Science Fiction and Fantasy both explore the realm of possibilities, the future what-ifs and warnings of what-may-be. Someone imagined an odd sort of boat that would allow one to be underwater. In fact, the earliest submarine used in battle was in 413 BC. Watching this technology evolve, fascinated Jules Verne enough to write 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The genre has always inspired people to write about what they thought the future and/or other worlds might hold, and now that we’re in the 21st century, we see more and more of those ideas come to fruition. So what happens next? Where are our flying cars and our homes in the sky a la The Jetsons? Hoverboards from Back to the Future?

I agree with the image above—The future is a story still waiting to be told. My idea with the Flashforward Friday is to explore the possibilities, much like I do when writing science fiction.

One person in particular, musician Imogen Heap, continues to amaze me with her ideas, and how she’s pushing technology forward to create music. Recently, she invented gloves that allow her to create and perform music through gestures and movement. And we’re not talking simple music here, either (check out the video at the link above).

After she tackled her musical gloves, she set out to create an app which will create music as you jog, slowing and speeding up the tempo and complexity of the song’s vocals, rhythms, etc. to the speed at which you run. I am not a jogger, but this app is freaking cool.

People like Imogen are the innovative types who push the envelope of technology as we know it. (My husband reminds me that a lot of these things can be done/programmed through dynamic music, but I like how Imogen pushes the boundaries, even if she is using existing tech to do it.) These are the types that will find ways to rid us of pollution or even create long-lasting robotic hearts. The future amazes me, but so does the now!

Imogen took her app and used it to create a song, which you can view below:

So what do you see in our future?

Want to read other Flashforward Fridays? Click here to see the list in this series.