New technologies are maturing at a rapid pace that could facilitate many futuristic ideas, from underground cities to cyborgs, but scientists and science fiction writers hold differing perspectives on how these advancements might unfold in the future.

Renowned sci-fi writers engaged in a dialogue with scientists at a panel during a forum on future sci-fi literature and traditional literature, held at the China Science Fiction Convention in Beijing, April 29, 2024. [Photo courtesy of Beijing Yuanyu Science Fiction and Future Technology Research Institute]

Leading sci-fi authors, including Hugo Award winner Liu Cixin, convened with a group of scientists on April 29 to discuss the possible applications of cutting-edge technologies that are mushrooming amid the ongoing tech boom.

The underground city concept, which figures prominently in Liu's short story "The Wandering Earth," is currently enjoying renewed attention thanks to progress on deep-Earth drilling.

"An inhabitable underground city may become a reality in the foreseeable future with the help of new technologies," said Li Huili, an expert on deep-Earth exploration.

Last month, the drilling of a superdeep borehole in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region exceeded the 10,000-meter mark, making it the deepest vertical well in Asia.

Li said thermal insulation "coats" are being developed to help testing instruments used in drilling survive the heat of the underground environment.

"Imagine covering a city with such a coat, so it can be built at a much greater depth. The underground heat, instead of being a problem, could be harnessed to provide energy for the city," she said.

Liu concurred that building an underground city is no longer a mere fantasy. However, he noted that it is more likely to be built on the moon or Mars to shield human settlers from strong cosmic radiation.

Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology is another scientific frontier where the boundary between imagination and reality is becoming increasingly blurred. Last week, Chinese scientists unveiled in Beijing the NeuCyber Array BMI System, which allowed a monkey with its hands restrained to control an isolated robotic arm and grasp a strawberry through a soft filament electrode implanted in its brain.

A BCI is a communication system that converts brainwaves into instructions. Li Yuan, a BCI scientist, said the technology has demonstrated its superpower by allowing people with paralysis, for instance, to walk again with the help of mind-controlled exoskeletons.

"But people keep asking me, when can we implant a chip to feed knowledge into the brain to save the trouble of learning? I have to say, this is not going to happen in the near future," she said, adding that the bottleneck lies in the insufficient understanding of human brains.

Liu said that science fiction has delved deeper into imagining the future prospects of the technology, contemplating scenarios where brainwaves are completely decoded, digitized and stored in computers. "In this way, we can live in the digital world. This is the ultimate vision of BCI in sci-fi novels, though this idea is still very far from reality."

Recent technological breakthroughs, particularly in AI and space flight, have fueled a sci-fi fever in China, although many sci-fi writers argue that the literature genre is more about thought experiments than scientific predictions.

Speaking at the gathering, veteran sci-fi writer Wang Jinkang said that several ideas in his books have become reality, including the AI Go champion and electric rockets, thanks to rapid technological advances.

"Many ideas appeared in science fiction long ago, but I never imagined I would see them become reality in my lifetime," the 75-year-old Wang said. 

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