How science fiction can help predict the future - Roey Tzezana

View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/how-science...
Would you like to know what’s in our future? What’s going to happen to humanity tomorrow, next year, or even a millennium from now? Well, you’re not alone. Everyone from governments to military to industry leaders do as well, and they all employ people - called ‘futurists’ - who attempt to forecast the future. Roey Tzezana explains some of the ways that futurists venture to do so.
Lesson by Roey Tzezana, animation by TED-Ed.

[@OnyxtheFortuitous]

I love this narrator. He has such a pleasant voice.

[@threes309pop0lacks]

Yes me too!

[@ThomasMusings]

+Onyx the Fortuitous I just noticed that it was the same narrator; I assumed the lesson writers were the ones speaking :) But yeah he is good.

[@oblomovbyoblomov9094]

His voice is so relaxing that I'll fall asleep

[@RoseyK123]

The narrator's Addison Anderson

[@user-zn3fu6xe3c]

He’s Addison Anderson, and he narrates for a large number of Ted videos. Feel like his voice, and the Ted theme music, are now iconic.

[@servantofgod1954]

I learn more from Ted Ed than I do at school

[@francez123456789]

I learn more from games than I ever did from school. Math, order of operations, geography, navigation, myth, history, and probably a lot more

[@ibrahimsaeed3577]

+BUTT HURT FAN BOY please don't say that

[@Ferose02]

+BUTT HURT FAN BOY we won't 😊

[@caleb98963]

then git gud scrub

[@frustratingdiplomacy7319]

Trump voter right here

[@francez123456789]

Who else is watching this on a portable news pad

[@guilhermeferrao5968]

ME!!!

[@ShenaniganGamingMC]

+TheGhost watch the video

[@captainobvious1415]

+Kinzuko Well after 7 months or so, your news pad becomes an old pad.

[@ottopike737]

does a smartphone​ count?

[@giorgospapoutsakis5271]

Us

[@mlleariane6667]

Can we talk about how soothing his voice is ?

[@fashionqueen106]

yassss :-D

[@joshzuker8308]

His name is Roey Tzezana.

[@mlleariane6667]

Well, he deserves a cookie !

[@nottexasinstruments]

+Josh Zuker thats the one who produced this vid. Addison Anderson narrated this (says in the credits)

[@roidroid]

why is everyone suddenly talking about his soothing voice just now? He's been narrating these videos for years

[@realmasterchief]

I actually thought about this several years ago. I found it funny how sci-fi works would often influence inventors and scientists to actually see if it could be done. They both need each other for it to happen: the creativity of the science fiction with the know-how of actual science.

[@ZimmerSquash]

That guy has the best voice for any ted ed video.

[@mad_max21]

There is also science fiction being self-fulfilling prophecies. Innovators might get inspiration from science fiction and create those science fiction technologies.

[@flynnmoers3378]

Is Bill Gates a Science Fiction writer? Because he makes windows...

[@flynnmoers3378]

Sry, Bad joke.

[@BreatheManually]

+Flynn Moers Too bad it crashed. hehehe

[@ottopike737]

not very good ones though...

[@patrickoneill1993]

Excellent animation and examples of technology predicted by fiction. Thank you for a good watch.

[@K.S.Khunkhao]

TED-ED is the chicken soup for my soul.

[@Jarion-uk1qi]

what are you talking about dude he's not a chicken for chicken soup

[@Justwantahover]

3:48 Also, either Joules Verns or H G Wells for-told the flat screen TV (or monitor) in one of his books written in the cowboy days. lol In what appeared to be a contemporary old drawing, it depicted about six, 3 ft flat thin TY screens set up in an office. But set in the isles on tall spindly stands (like projector screen stands)... not on the desks. Oh but so, so close. lol

[@florbz5821]

One realistic Science Fiction novel I love and that could possibly become true is Red Mars. Absolutely stunning book!

[@elvertrivs4092]

I enjoy watched TED-ed, is really good for my because I am practicing English. the topic in this video is nice. I would want watch the video about the dreams or prophetic dreams and why do we dream in color or black and white.

[@raulbaltazardiaz21]

I believe science fiction inspires the future but it does not predict it.

