in technology.

Today’s infographic from AT&TSavings shows that what we once thought was just future talk is right now in front of us. It’s also usually in forms vastly different than what scientists and authors thought they would looks like years ago. As an example, Metropolis was made in 1926 and has the first use of a video phone. It wasn’t until 80 years later in 2006 that this dream came to fruition with Skype. Another fun example is the universal database in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy from 1981. While it’s a bit of a stretch to call it a universal database, Wikipedia is the closest approximation to all the data contained in the Guide.

The rest of the list features some fun sci-fi gadgets like the Death Star’s planet destroying laser that’s now being used in a much smaller capacity by military lasers. The last few years, however, have seen a huge increase of researchers making good on years of sci-fi speculation. We’re now on the cusp of making self-driving cars, flying cars, space elevators and other futuristic things.

All of this is just to say that without sci-fi, there probably wouldn’t be the amazing inventions we see today. It takes the imaginations of these men and women who dreamed of the future to create the modern inventions we use in our every day lives.

Via: attsavings.com

What’s your favorite sci-fi invention turned real? Are there any current sci-fi inventions that you want to see made? Let us know in the comments.