Science fiction films and television shows like “Star Trek” often play with our imaginations and create a fantasy world that transcends reality. However, there are several modern pieces of technology like automatic doors and computer tablets, which were first introduced in “Star Trek” and later became commonplace in the real world.

When “Star Trek” first debuted in the 1960’s, most of the technology shown in the show wasn’t even in existence yet. However, fast-forward to present-day and those automatic doors seen inside the USS Enterprise are now seen at most every building around the world, according to CNN Money.

While space travel isn’t an everyday mode of transportation yet, “Star Trek” was a show about space travel in a time when man was in the infancy of launching humans into low Earth orbit. Years later, Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Presently, a corporation is attempting to introduce space tourism through the Virgin Galactic spacecraft program in the hopes of sending tourists to low Earth orbit, according to dailymail.com.

But we’re not anywhere close to sending tourists on a tour of the moon, especially after the fatal Virgin Galactic crash of SpaceShipTwo that took the life of a test pilot, according to BBC News.

From spacecrafts to tablets, “Star Trek” first introduced the Personal Access Display Device, which we now call a tablet.

The tablet seen on the show is very similar to the computer tablets now available from Apple and Microsoft.

It seems as though pop culture can serve as a blueprint for modern technology, and will continue to do so for years to come.

While I’m still hoping flying cars, holograms and the hoverboard seen in the “Back to the Future” trilogy will hit the market in the near future, it might take a couple of more years, but it surely isn’t impossible.