[@MarlyTati]

+Raul Baltazar I think it works both ways: inspiring and predicting

[@SaiceShoop]

+Marly Tati I have to agree. I think that good sci-fi predicts what can be possible and it is these works that inspires people to make them happen. It is the young sci-fi reader that is filled with all these wonderful possibilities and then grows up with the want to make them real. But also a good sci-fi author can predict the trends they see and project them into a plausible future. While they might not unfold as written then can often be close enough.

[@raulbaltazardiaz21]

+Saice Exactly... Without inspiration there is no future. This is the reason why in the past many wars were fought and it took so long for humanity to advance in technology because people were not given the freedom to think. If it was not for inspiration we would be stuck in time, driving and producing the same vehicles year after year or people would keep dying from the same disease because no new cures were being made. People get inspired for different reasons and create their own future, some are so significant that affect all of us. Take for example the doctor whose mother died of cancer and from that tragedy got inspired to work 50 years non stop on a cure that he finally found several years later. For me prediction is when you have some sort of data and you calculate and make a prediction about the possible outcome, but for me the future is unpredictable.

[@MrLunithy]

Reed some Isaac asimov and then check out the date he wrote it.

[@sylviahenot6577]

even some great scientists today say that "imagination" is a useful tool to scientific advancement

[@phxtonash]

True. Star Trek also predicted a lot. I just hope we make it to a utopian Earth without war and poverty like they did.

[@shanayaranashetty]

+phxtonash Omg my dream and prayer everyday :)

[@MuadDib1402]

+phxtonash Yes, bring on my replicator and holodeck!

[@joliet741]

Well this didn't age well

[@hydrolito]

Much of what Star Trek did was taken from earlier stories some from mythology, religion, fairy tales, westerns, various movies and science fiction.

[@U.K.N]

good luck , with that

[@clare2385]

let's all hope George Orwells vision of the future won't ever become true

[@TheAnakinn]

+Saskia H. isn't it already slowly becoming reality? Maybe not as bad as in "1984", but society steers in that direction if we don't do something about it.

[@clare2385]

TheAnakinn I actually think we're on the road of improvement. Human rights have improved the last 100 years and now are coming near to a goal point in the developed countries and we're trying to make the other countries join us too. But a book like 1984 should still be read by everyone, to show what *could* be and actually is by a small degree. Do you think so too?

[@TheAnakinn]

Saskia H. This requires a more complex reply, so I'll split it up in two parts. 1. Human rights I agree, human rights have improved over the last 100 years, but there's two things about that I've got problems with. The human rights were a code set up by the United Nations in 1948 at the onset of the cold war and were heavily influenced by the so called western world (which I'm a citizen of myself), so these rights are very one sided. The second thing is, you said we're trying to make other countries join us. But by what means and actions? War and destruction leading to the rise of extremist factions? And when the economy demands it, we treat with countries who don't give a shit about human rights (i.e. Saudi Arabia or China) 2. 1984/Mass surveillance 100 years ago, the governments, or respectively their intelligence agencies, didn't have the tools of mass surveillance they have nowadays. Agencies like the NSA or the BND (German intelligence agency) don't only spy on "enemies" or non-allied states, but also on their allies AND their own populace. To which extent is yet unknown, because they always argue with "matters of highest state security, that threaten the state if revealed". So do you really think we've improved and are on the right way? Or rather drifting towards Orwell's dystopia? Sorry for the rambling :P

[@thetruthalwaysscary]

+Saskia H. Well beside the equal rights for all race and sex, many goes backward. In Europe, now, in many communities the government turns away / [retedn not to see when the local communties practice Sharia law. Big step backward. A little more than 100 years the USA had no income tax. Now we are on the road to have the French type (Gestapo style)IRS implemented where the agents have their own power to issue search warrants it goes for other alphabet agencies as well. As The Anakinn mentioned the drones, phone, computer and other surveillance also far from improvements. I type 4 keywords in this wonderful search engine and my text being automatically reported to another alphabet agencies to analyze. The mainstream media took over the news and instead of presenting it, creating it in order to serve a propaganda machine. People read Internet articles , that is mostly propaganda instead of books. The population is often brainwashed enough to vote for leaders who start wars with countries with names neither them nor the leaders can correctly pronounce like Iraq or Iran. I could write pages and pages with examples how today;s college graduate is not an inch higher than an illiterate common person from 300 years ago, with not even half of the survival abilities and a complete dependency on consumption. Improvement? Really?

