Abigail Nussbaum writes:
Something else that occurred to me while watching Aliens was that I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the wake of the film’s release, some military hardware engineer sat down and started designing an APC that could be loaded onto a plane, or fully-articulated body armor. And then I thought about this article, which cropped up on the net a few weeks ago and finally confirmed what so many columnists and bloggers have been postulating–that the US intelligence apparatus is modeling its behavior towards terror suspects and its techniques in preventing terrorism after the actions of characters from 24. I started wondering–what’s the difference? Science fiction fans have always known that imaginary futures can predict the real one by making it, by implanting images in the minds of movers and builders, telling them that this is how the future is supposed to look. Why are we surprised to discover that 24 has the same effect when it comes to the present?
Which is an interesting way of looking at science fiction’s notoriously awful track record at predicting the future. Science fiction writers may not have any better idea of where the future’s headed than anyone else, but they can still subtly manipulate the direction through sheer accident.