## Science fiction and its importance for society

From the distant past to present day, science fiction and its honest depiction in popular culture has fulfilled several important roles. One of them was to provide an open space for speculation about technologies and discoveries that could be interesting and useful to people. In the 19th Century, the pioneer of this discipline was Jules Verne (it was during this period that the science fiction genre began to develop), who described several important technological discoveries in his works, some which were later turned into reality. The most important ones include a spaceship/rocket (novel "From the Earth to the Moon"; 1865), a submarine (novel "20,000 leagues under the sea"; 1871) or a helicopter (novel "Robur the Conqueror"; 1886). Another important role of science fiction is to hold up a mirror to our society at any given time and ask the question: "What would become of us if we had this type of technology at our disposal?", with many classical works focused on the psychological and social aspect of technological progress. In the 1950s and 1960s, Isaac Asimov (e.g., novels “I,Robot”; 1950 and "Foundation"; 1951), Robert A. Heinlein (e.g., novel "A Stranger in a Strange Land"; 1961) and Arthur C. Clarke (e.g., novel "2001: A Space Odyssey"; 1968) were the key figures bringing this point of view into the sci-fi genre. As a result, besides elaborate science fiction, more complicated topics related to the essence of humanity, definition of life, creation and control of artificial intelligence, emerging field of robotics, and many others reached literature and film. The third important role of science fiction is that it enables the creation of a (fictional) space for stories that could not take place in a real earthly environment. This tool allows authors and consumers of popular culture to fully explore their own imagination, develop abstract thinking and consider a wide range of hypothetical situations and problems, as well as the solutions to them. The film industry in particular was able to use the potential of science fiction to bring viewers a sense of wonder from unknown corners of the universe, planet Earth, one's own body, the world of dreams, the biosphere and many other environments. Finally, science fiction also brings the possibility of setting the science aside and use it simply as a background to bring the audience adventures, action, or horror tension in a new disguise. Probably the most famous representatives of this stream of sci-fi is the "Star Wars" saga (1977), "Alien" series (1979), and "Back to the Future" movies (1985).