[@TheAnakinn]

Jon Snow Slow down there for a minute. First of all, comparing the IRS to the Gestapo is a no go, just no. The Gestapo was an intelligence service that neglected any human right whatsoever and simply let people disappear, tortured and murdered people, whereas the IRS is a tax agency, so not in the least comparable! Secondly, Sharia law in Europe and government turning away from that? Don't know which case exactly you're refering to, but yes, there have been so called "honor murders" and what not, but those are single cases and they are dealt with, not ignored! As a third point, yes, we might not be able to survive on ourselves anymore, but that is a side effect of the evolution of our society and not necessarily a bad one. This way we are way more productive and innovative as a whole. Way better than 95% of the population just struggeling to survive don't you think? 1-2% of our population produce all the food we consume (which, to be fair, we consume too much of) leaving 98-99% to concentrate their efforts elswhere, be it scientific, cultural or artistic. I'm more inclined, however, to agree with the media being used as a propaganda tool or at least in channeling the public opinion. From your examples I take it you live in the US and that is really the worst media I have seen in a western country so far. But even here in Germany I get the feeling the press is not as independent anymore as they once were, a few exceptions aside maybe. Internet or computers/tablets/smartphones in general of course is the biggest source of intelligence for these kind of services. Honestly, who still reads terms and conditions? Anything could be said in there, even legalizing surveillance.

[@SipheDlamini]

It can be more like fiction inspiring future inventions. Like how Futurama inspired Hyperloop and how the Jetsons inspired countless inventions that are standard today.

[@nekonesan9112]

I'm watching this on a portable, flatscreen newspad. "Ermeghersh! Illuminati!"

[@marekbillington3357]

but at the same time of making these predictions can they then become self-predicting? Especially in the terms of our own technological advancement?

[@andrewsander605]

I would just like to use this opportunity to remind you that our Back to the Future hoverboards are already several months late already. Chop chop inventors!

[@WEH1123]

Are they really predictions or inspirations for those products?

[@JesPulido]

I loved the video! Is there a transcript or captions available?

[@zacharyplourde4117]

Can you do one explaining Capital Gains and the taxation of it?

[@MotorGoblin]

I like the animation in this one.

[@sooooooooDark]

just always remember: nothing is impossible!

[@Loopy1330]

The cartoon of the modern man, references to nuclear bombs, and a floating robot servant...I think somebody's a Fallout fan.

[@AllanAko92]

Feel like this episode should/would be perfect if Kuhns work about the theory of anomalis and paradigm were included.

[@thiagomelo8932]

Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy depicts the creation and aplication of a new science called psycohistory. It is used to calculate de galaxy empire decline and the 1000 years after to the second empire.

[@IAmNotABot9]

That video was amazing!

[@klaasvaak2575]

sharing creativity, and ideas, all the while motivating people to research in the direction of the movies/series/etc(wanting that)

[@manojj888]

Loving It.

[@matthewdelia906]

Subtitles would be appreciated!

[@Gandellion]

I'd say it hasn't predicted the future but inspired it

[@radrook4481]

I think that it both inspires and predicts. Would we be thinking about a space elevator if it hadn't been proposed in sci fi? Here is an interesting article on this. writerdreams.freeforums.net/thread/36/predictive-power-sci-fi

[@johnacetable7201]

I wouldn't say that about everything.

[@zagros24]

What is fiction today will be the reality of tomorrow!

[@tncorgi92]

Sometimes that works the other way around. Look at how many people now think the moon landings were faked. In a hundred years, will kids be telling each other that slavery never happened?

[@zagros24]

+Paul Drake History can be corrupt but science not!

[@Aypher]

+Aryan Zagros that is not true

[@MaytaneVideos]

+Aryan Zagros Hey man, just letting you know that I featured your comment in one of my videos called "talk religion and pooping with me" .. Hope you don't mind, it was perfect for it!

[@illninjaphil]

I am amazed at how many things that were once science fiction are now real or at least real possibilities. I get real deep and far out when i consider what Virtual and Augmented Reality brings to the table. I honestly believe that VR and AR technology is the next 'game changer' in a similar way to how cellphones and the internet changed the world. We are entering a new paradigm in human experience that will have tremendous benefit but also dire consequences. That's another interesting point i've noticed... it seems with all new paradigm shifting technologies, there are always benefits (which is generally what is the intended purpose of these things) but misuse and abuse which can lead to new issues which we did not necessarily foresee. It's like there are built in 'casualties' in each new generation so that there can be change and growth, as we learn how to adapt and design new technologies in the future.

