# Heinlein's Inventions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 29, 2003, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564 "2003-12-29T11:02:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peter\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Peter\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/1 "2003-12-29T11:02:34Z")
Was re-reading _Tunnel in the Sky_, and came across this mention of what is essentially a modern hydration pack. > [@](#): > > It was a belt canteen of flexible synthetic divided into half-litre pockets. The weight was taken by shoulder straps and a tube ran up the left suspender, ending in a nipple near his mouth, so that he might drink without taking it off. _Tunnel in the Sky_ was published in 1955, far earlier than [this link](http://www.adventuresportsonline.com/hydrationpacks.htm) estimates 1988 as the origin of the hydration pack. It’s not credited to RAH on [this site](http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/AuthorTotalAlphaList.asp?AuNum=2&offset=20) Kind of neat to find, as I was really looking for the hidden clues that Rod Walker was black after seeing it on [this site](http://www.heinleinsociety.org/rah/faqworks.html). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/2 "2003-12-29T13:31:01Z")
Most obvious: waldoes. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/3 "2003-12-29T13:44:11Z")
Waterbeds. ---
**Author:** ![BioHazard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@BioHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BioHazard)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/4 "2003-12-29T14:10:19Z")
Microchips, PCs, List goes on and on. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/5 "2003-12-29T14:25:05Z")
BioHazard writes: \> Microchips, PCs . . . Do you have a citation in Heinlein’s works for each of these? They’re not listed on the page that Sender links to. I don’t think that Heinlein suggested any more items which have since been discovered than any other moderately prolific science fiction author of his times, and often his references to these since-discovered items were pretty vague. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/6 "2003-12-29T15:01:36Z")
He may or may not have originated the concept, but in _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_, he certainly very accurately described the process of full-motion CGI animation. In a number of his stories (_Space Cadet, Blowups Happen, Lost Legacy_)he posits a “pocketphone”, essentially today’s cell phone. This is a trivial enough example, anyone could see the utility of such a device. What Heinlein also saw, sixty years before cell phones became common, was that having a phone allways on your person would become a royal pain in the ass, to the point that a person might find some relief by leaving it in “his other pants”, although he might well feel somewhat guity about doing so. This is perhaps the single most accurate prediction of the future ever made by a science fiction author. ---
**Author:** ![Iacob\_Matthew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Iacob\_Matthew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iacob_Matthew)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/7 "2003-12-29T15:20:43Z")
In _The Cat Who Walks Through Walls_, there’s a mention of “making [the subway] pay for the gift of braking,” or a short mechanical explaination of how to get some extra power from the loss of KE and use of force in braking. I’ve seen some motorcycles advertisements that could be this copied-and-pasted out of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/8 "2003-12-29T16:58:06Z")
As Wendell pointed out, describing “futuristic phones,” etc., was pretty common in the mass of SF of tht day. I think Heinlein himself said something like: Positing the invention of the automobile in 1880 was simpleton’s play–positing the effect it had on the dating and sexual habits of teenagers would have been truly visionary. Positing traffic jams, insurance rates, and ambulance chasing lawyers, etc. would have been visionary. Sir Rhosis The linked site, while neat, does stretch some of Hinelein’s concepts to match current technology, plus they missed the “cell phone” in “Space Cadet” (1948). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/9 "2003-12-29T17:07:22Z")
**Iacob\_Matthew** , regenerative braking was not original with him, but he certainly applied it in modes not previously thought of. Here are some: [ul][li]_Beyond This Horizon_ – electronic games[/li][li]The Door into Summer\* – automatic housecleaning devices (they’re being produced today); CAD[/li][li]“Let There Be Light” – solar energy[/li][li]“The Roads Must Roll” – strip urbanization connecting metropolises (urban sprawl)[/li][li]_Stranger in a Strange Land_ – TV commercials for contraceptives (taboo in the 1950s); the waterbed[/li][li]“Logic of Empire” – the recrudescence of Fundamentalism by means of televangelism[/li][li]“The Man Who Sold the Moon” – private-sector exploitation of space[/li][li]“Blowups Happen” – fear of nuclear plants; radiological therapy[/li][li]_Starship Troopers_ – men’s jewelry[/li][li]"’–We Also Walk Dogs’" – service-industry conglomerates[/li][li]“The Year of the Jackpot” – cycle theory[/li][/ul] These are just a few which come to mind. _Stranger_, _I Will Fear No Evil_, _Methuselah’s Children_, and a few others are just liberally loaded with things we take for granted that were futuristic at the time of writing, just from the structuring of the backstory culture of the time the story is set. ---
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/10 "2003-12-29T18:12:37Z")
