Occassionaly reality can be much stranger than fiction. Science fiction in particular is often the herald of real scientific and technogical breakthroughs. Whether that is a result of a prediction or whether science fiction essentially inspires scientists to fulfil what the writers have imagined remains an open question. I incline towards the latter for I do not believe in predictions. They are just cloaked prophecies. And prophecies invariably spawn, create rather than predict, future events.