[@stephenrodriguez3022]

great animation

[@hydrolito]

Nelly Bly made it around the world in 72 days which was less time than what Jules Verne had written in Around the world in 80 days, and visited him and his wife in France on the Journey.

[@ThomasMusings]

Truly.

[@sonofsisyphus5742]

Saw Neuromancer, thumbs up for you.

[@jonathonraist]

0:31 - 0:49 Was the RAND corporation working on such projects at the time they made those predictions? Wouldn't that be a self-fulfilling prophecy? RAND "Hey DARPA, what are you all working on and what is your estimated timeline development on those projects? We need to make some predictions here." It is interesting to see how science fiction drives research and development of technologies.

[@GustavoPERRO65]

VERY GOOD!!!!

[@Caius1930]

Huh, I might just have a future as a 'professional futurist.' Now that would be interesting.

[@MrCal2648]

Maybe Steve Jobs got the iPad from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It definitely seems like he lifted Siri from there.

[@KootFloris]

We should not overlook that most trend watchers assisting the government are from think tanks sponsored by big businesses with their own interests, in short overlooking real issues (global warming, plastic in the ocean, antibiotics in food chain, etc) for economic opportunities.

[@SwagMyTaco]

4:00

[@timothink5458]

can someone write the transcript

[@Ivan99]

nice work

[@Alienswithwigs]

'Science Fiction predicts the future'. But I'm wondering if it's not sometimes the opposite, Science Fiction showing a possible future to the mass, a new 'realm of possibilities' and industrialists getting inspired by the reaction and trying to mold science fiction to a future reality with their products.

[@shellbug3100]

thx, tht was great

[@labyrinth7129]

4:02 That just about gave me a seizure

[@jblazquez1]

Great video ;)

[@akero1388]

I like this animation

[@astronautique]

That person who talked to the physicist looked like the Fallout guy who always has a thumbs up. Maybe Fallout can predict the future...

[@2nd3rd1st]

But, isn't it more likely that futurists and science fiction authors only facilitate the creation of the useful things they think up, by presenting them to the world in the first place? I'm pretty sure that without Star Treck there would likely be no cell phones in our time.

[@SephShareBear]

If humans were capable of processing all of the laws of time and space within a reasonable length of time, then we could not predict the future, but know what lies ahead with a 100% guarantee. Then again, one might say we would be gods if we were capable of processing that much information.

[@merlinarthur1386]

Game Theory has projected a hypothesis as to what exactly that future might be too

[@masonronn1539]

is it possible that the sci-fi books people are writing a influencing us to make those things

[@TheGr8FryingPan]

A little background music might do some good

[@crydon1757]

I love this

[@_-.-_-_.._--.-_-_----_-.--_._-]

Anyone else read most of the books shown or mentioned??

[@shichika4888]

One didn't predict the future through sci-fi until we see them as one.

[@RFalhar]

If you get thousands of ideas about the future, then some of them are going to be somehow similar to what we get. And just because that "news pad" is similar to modern tablets doesn't make it a good prediction. There are many details that make a tablet a tablet. None of which were predicted.

[@passthebutterrobot2600]

In many cases science fiction hasn't so much predicted the future as created it. We copy their ideas & make them real, and they might not have happened otherwise

[@houndofjustice6930]

My teacher said i have to shut up, so mabey i will lose my voice :D

[@Justwantahover]

1:03 They are now doing that with "quad-copter and drone airports". lol What about manned multicopter theme parks?

[@alexandrkorobov2772]

Nice project

[@Jonathan_T]

Fun fact : during the late 80s, Asimov asked the CEO of a Robotic america company that builded 1/3 of car factory automats : "where did you get this passion for robots ?" And the CEO told him that when he was young, he red Asimov :)

[@ehdollet9641]

That part about taking someone form the past and showing them the technology today makes me think of that line in outlast, where someone say "If you show a cave man technology they will think it's magic, but if you show a modern man magic they will think it's technology". :3

[@SQW0]

+eh dollet A good portion of these 'modern' men/women think God did it all through magic. Oh, they might know how a light bulb works now but to them, something as complex as life obviously can't happen without the intervention of the Creator.

