Why Do Speculative Things Matter?
What exactly is a speculative matter? What exactly does speculative mean? Why does speculative matter? First, let us look at Merriam-Webster:
Speculative, Adjective, spec·u·la·tive,
1: involving, based on, or constituting intellectual speculation,
Also: theoretical rather than demonstrable,
speculative knowledge,
2: marked by questioning curiosity
There is a third definition but as it refers to financial matters, we can ignore that one. I think the first two are what we are looking for. Speculative fiction has been considered from many viewpoints over the years. Often mocked as frivolous and overlooked as any kind of serious writing, speculative writings often have been considered the ugly, red-haired stepchild in many literary circles. Yet, in retrospect, we can see that many changes that have come to pass were predicted in the “wild stories” by certain authors.
Some things we accept as normal and commonplace were once highly speculative.
Jules Verne wrote his ‘Voyages extraordinaires’ which included, among many others; “From Earth To The Moon” and “Twenty Thousand Leagues Beneath The Sea”. Both novels were considered wildly speculative at the time they were written and yet both are proven as prophetic rather than fancy. In July 1969 I watched as Neil Armstrong set foot upon the moon. It may not exactly have been as Mr. Verne envisioned over one hundred years before, but it happened. His Nautilus was not the first submarine by any means, but Verne wrote electric batteries powered this submarine, something that we are just beginning to master as a form of power for our vehicles. There is a myth that he used an unknown power source that seems to imply he foresaw the power of the atom. However, radioactivity was not discovered until thirty years after Twenty Thousand Leagues was written. Interestingly, the first nuclear submarine built was named ‘The Nautilus’ in honor of Capitan Nemo’s vessel, but it was the speculative movie script writers at Walt Disney who planted the idea of nuclear power being involved, not Jules Verne.
In 1931 Chester Gould introduced to the world a comic book cop named ‘Dick Tracy’. On January 13, 1946, the Two-Way Wrist Radio was introduced and would become one of the strip’s most immediately recognizable icons, and in 2015, Apple made this a reality.
On September 8th, 1966, NBC released a new TV show called ‘Star Trek’. I watched all three seasons with religious fervor and although most of the inventions used by the crew of the Enterprise have yet to become reality, there is one device that was used from the first show ever-after that has become a mainstay of life in our world—the communicator. It only took thirty years for Motorola to introduce the Star Tac, the world’s first flip phone. A very similar device to the communicators used by the crew of the Enterprise.
The term ‘speculative fiction’ is often attributed to Robert Heinlein, though he insisted it was referencing science fiction only and not fantasy, and the term had been used by others before him. It has come to include much more than just hard science fiction, including fantasy, utopian and dystopian fiction, horror, alternate history, and superhero fiction, as well as science-fantasy.
There are arguments as to who wrote the first speculative fiction.
Some offer H. G. Wells or Jules Verne, other speak of Mary Shelley and her novel “Frankenstein”. I will offer a different suggestion; Homer, who in “The Iliad” mentions the god Hephaestus, who had helpers he had crafted. Helpers who were made of metal and who had thoughts within their heads. In other words robots.
How many life-changing innovations only exist as the written word at this time? Many, I am sure. This is why speculative things matter. Someone has to dream about the inventions before they can come into existence. Someone has to think… “Wouldn’t that be handy?” Then speculation can become reality.
