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The problem with science fiction movies predicting the future

posted 9 years ago by jeffyoung1
10 replies | jump to latest

I'm not a hater of 2010. I assumed that 2010 really wasn't trying to match the grandeur of 2001, but to close the story once and for all.

I can't fault 2010 except for depicting the inside of the American and Soviet spaceships as if those were Star Trek klingon vessels.

It's problemic for any science fiction to predict the future, especially technology and then any societal changes. Star Trek the Next Generation did a good job with the computer tablets.

2010 could not predict in 1984 that the Soviet Union would dissovle peacefully (thank the Lord) in 1991. But the resulting Russian Federation would be adversarial in 2010, although not openly hostile as the Soviet Union in 1984.

2010 could not predict:

laptop computers and the vast proliferation of individiually-owned computers.
tablet computers
flat screen televisions and flat screen computer monitors
digital cameras
small, cordless portable cell telephones
ipods
wi-fi

But it wasn't the intent of 2010 to predict the technology of the future, it was to close the story of 2001. I was satisfied with the ending.

[–] I_hatenazis 9 years ago

2010 could not predict:

laptop computers and the vast proliferation of individiually-owned computers.
tablet computers
flat screen televisions and flat screen computer monitors
digital cameras
small, cordless portable cell telephones
ipods
wi-fi

Yeah, but they nailed the in door swimming pools filled with Dolphins.

[–] jeffyoung1 9 years ago

Bwaaahahahahahaha.....!

[–] wwestar 8 years ago

But in fairness most the inventions you mention have only happened in the last 10 years.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tomimt 8 years ago

Not really, first commercial portable computers were in the market around 1981 and the tech for flat TV panels has been around since the 50's.

[–] Samclyde2 8 years ago

I don't know of anybody who had a portable computer in 1981. As far as the 50s, I know that video tape technology existed then, but not digital flat screen stuff.

[–] tomimt 8 years ago

The early portable computers never really took off, as they were clunky, heavy and expensive, so not that many people had them.

The first flat screens were actually tubes, but plasma panels were invented in the 60's.

[–] jpowell180 8 years ago

Dr. Floyd can be sitting on the beach, using a laptop.

In 2001 (which took place *before* 2010), Dave Bowman and Frank Poole are absolutely using ipad-like tablets, which takes care of tablet computers and flat screens in one fell swoop; the CRT's in 2010 are only there because Hyams lacked the time/budget to create fake flatscreens (Kubrick was only able to do it by using a literal film projector underneath Bownman and Poole's tablets.

The cellphones/smartphones, well, few films/shows ever got that part right.

[–] Naughty-God 8 years ago

In "Things to Come" (1936), they predicted flat screen HDTVs and they looked pretty good in the movie. I think you can still find clips on Youtube.

http://www.technologytell.com/hometech/files/2012/02/things-to-come-1936-FLAT-SCREENTV.jpg

[–] MovieMusings 7 years ago

Over the holidays, I watched the Alien franchise. It was rather amusing to see, in Aliens, futuristic vehicles rolling on wheels that looked essentially just like wheels we use today.

Yet, as we speak, the industry is indeed reinventing the wheel - from Goodyear's spherical wheel to all those that are no longer based on enclosed, air-filled rubber, by the time we actually get to the times depicted in these futuristic movies, they will look relatively ancient.

Sometimes, the prescience in movies seems eerie; however, paradigms change in a blink and, movie makers often really have no clue what's coming. It's been said that the greatest invention we'll ever see in our life time will be invented by someone who isn't born yet; such is the exponential curve of technological growth, so predicting what the world will look like can't be easy.

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Trying real hard to be the shepherd.