Does design fiction predict our future, or is it simply a productive tool for influencing the future.
Sci-fi authors are trying to write about the future and shed some light on possible ways in which our society and culture may develop in the future. Design fiction uses the techniques of fiction and drama in order to ‘test’ the future and see what future technologies might work in our society.

Recently, science-fiction has predicted the homes of the future. Many new technologies are popping up in seemingly ‘normal’ homes inspired by familiar scenarios from science fiction films, TV shows and even novels.
As Bruce Sterling reveals in his article,  http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/03/02/bruce_sterling_on_design_fictions_.html,  in the 2001 film, Space Odyssey, ‘the guy is holding what’s clearly an ipad’. Additionally it was involved in recent lawsuits between Apple and Samsung.

Link to YouTube Video: Ipad in Space Odyssey

In this case, it could be possible that companies such as Apple and Samsung have used the design fiction from the film as a productive, influential tool for the designs.

The worlds which are created in futuristic films and novels also play a role in debating our current science, as it feeds our scientific imagination as we consider what is possible.
Although perhaps design fiction is not a prediction of the future, I do believe that it opens our eyes to the opportunities and hazards of new technologies. It articulates our fears and desires for the future hence innovating our future.