[@ehdollet9641]

SQW0 I think I get what you mean and I agree(?), but at the same time no one needed to create life, life just happened in my opinion. :P :3

[@Moonsabie]

fabric structures like nomadic African architecture

[@dvklaveren]

A shame that this doesn't make the argument that there's been so much science fiction written that there's a confirmation bias to confirm a minority of science fiction now rather than later. Not that I believe that, but it would have been a good point to see refuted with data I don't have access to myself, I think.

[@Nauct]

Aguaxima: quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=did;cc=did;rgn=main;view=text;idno=did2222.0000.243

[@victoriadiener7871]

Waw, amazing video

[@bryanwan6169]

I predict a new video on Thursday.

[@psikeyhackr6914]

Double-entry accounting is 700 years old. What would the economy be like today if accounting had been mandatory in high school for the last 50 years? Is that science fiction? How could schools make it mandatory now without explaining why they didn't already do it?

[@dellsantiago8108]

nice very nice,,,,, i wrote one in the past a science fiction thing but its absurd and it still is hahahhaha but i love science fiction :D my favorite genre

[@johannamcc96]

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was the first sci-fi book.

[@AlejandroIrausquin]

What SciFi does is to suggest the future. People that like the ideas pursued them, as in the times of Jules Verne.

[@vonneely3693]

Back in the 90s William Gibson wrote about the future. Now he writes about the present. "The future is now."

[@downhillracingtv4046]

The Simpsons do also!!

[@sherinalorenzo1601]

Hi TED-Ed!! I am curious about one thing, a fly inside a moving car.So you see, it moves inside a moving car without hitting the windows or such, does it mean that it has the same speed as the car?I am absolutely curious. PS, I am a student of finance and not of physics

[@tncorgi92]

I'm not answering on behalf of Ted-Ed, but if you don't mind I'll offer this simple explanation: all speed, or 'velocity' is relative. If you are sitting in a car driving down the road, you are NOT moving relative to the car, but you ARE moving compared to anything outside the car. A fly buzzing around in the car is moving relative to you, the car, and the environment outside. Hope that makes sense.

[@tncorgi92]

P.S. oh, as to whether the fly has the same speed as the car, it would to an outside observer only if it (the fly) happened to be staying put in mid-air somehow.

[@NeoShameMan]

Mary shelley not jules vernes

[@colonelgraff9198]

Writers dream; engineers build.

[@ttfgjazz9847]

Doing a school assignment and I’m bored asf

[@kellychan7662]

that segway though.........

[@kellychan7662]

+a poo 1:48

[@bigd0102294]

Does science fiction predict the future, or does it inspire it?

[@miapestano766]

both

[@khanhquanpham2439]

Both

[@hd_movie27]

Super

[@TT-jz7ri]

So, teleportation and time travel could be possible, it's just we can't grasp the science of it and we have no knowledge yet. Right now, we think of it as magic??

[@frankisawesomee]

Making windows from where their once was walls :)

[@Funnysterste]

Take 2001 alone. Clarke predicted the table pc. But he also predicted a hard artificial intelligence and a spacestation and stuff. If you make 1000000 predictions and 100 become true, then it wasnt really a big surprise - especially when you only can tell a good prediction from a bad one AFTER it has been fulfilled or not. So science fiction can not help predict the future. It only can make wild guesses.

[@maxemilion7124]

Lightsabers may one day be a reality :D

[@joaovictordesouzaviana7109]

so vim pela escola

[@ninja1676]

I predicted my future and it came true so science fiction might be real too.

[@5990babygraceblue]

My grandmother worked for Rand. She's like, ridiculously smart but she somehow doesn't know how work her TV.

[@tncorgi92]

Einstein was reputed to have never been able to remember his own phone number. He said why bother when it was easy enough to look up in the phone book if he needed it.

[@RyanPugliese]

I am here to predict time travel. I am also from the future. I win.

[@georgeyau98]

Pls China, make GATTACA templates available for the whole world... it's boring being the one getting A+ in everything... X)

[@Tharkz]

I say look to old comics for the ultimate future, as we go from human to heman - and become masters of the universe :-)

[@INDIOcomvoce1]

1:24 So in this video we are assuming the inexistence of Nikola Tesla? ....ok, I got it.... :/

[@Emily-ji2xw]

The man in the brown suit has really scary eyes.

[@samtheriverspirit2536]

May I recommend myself az future animator

[@dckr1181]

I will drop school and watch ted ed and the school of life!! #LifeHack