Creative Dreamer or Prophet?
Artists and authors have been dreaming up the impossible for hundreds of years.
Mr Verne wrote about submarines and travel to the moon, Captain James Kirk had us all dreaming of shiny little flip phones, and Leonardo da Vinci conceived the idea of the helicopter several hundred years before the first aeroplane took to the sky.
The list of fictional fantasy that has gone on to become reality is endless and suffice to say there are some who believe that scientific invention has its origins in the minds of the creative dreamers.
Perhaps this is true and the line between fiction and reality is thinner than most would like to acknowledge.
Necessity is after all the mother of invention. Perhaps when first imagined their creators had a need, either within their own lives or the lives of their characters. Years later, in the real world, clever scientific brains took these imagined creations and turned them into reality.
But what if necessity had nothing to do with predictive imagination?
Consider the possibility of a link between fantasy and reality that is so profound that it could change our perception of life as we know it.
In 1503 a man was born in France whom some believe predicted some of the world’s most catastrophic events. His name was Nostradamus.
On the first of July 1566, Nostradamus wished his assistant goodnight with the words, ‘You will not find me alive at sunrise.’
He died that night!
His prophecies were legendary but his writing was confused and muddled. Rumours suggested that his coffin contained a document which would clarify his predictions. In 1700 his coffin was opened, no documents were found but the year 1700 was engraved on an amulet inside the coffin.
His predictions are common knowledge, both world wars, three antichrists, the twin towers, and a third world war.
Was he a prophet, magician, or a fantasy writer whose predictions coincidently came into being?
In recent years I have noticed a shift towards fantasy writing with strong paranormal links.
Are today’s fantasy writers tapping into public demand or something more significant?
Consider Diana Gabaldon’s stories and Claire’s journey through time.
So far-fetched? Perhaps not!
For centuries the people of Scotland have believed in the magic of the highlands. The Irish believe in fairies and banshees and the Zulu’s in the tokoloshe.
These beliefs are based on myth- and myth is based on legend, derived from tales.
What is to say that these tales have no factual basis?
Some would argue that there is no scientific evidence to confirm the existence of magic.
Well here we run into the conundrum.
If scientific invention has its origins in the minds of creative dreamers, then the future can only be seen as today’s fantasy.
Perhaps it is worth considering that today’s fantasy may well become tomorrow’s reality.
Mr Verne wrote about submarines and travel to the moon, Captain James Kirk had us all dreaming of shiny little flip phones, and Leonardo da Vinci conceived the idea of the helicopter several hundred years before the first aeroplane took to the sky.
The list of fictional fantasy that has gone on to become reality is endless and suffice to say there are some who believe that scientific invention has its origins in the minds of the creative dreamers.
Perhaps this is true and the line between fiction and reality is thinner than most would like to acknowledge.
Necessity is after all the mother of invention. Perhaps when first imagined their creators had a need, either within their own lives or the lives of their characters. Years later, in the real world, clever scientific brains took these imagined creations and turned them into reality.
But what if necessity had nothing to do with predictive imagination?
Consider the possibility of a link between fantasy and reality that is so profound that it could change our perception of life as we know it.
In 1503 a man was born in France whom some believe predicted some of the world’s most catastrophic events. His name was Nostradamus.
On the first of July 1566, Nostradamus wished his assistant goodnight with the words, ‘You will not find me alive at sunrise.’
He died that night!
His prophecies were legendary but his writing was confused and muddled. Rumours suggested that his coffin contained a document which would clarify his predictions. In 1700 his coffin was opened, no documents were found but the year 1700 was engraved on an amulet inside the coffin.
His predictions are common knowledge, both world wars, three antichrists, the twin towers, and a third world war.
Was he a prophet, magician, or a fantasy writer whose predictions coincidently came into being?
In recent years I have noticed a shift towards fantasy writing with strong paranormal links.
Are today’s fantasy writers tapping into public demand or something more significant?
Consider Diana Gabaldon’s stories and Claire’s journey through time.
So far-fetched? Perhaps not!
For centuries the people of Scotland have believed in the magic of the highlands. The Irish believe in fairies and banshees and the Zulu’s in the tokoloshe.
These beliefs are based on myth- and myth is based on legend, derived from tales.
What is to say that these tales have no factual basis?
Some would argue that there is no scientific evidence to confirm the existence of magic.
Well here we run into the conundrum.
If scientific invention has its origins in the minds of creative dreamers, then the future can only be seen as today’s fantasy.
Perhaps it is worth considering that today’s fantasy may well become tomorrow’s reality.
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Does this mean that there are going to be hundreds of ladies throwing themselves at stone circles in the Highlands? Ladies, you won't find Jamie! He is not real.
Jamie might not be real, Andrew but who is to say the concept of time-travel won’t be one day? Who can say for sure that the myths behind the stories Diana Gabaldon wrote weren’t once a reality?
Isnt there a quote (from someone wise and famous, whose name I have forgotten) that any sufficiently advanced science will be indistinguishable from magic, to the uninformed. I suspect there are wonders beyond our understanding still to be revealed...and human ingenuity will keep pushing until we achieve (and this isnt necessarily a good thing.) Grace x
Perhaps not a good thing, Grace but I do rather fancy the idea of a key to time-travel.x
Elizabeth, I have a feeling you will like my next book since it combines both history and the paranormal.Smiles,
Teresa
Whether they were or weren't a reality, to me, isn't the point. As Grace pointed out, if we were to show people the past our technology today they would think it was magic (for those of you who have seen the film The Prestige, you will know what I am talking about). Over the years, we have continuously taken what we have perceived to be science-fiction, or 'magic' and turned it into a reality using science. We have no more of an idea of the future possibilities of science than they did in 1899, when Charles H. Duell is supposed to have said 'Everything that can be invented has been invented.' which could not have been more incorrect. Does the future hold fairies and tokoloshe for us? I doubt it. But time travel? We'll have to see. I think Sci-Fi is a more adaptable genre than fantasy and with overlapping topics such as time travel, it will merely be a yet another trick of science, not highland magic. So does this mean that science is the magic?
Good blog post :) It's something I'll defo be thinking of for a long time to come :)