Back to the future

Generations of children were promised ray guns, X-ray specs and moon bases. Scientist Daniel H Wilson still hasn't abandoned all hope, he tells Shane Hegarty

If only every scientist in the world was like Daniel H Wilson, every kid would want to become a scientist. Having had a bestseller with his 2006 book How to Survive a Robot Uprising, the PhD in robotics is following it up - naturally - with How to Build a Robot Army. But first comes a delightful, fact-filled example of what can only be described as "slacker science", Where's My Jetpack? A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Arrived.

For every kid who grew up thinking that their future would be spent living on the moon, wearing X-ray specs or zipping about the skies in flying cars, this is the book - complete with wry and funky illustrations - for them. It is not just a nostalgic lament for a future that never was, it's a helpful guide to how close scientists are to making the promises of comic books a reality.

"There is a lot of technology promised in popular culture, and you can take it too seriously. And I do," laughs Wilson. "It came out of looking at all this technology and realising that I don't have it, and that I deserve to have it. Having grown up hearing about it I feel a sense of entitlement."

Where's My Jetpack?confronts some of the bigger questions raised around the bar stools of science faculties, such as "what happened to ray guns?", and "why aren't we holidaying underwater by now?".

Surprisingly, it's an optimistic book. X-Ray specs, of a sort, are now used at airport security checks. Dolphin guides, a staple of much bad sci-fi, are actually used by the US army as navigators and assassins' assistants. Underwater hotels are planned, and man is due to return to the moon over the next decade. And ray guns? They're coming to a battlefield near you soon.

"I found that a lot of the technology is already here, it's just in a mundane form that wasn't predicted," says Wilson. "At other times we had the technology and didn't keep it. Right now we can't go to the moon, but 40 years ago it was a cinch. There are no more Zeppelins in the skies and no more Smell-O-Vision in cinemas. How do we live without that?"

A BBC4 programme, Visions of the Future, includes predictions about computer chips in our brains, self-driving cars, intelligent robots, and superhumans, so our appetite for bold predictions has not been swayed by our inconsistent record. "Any time we look back even 10 years, things look out of date. The predictions now are just as wacky.

"One big difference between the 1950s and now is maybe that more optimism surrounded [the predictions then]," says Wilson. "Technology had helped during the war, and the idea was that technology would solve every single problem. They really thought that people would want to eat food pills; that they'd have an apple pill rather than just pick one off a tree. But that goes to show just how into science they were."

After a bout of pessimism, he says we're coming back around to being optimistic again. "There's so much development and we're in a time when we expect it. When we walk in [to a shop] to buy our phone or music player we expect to be back in a year to buy a better one."

He hopes that his personal mix of almost boyish wonderment, impatience and curiosity mirrors that of other scientists - even if they don't always show it in the same way. "In my experience, we don't go into something saying 'that can't be done' or imagining the horrible consequences. Instead we think of solving a problem and bring a sense of wonderment at what can be done." Still, the acknowledgements in his book include a plea to "all the scientists, inventors, and tinkerers out there. Please hurry up."

If Wilson could pick one technology to magic into existence in the morning? "I really like walking places, it removes so much stress, so the idea of moving sidewalks really appeals to me. In fact, we already have them in malls and airports, although they're not as fast as they should be. But to actually have them in cities would be a dream come true."

• Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide To The Amazing Science Fiction Future That Never Arrived, by Daniel H Wilson, is published by Bloomsbury on Nov 19