Is that you, Claire?

Here's a terrific example of the ability of science fiction literature to predict the future.

This example is from Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, and this particular subplot involves a female actor, Miranda Redpath, who's looking for a job. It all takes place sometime in the 2100s, and nanotechnology is very commonplace, not least of all in the actor's body, which is used to map computer-generated characters to her actions. In this way, she can perform in interactive movies (called "ractives"--she is a "ractor") that consumers can also participate in.

She is auditioning for a ractive producer, who needs to test out her system. This book was published in 1995. Thus...the stage is set.

"Looks like we got ourselves an artiste here," Fred Epidermis said. "Lemme try you in one of our most challenging roles."

Suddenly, a blond, blue-eyed woman was standing in the mediatron, perfectly aping Miranda's posture, wearing big hair, a white sweater with a big letter F in the middle, and a preposterously short skirt. She was carrying big colored puffy things. Miranda recognized her, from old passives she'd seen on the mediatron, as an American teenager from the previous century. "This is Spirit. A little old-fashioned to you and me, but popular with the tube feeders," said Fred Epidermis.

Any Heroes fans care to speculate?