I'm really wondering if technology just happens because there's a need, or just because it was based / inspired on art, movies, etc.
See for example cell phones - wireless communication was the need, popularized in many sci-fi shows in more specific, imaginative forms, and later informed the actual product (flip phones/Star Trek communicators).
But a quick thought though. Isn't art is inspired by imagination? Which is if "art is inspired by need", it maybe be just a need based from imagination. Maybe not a really a need.