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thirdeyefish t1_j56i1p3 wrote

That's also where submarines and automatic doors came from. Not that guy, but both were inventions of science fiction authors.

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AudibleNod t1_j56lhqy wrote

MP3s can trace it's lineage to Star Trek TNG when Data is asking the computer to play music.

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Xszit t1_j56mg2s wrote

Interesting you'd go with the example of digital music when there's other more glaringly obvious things like the original series communicators inspiring flip phones, or those data pads they use instead of paper for reports inspiring tablets and e-readers, or even the replicator inspiring 3d printing.

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AudibleNod t1_j56nzs6 wrote

Yeah. I saw an interview with Karlheinz Brandenburg, inventor of the MP3 format, explicitly say Data calling up music as inspiration.

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Xszit t1_j56peqd wrote

Thats even more interesting because mp3 wasn't the first digital music, it just had better file compression than previous formats so it made portable digital music players and sharing files over the internet more feasible.

I would have thought the creator was inspired by previous portable music inventions like radios, cassette players, cd players, etc...

weird that he would say the idea came from watching star trek and not from just looking around at the already existing technologies of digital music and portable music and saying "these could go together if I could just make the file sizes smaller"

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Jaksmack t1_j57fu1h wrote

Arthur C. Clarke and satellites.. William Gibson and Cyberspace & Steampunk..

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Mitthrawnuruo t1_j57q4n1 wrote

Dr Pournelle, the hand held computer. Among other things.

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Mitthrawnuruo t1_j57pzkd wrote

He had a number of inventions and was instrumental in the policy which lead to the collapse of the USSR.

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azaghal1988 t1_j59fwe7 wrote

They thought about the concept, but didn't Invent them.

The "Rods from God" were actually developed by Pournelle, and after the project was cancelled he went on to write a novel were he used them.

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