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It can be argued that the type of literature which is both uniquely modern and uniquely definitive of the modern world is science fiction. Often what seems like improbable, wild speculation turns out, after scientific understanding has a chance to catch up with imagination, to be cold hard fact. In this regard, the names of Jules Verne (who predicted, amongst many other things, the invention of scuba gear, the nuclear powered submarine, neon signs, and the Eiffel tower) and Arthur C. Clarke (amongst whose predictions number the exact shape and nature of the lowest-energy traversible wormhole and the existence of water on the Jovian moon Titan) come first to the forefront. But there are other places to look in the realm of science fiction, and comparisons with modern science can be most interesting.
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