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EP. #1293 Machines That Dreamed Us First: How Science Fiction Built the Future We Now Live

Tonight, in Part Two of our four-part series, we plunge into the mechanical heart of science fiction—and the chilling realization that our world of drones, algorithms, and AI was imagined long before it was built. From Čapek’s enslaved robots to Asimov’s hopeful laws, from Wells’s remote-controlled war machines to Orwell’s watchful screens, the blueprints were drawn in stories. Professor Mark Brake reveals how these fictions didn’t just predict the future—they scripted it. Are we masters of our creations, or have the machines we dreamed up already begun reshaping humanity itself? The déjà vu is real. The reckoning is now.

GUEST: Professor Mark Brake is a leading science communicator and author exploring the hidden feedback loop between imagination and innovation. He is the author of FutureWorld: Where Science Fiction Becomes Science and numerous bestselling books examining the real science behind Star Wars, superheroes, time travel, and the multiverse. Known for translating complex ideas into gripping narratives, Brake argues that science fiction doesn’t merely entertain — it quietly shapes the laboratories, technologies, and futures we eventually inhabit.

LINKS:

https://www.instagram.com/profmbrake

BOOKS:

FutureWorld: Where Science Fiction Becomes Science

The Science of Star Wars

The Science of Harry Potter

The Science of Star Trek

The Science of Doctor Who

The Science of Jurassic World

The Science of James Bond

The Science of Sherlock

The Science of The Beatles

The Science of Super Heroes

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