Seth Mnookin

Virtually anything having to do with technology provides a good example of how often commonsense assumptions end up being wrong. Think about how recently it would have sounded ludicrous to propose that an invisible worldwide communication network would be capable of beaming movies into a device smaller than a deck of cards, or that shooting lasers into people’s eyeballs could improve their sight. Politics is also an area in which the fantastical has a way of becoming reality: Twenty years ago, a scenario in which the Terminator was elected governor of California would have seemed possible only in a science fiction movie.

From “The Panic Virus,” by Seth Mnookin

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/health/29excerpt.html