Today's Crossword: Reality or science fiction? There's no difference
We learn about sci-fi authors whose imaginary gadgets are now part of real life
From Star Wars to The Hunger Games to Avatar, Hollywood loves science fiction – and why wouldn’t it? The genre is full of possibilities and is considered to be a medium for futuristic imagination and exploration, where aliens, intergalactic travel, time travel, advanced technology, and parallel universes are all fair game.
Click start to play today’s sci-fi inspired Crossword. Can you name all the groundbreaking authors who dreamt up whole new worlds?
Even as the key word for the genre is “futuristic”, many objects that were once in the realm of science fiction are now a reality.
Here, we present you with five of them:
1. A universal translator
In Star Trek: The Original Series, characters Captain Kirk and Spock would come across aliens while exploring the galaxies. Whenever they wanted to understand extraterrestrial foreigners, they would use a device that immediately translated the alien language. While digital translation services in the modern age, like Google Translate, may not understand ET’s mothertongue just yet, they are capable of the same instant translation across languages.
2. Big Brother
In George Orwell’s 1949 novel 1984, all public and private places have large television screens broadcasting propaganda, news and approved entertainment – but the screens also act as two-way monitors and spy on citizens’ private lives. Today’s social media websites could arguably be compared to Orwell’s telescreens, where tracking of private information is a norm. Moreover, CCTV cameras out on the streets are a common sight, anywhere you go in the 21st century!
3. Bionic limbs
After losing his hand, the jedi Luke Skywalker gets a bionic version that functions like a normal hand, in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. That is not unusual in the modern era – bionic limbs are in use today by amputees. The US-based Scheck & Siress prosthetics and orthotics clinic explains that bionic limbs use special sensors to detect and convert naturally generated electric signals from muscles into movement.
4. Tactical centre
Those who work in the combat information centre in a warship or the command-and-control room in any military organisation can thank early science fiction novels for the ergonomic concept. American author E. E. Smith’s Lensman novels of the 1930s chronicled the adventures of a galactic patrol with this very set-up.
5. Mechanical arms
In 1942, American author Robert Heinlein published a short story called Waldo, about an inventor with physical disabilities who creates a mechanical hand that can be remotely operated. Today, mechanical arms are an integral part of manufacturing industries. In fact, when manipulator arms were developed for the nuclear industry in the US, they were named ‘waldos’ as a nod to Heinlein’s concept.
Play today’s Crossword and let us know if you enjoyed it at games@gulfnews.com.