The
Future in the Media
|
The
Future in Movies
|
Movies about
the Future |
|
Title |
Topics |
|
12:01 |
time travel |
|
13th Floor |
virtual reality |
|
2001 |
aliens, artificial
intelligence, robots, hibernation |
|
2010 |
extraterrestrials |
|
AI |
artificial
intelligence, androids, global warming,
cryogenics |
|
Aliens |
artificial
intelligence, interstellar travel,
extraterrestrials |
|
Armageddon |
meteor impact |
|
Back to the Future
II |
time travel,
antigravity |
|
Blade Runner |
cloning, memory
download, antigravity |
|
The Boys from
Brazil |
cloning |
|
The Chronicles Of
Riddick |
extraterrestrials,
interstellar travel |
|
Close Encounters
of the Third Kind |
extraterrestrials |
|
Contact |
extraterrestrials |
|
The Day After
Tomorrow |
global warming |
|
Deep Impact |
meteor impact |
|
Demolition Man |
social monitoring,
genetics, memory download, virtual reality,
cryogenics, self-driving cars, artificial
intelligence, no money |
|
Dune |
artificial
intelligence, transhumans, force fields,
telepathy |
|
Event Horizon |
interstellar travel |
|
The Fifth Element |
cloning,
antigravity, interstellar travel, nanotechnology |
|
Gattaca |
genetics |
|
Ghosts Of Mars |
space travel,
extraterrestrials |
|
Independence Day |
extraterrestrials,
force fields |
|
I, Robot |
ai, robots |
|
Jurassic Park |
genetics, cloning |
|
Last Starfighter |
interstellar travel,
extraterrestrials |
|
Lawnmower Man |
virtual reality |
|
Lost in Space |
extraterrestrials,
robots, interstellar travel |
|
The Matrix |
virtual reality,
artificial intelligence, brain interface |
|
Minority Report |
robots, global
network |
|
Mission To Mars |
space travel,
extraterrestrials |
|
Star Wars |
extraterrestrials,
artificial intelligence, androids, energy
weapons, force shields, antigravity,
interstellar travel, cryogenics, holograms |
|
Planet of the Apes
(1968) |
interstellar travel,
nuclear war |
|
The Postman |
bioengineering |
|
RoboCop |
artificial
intelligence |
|
The Sixth Day |
cloning, virtual
reality, self-driving cars, genetics |
|
Sleeper |
cloning, genetics,
brain interface, robot pets, androids |
|
Solaris
(2002) |
extraterrestrials,
interstellar travel |
|
Soldier |
genetics,
interstellar travel |
|
Starship Troopers |
extraterrestrials,
interstellar travel, energy weapons, force
shields |
|
Star Trek |
extraterrestrials,
artificial intelligence, androids, energy
weapons, force shields, antigravity,
interstellar travel, cryogenics, holograms,
transporter, replicator, cloaking devices, time
travel |
|
Terminator |
time travel,
androids, global network, nanotechnology |
|
The Time Machine
(2002) |
time travel,
telepathy |
|
Total Recall |
space travel,
extraterrestrials |
|
Twelve Monkeys |
time travel,
pandemic |
|
War Of The Worlds |
extraterrestrials |
|
Waterworld |
global warming |
|
X-Men |
genetics |
|
Check out
FuturistMovies.com for an in depth look at
the future in movies. |
|
|
The Future of Books
Amazon's Kindle is a new electronic device
that may
be the book (and the book store), of the future. The
Kindle, which is lighter than the average paperback, has a
six-inch high-resolution (E-ink) screen that looks and
reads like real paper. Wireless connectivity enables you
to download entire books in minutes from almost anywhere.
Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos
hopes the Kindle will spark the Book 2.0 revolution.
The Future of Reading
Kindle at Amazon
E Ink, flexible displays, electronic paper
Movies
in an Instant
Researchers at Japan's Tohoku University
have tweaked existing protocols to enable standard fibre-optic
cables to carry data at hundreds of terabits per second
[Subscription link]. At that speed, full movies could be
downloaded almost instantaneously in their hundreds.
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Hollywood's Latest Favorite Villain
The best science fiction plots have their
roots firmly in reality. Take the science out of sci-fi
and it's called "fantasy". Science and technology are
often portrayed as villains in this genre because, well
let's face it, any other way would be boring. What are the
effects on society when technology is depicted negatively
in the media?
For those that find science as boring as a monotone
politician, their first glimpse of a new technology might
come from entertainment media. For example, a
movie-goer may have heard of nanotechnology and not
really understood, or cared to understand, how it could be used. After watching a
scientist on the big screen inject himself with "nanobots"
and become superhuman, they may leave the theatre
thinking, "Can those nano things really do that?".
The simple fact is that some areas of science and
technology do pose a risk to society, with
scenarios even the best scientific minds cannot predict.
When science fiction writers research a technology and
then use their imagination to create a story with the
scariest outcome, (however improbable), it can raise
public awareness to real
issues that may lie ahead.
Disregard the token mad scientist lurking in almost every
techno-thriller and the media may also be good for the
scientific community. As unlikely as any sci-fi plot may
be, it is sure to be a hot topic among those that study
the science behind the story. This could bring new minds
together and invoke discussion on valid scientific and
ethical questions.
I feel that society benefits from any media exposure new
technologies receive, because it gets people thinking and
talking. Today's public is media savvy. Most of the people
I know can recognize the difference between a good story
and a patent application.
How Accurate Have Predictions Been?
Here are some of the predictions that science fiction
writers have made and whether or not they are common
today.
| Prediction |
Reality? |
| Alien contact |
No |
|
Antigravity |
No |
| Artificial human
intelligence |
No |
| Automatically
controlled cars |
No |
| Cloning |
Yes |
| Communication
satellites |
Yes |
| Faster than light
travel |
No |
| Floating cities |
No |
| Flying cars |
No |
| Force shields |
No |
| Holograms (interactive) |
No |
| Human longevity |
No |
| Interstellar travel |
No |
| Invisibility |
No |
|
Manned spaceflight to mars |
No |
| Mind controllers |
No |
| Mind recorders |
No |
| Moneyless society |
No |
| Paperless society |
No |
| Ray guns |
No |
| Replicator |
No |
|
Robots in the home |
No |
|
Solar energy cells |
Yes |
|
Sound used as a weapon |
No |
| Space colonization |
No |
| Space stations |
Yes |
| Spy satellites |
Yes |
| Stun gun |
No |
| Suspended animation |
No |
| Telepathy |
No |
| Television |
Yes |
| Time travel |
No |
| Transhumans (part man,
part machine) |
No |
| Transporter |
No |
| Verbal commands to
computers |
No |
| Video phones |
Yes |
| Virtual presence |
No |
| Underwater cities |
No |
|
Unmanned spaceflight to mars |
Yes |
| Weather control |
No |
| Wireless power |
Yes |
Here are links to web sites about predicting the
future.
Arthur C. Clarke Offers His Vision of the Future
Science Fiction Prophecies By Edward Willett
Predictions From Science Fiction, Trivia-Library.com
Predicting the Future - BBC
Create Your Own
Video Game
Sites such as MyGame and
Scratch are providing simple programming tools so that
people with little or no programming experience can create
their own video games.
Books about the Future
One Earth, One Future: Our Changing Global
Environment by Cheryl Simon Silver
The Next Fifty Years : Science in the First Half of
the Twenty-first Century by John Brockman
Future Shock by Alvin Toffler
Fantastic Voyage : Live Long Enough to Live Forever
by Ray Kurzweil, Terry Grossman
Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next
Big Idea by Mark A. Ratner, Daniel Ratner, Mark Ratner
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