As a kid, did you dream of Penny's computer book from Inspector Gadget—and now you've got an iPad? Or wish you could just ask questions aloud or make commands and have them happen—and now you're pining for Google Glass? Or hope for a day when you could send a "fax from the beach"—and you can actually just send an email from your smartphone? In many ways, the unthinkable is actually becoming the reality, as science continues to advance. Here are six innovations that the world is actually very close to:

BIONIC HUMANS

Kids watching Steve Austin in the '70s probably didn't think they'd be seeing regular joes with bionic body parts before 2013, but they really are out there. In fact, a man named Nigel Ackland recently received a new, cutting-edge arm from RSLSteeper, a UK-based prosthetics company. He needed an upgrade after his dog's leash took off the fingers from his old model, and he isn't lamenting the loss. Ackland can now tie his shoes for the first time in years, hold a cold beer, and even deal cards—something even two-handed people struggle to learn.

If the Governator's State of the State speech was one of his movies, it would be Terminator III. Why? Because, if you remember back to those halcyon days when the Governor was an actor and not a politician, Terminator III was his comeback movie. After years and years of crappy movies and Jingle All the Way, Arnie just basically said "screw it, you guys want the big, dumb action movie with me playing a cyborg, I'll give you the big, dumb action movie with me playing a cyborg." So he gave the people what they wanted. And his big State of the State speech was nothing but one big huge attempt at giving the people what they want.

And what do people want? They want spending. Lots and lots of spending. And the best kind of spending, the "budget, schmudget/ build now, pay later" kind of spending. You want more money on education? You got it. Big public works projects? The kind that would make Pat Brown blush. Not to mention cheap prescription drugs from Canada and an increase in minimum wage . And all mainly done on bonds too, that big huge governmental credit card that politicians always love. Weren't we just about to have Guido come and try and collect on our bad credit rating a year or two ago? What happened to that?

Oh, and that weird sound in the background of the whole speech, the one sounding like locusts in the distance? That was the sound of conservative Republicans gnashing their teeth throughout the whole thing. Because as we all know, Arnie broke the fundamental rule of 21st Century Conservative Republicans: to increase spending but not admit to it (paging Mel Gibson).