The Wreck of the Titan

In 1898, Morgan Robertson penned a novel titled "The Wreck of the Titan," which depicted a cruise ship sinking in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg. Fourteen years later, the Titanic experienced a similar tragedy, bringing Robertson's fictional story to life.

The sinking of the supposedly unsinkable Titanic is a well-known tragedy that claimed over 1,500 lives. Interestingly, this disaster was eerily predicted in two separate novels written before the actual event occurred. The similarities between the fictional accounts and the real-life incident are so striking that one can't help but wonder if the authors were somehow foreseeing the future.

One of these novels, "The Wreck of the Titan: Or, Futility," was penned by Morgan Robertson in 1898. This story also revolves around an ocean liner sinking in the North Atlantic after colliding with an iceberg. Remarkably, 14 years later, the Titanic met the same fate in the same location. In Robertson's novel, the ship was named Titan and suffered a similar tragic end after hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean.

Just like the Titanic, the Titan was portrayed as the largest ship of its time, boasting similar dimensions and speed. Both vessels were deemed "unsinkable" before tragically sinking on a cold April night. Additionally, both ships lacked an adequate number of lifeboats, further adding to the uncanny parallels between fiction and reality.

Debt of Honor

In his 1994 novel Debt of Honor, Tom Clancy envisioned the act of hijacking and using a plane for an attack for the first time. The depiction closely resembled the events that occurred seven years later during the attack on the World Trade Center.

Tom Clancy is renowned for his authentic writing style. In his 1994 novel Debt of Honor, he depicted terrorists carrying out a devastating attack on the US government officials and politicians by crashing a commercial plane into a Joint Session of Congress in the Capitol.

This novel was the first to introduce the concept of using a commercial airliner for a suicide terrorist attack. Seven years later, the tragic events of September 11, where hijackers attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center, shocked the world. Many considered this day to be one of the darkest in American history, leading to suspicions surrounding Clancy.

Following the 9/11 attacks, CNN reached out to Clancy for his thoughts on the similarities between the plane crash in his novel and the crash of United Flight 93.

The Machine Stops

The Machine Stops, written by E.M. Forster in 1909, depicts a society in which humans rely heavily on technology. Forster explores his characters' reliance on "video calling" in his novel The Machine Stops.

We are all familiar with the frustration of the Internet not working, our laptop crashing, or our mobile phone getting damaged. Our lives are now unimaginable without these gadgets. However, E. M. Forster's ability to predict humanity's reliance on multiple screens (gadgets) in 1909 is truly remarkable. In his novel The Machine Stops, he portrayed his characters' dependence on "video calling."

In addition to addressing larger social issues, this novel was the first to predict a technology similar to Skype and modern video chatting. Forster described a scene where a mother could see her son on the other side of the Earth through a glowing plate in her hands. This depiction of unbelievable technology also explored how humans would react to it.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world where travel is rare, communication is done through video screens, and people worship a machine they rely on. This scenario may sound familiar in today's Covid-19 pandemic era.

Forster's novel was his only venture into science fiction, but it was a brilliant literary work and a prophetic vision of the future.

Neuromancer

The novel "Neuromancer" by William Gibson, published in 1984, introduced the concept of cyberspace and popularized the term "matrix," influencing the way we perceive the Internet in modern times.

When the Internet was limited to just a few users, William Gibson introduced the term "cyberspace." In his novel Neuromancer, published 36 years ago, the American author popularized the concept of cyberspace as a "consensual hallucination" created by interconnected computers. The story follows gritty urban clinics performing extreme plastic surgery and a junkie-hacker named Case who is persuaded to hack into a major corporation's system. What once seemed incredibly futuristic is now strangely familiar.

Gibson's novel Neuromancer also played a role in popularizing the term "matrix" as seen in The Matrix films. Since the late 1970s, he has accurately predicted the evolution of the Internet and its impact on society.

Critics argue that Gibson has significantly influenced our understanding of the Internet. Every social media platform, online game, or hacking incident brings us closer to the world Gibson envisioned in 1984.

The Mars Project

In his book "The Mars Project" (1952), Wernher von Braun predicts a human colony on Mars led by a man named "Elon."

In 1948, Wernher von Braun wrote a book titled "Das Marsprojeckt" in German, which later became known as "The Mars Project" in English. This book is considered to be the most influential work on planning human missions to Mars and has accurately predicted the future on multiple occasions. It provides a detailed design for a large-scale expedition to Mars, including the concept of a reusable rocket similar to SpaceX's Falcon Heavy.

Interestingly, the book also mentions a person named "Elon" leading the human colonists on Mars. It is worth noting that Elon Musk, a South African/Canadian Engineer and Technology Entrepreneur, founded SpaceX in 2002. Among other projects, Musk has plans to establish a colony on Mars by 2040.