Early arrival

I wonder if those conceiving life in Star Trek's 24th Century ever imagined that things like self-opening doors or their advanced medical techniques would make their way into the real world 200 years earlier. Perhaps they did. I think I read somewhere that the Star Trek folk consulted/played with key academics for input. May have been life imitating art - or vice versa. So it may come as no surprise that Star Trek medical procedures are becoming a reality like operations where you don't have to cut into someone - or which can be done across distances. The US military are said to be working on the latter so wounded soldiers can be treated from a safe distance. And NASA is also interested - although their distances will be slightly larger ... especially as there are plans to launch astronauts further and further into space.