Movies and books do more than just spark our imagination and send us on a virtual journey, for many they provide the spark for a lifelong quest to bring to life the objects and gadgets that the characters are using.

Star Trek (1966) spawned a dozen or more of today’s technologies including the mobile phone, the tricorder, replicators (3D printers).

Back to the Future (1989) gave us garbage fueled cars, goggles that let us see the real and virtual world, hoverboards and video calls.

Fritz Lang’s Woman in the Moon (1929) showed us a rocket taking off to the moon, 28 years before Sputnik attempted it and long before we knew how to do it and all of these and hundreds of other tantalizing glimpses in our books, television and movies have been the muse for innovators to say “why not” and to bring the impossible to life and to everyday.

This search through past inspiration for future technology was the topic for this weeks chat with Scott Lamond on radio ABC Wide Bay, have a listen now and then share what you would still like to see invented from a movie you watched or a book you read.