Scott Adams wrote in The Dilbert Future that life would become more like Star Trek.
I heard once that the imagination of science fiction is the same imagination of innovation. That life becomes more and more like science fiction because actually building something is the next step after coming up with the idea,
I think it's mostly because science fiction molds are view of the future and many inventors are influenced by that. I'm pretty sure that Star Trek influenced some of the inventors of the cell phone even if it wasn't consciously. Now we have things that are looking closer and closer to holodecks (all we need is photonic matter), the kinect is pretty proto-holodeck in my view. The touchscreen interfaces and iPads were probably also influcence by Sci-Fi. Basically Star Trek invented the future ;p
There's actually some truth to this. Cool sci-fi can influence scientists and technologists to pursue ideas they see on screen or read about in books. Alternatively, it can inspire kids to want to become scientists or technologists. While I have no data to back this up, I imagine the genre has done a lot more good for the world than we'll ever know.
I heard once that the imagination of science fiction is the same imagination of innovation. That life becomes more and more like science fiction because actually building something is the next step after coming up with the idea,