Building on **BrotherCadfael** ’s post, IIRC in _Space Cadet_ one of the characters (either the protagonist or his friend) “accidently” leaves his phone in his duffel bag because he knows his parents are going to try and check in on him. Also in _Space Cadet_ and many of his other stories (“The Roads Must Roll” comes to mind) feature a moving “slidewalk,” like those found in airports. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/11 "2003-12-29T19:09:32Z")
Have a look at the Heinlein-scripted film **Operation Moonbase**. There are embarassing aspects to it (MST3K did an early show on it), but some of the “throwaway” stuff is great. One such item was a telephone in which, if you look closely, you notice that the handset isn’t connected to the “base” by a phone cord. Noth the Base and the handset each have a small antenna, just like in portable phones of the 1980s. What I particularly like is that no one ever draws attention to this, and it’s easy to miss. It’s not a big deal, but it was a cute way for Heinlein to inject a bit of highly probably future technology into the story. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/12 "2003-12-29T19:50:48Z")
I’m as big a fan of Heinlein as you’re likely to find, but I find this “Heinlein invented XXX” stuff to be a bit… overdone. Describing something in the future is not inventing it. To qualify as the ‘inventor’ of something, you have to actually come up with a way to make it happen. Here: I believe one day we will have little window-nanobots that will electrostatically cling to our windows. If we want the window cleaned, they will scurry around it and remove all the dirt. If we want shade, the nanobots will climb up the glass and arrange themselves to obscure as much light as we need. In fact, they may have the ability to change color lke LCD panels, so that we can not only change the color of our windows, but tell our bots to arrange themselves into programmed reproductions of classic paintings and photographs. Now, if someone does invent these bots and they wind up all over the place, would it be fair to say that I ‘invented’ them just because I mentioned them in print first? (I’m sure others have thought this up before me, btw. I just haven’t heard of it). Calling these speculations “invention” does a real disservice to the people who do the hard work of figuring out how all this stuff is going to work. ---
**Author:** ![Moon-Watcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/49beb7/32.png) [@Moon-Watcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moon-Watcher)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/13 "2003-12-29T19:52:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \*\*\* > _Starship Troopers_ – men’s jewelry > \*\* …because men never wore jewelry before this? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/14 "2003-12-29T19:59:53Z")
**Sam Stone** , well put, sir. Wendell and I seemed to be getting lost in the enthusiasm. I too love Heinlein’s work, and I’m hard-pressed to even give him “thought of first” credit for most things. The waterbed, okay, but I’m sure if you went through all of the pre-1939 SF magazines, you would find pocketphones and slidewalks galore. Heinlein himself often said he just filed off the serial numbers and aded a set of fins to the old stories. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Peter\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/15 "2003-12-29T22:19:43Z")
**Sam Stone** I agree in essence, but it seems almost pedantic put that way. I’m using a very loose definition of the word invention, perhaps conceptualized would work better. Imagining a device or idea and putting it into the hands of ‘real’ people was Heinleins chief talent IMO. Speaking directly to the hydration pack issue, does anyone know of a similar device or modification in use at the time the story was written? Perhaps a military innovation. I’m curious if he really did just pull this one out of the air and write it down ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/16 "2003-12-30T02:56:16Z")
In the _Door Into Summer_, he accurately describes an all-night ATM. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/17 "2003-12-30T04:00:48Z")
There is a site called [Technovelgy.com](http://Technovelgy.com) that purports to create a list of “inventions” mentioned in SF which have since come into our lives. For Heinlein, he has a list of 49 items, and he doesn’t even mention the waterbed. For anyone interested, this is the link to the list (there are 3 pages): [[http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/AuthorTotalAlphaList.asp?AuNum=2](http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/AuthorTotalAlphaList.asp?AuNum=2)](Technovelgy : Robert Heinlein) ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/18 "2003-12-30T04:02:57Z")
My mistake : he does mention the waterbed (hydraulic bed). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/19 "2003-12-30T04:10:44Z")
While Heinlein is generally given credit for “inventing” the waterbed, he did no such thing. Actual waterbeds existed long before they were mentioned in _Stranger in a Strange Land_. They just became more commonplace as synthetic materials became more durable and water-proof. Nor was he particularly visionary on this subject; he thought their use would primarily be in medical facilities. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564/20 "2003-12-30T04:45:28Z")
Link is not working. May be bad link, not sure. Just says that publisher didn’t respond to request for information. Sir Rhosis [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinleins-inventions/221564.md?page=2)