60's Bollywood sci-fi, and when Samsung invoked Kubrick | #99
Also, an Indian who regulated interplanetary travel ➡️
“Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s Science fact” - Issace Asimov
This was the quote from a man who predicted how life would be today way back in 1964. Some of his prescient predictions included:
Electroluminescent panels which make ceilings and walls glow
Coffee Machines, In-vitro meat creation and many more
Communications will become sight-sound and you will see as well as hear the person you telephone. You know whom to blame for zoom fatigue.
He didn’t predict that Will Smith would play the lead in an adaptation of his book though. In any case, authors such as Asimov continue to inspire wonder even to this day. This week we take a look at interesting stories from the world of science fiction.
Things we learnt this week 🤓
In order to compete with the iPad, Samsung launched the Galaxy series of tablets and immediately were hit with accusations that they had infringed on Apple owned patents. Samsung tried to defend itself, by pointing out that iPads weren’t an original idea and Stanley Kubrick thought of them and used them in the 1968 film 2001 A Space Odyssey. A judge, though denied these arguments from Samsung. Samsung truly tried to be the guardians of the Galaxy.
Talking of films inspiring real life events - 2 years before Neil Armstrong took a giant step for man on the moon, Dara Singh along with his helpful sidekick Bhagu, go on a quest to find a scientist who has been kidnapped by the Lunar people in the film Chand Par Chadayee. The production quality might be tacky, but it features what can be described as a Google Glass (remember them?) where a character conducts a video call. Watch the entire movie here.
And talking of pioneering Indians, the constituent assembly was put in place to formulate the Indian constitution. Not just the immediate future, but literally Sci-fi-esque future. Given the Indian politicians tendency to regulate, it isn’t surprising that one member of the constituent assembly wanted to regulate Interplanetary travel. HV Kamath, introduced an amendment to provision for interplanetary travel. He was initially rebuffed, but he made a speech talking about the advances in space and how a man on the moon may not be as absurd as thought. The nation’s founding fathers had a clear vision - make a document relevant in 20-20.
From IWTK, with love 💌
Dune is one of the greatest Science fiction books of all time. This thread, written by Gautam Shenoy, has loads of fun facts about it.
Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein anonymously as women authors wouldn’t be published. Other women went through so much more to get recognition. Our post honouring them.
Quiz Alert 🔎
Are you a fan of the Terminator? Or maybe your taste is more towards Doctor Who? From Star Wars vs Star Trek to the singing sands from Dune, if sci-fi is what feeds your brain then we've got the perfect thing for you!
Gather your friends, family (or maybe even colleagues?) around for an evening of trivia dedicated to topics like technology, time travel and extra-terrestrials, with IWTK's Sci-fi quiz hosted by Gautam Shenoy!
When: April 24th, Sunday
Time: 4-5pm
Where: Zoom
Next week we hit a significant milestone of issue #100. To celebrate this we have a very special guest editor. Watch this space 🥳
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❤️ IWTK