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"Back to the Future II" (1989) is set in 2015 and it predicted rehydrating ovens that can cook a tiny pizza into a full size pizza in 5 seconds, videoconferencing, full length motion pictures in 3D, hoverboards, flying cars, freeways in the sky, leashes that can walk a dog by itself, television you can wear over your eyes like eyeglasses, a weather service that can actually control weather not just predict it, and Miami winning the World Series.
So, I ask you, where is the old Hollywood visionary that predicted a self-cleaning toilet in my lifetime?
2001: A Space Odyssey. Released in 1968.As measured and bleak as the technology seemed at the time, it was a work of strange optimism. The movie nailed the feel of space travel, and its eventual commercialization, in a way that still resonates today.2001's prediction that one day flying to an orbital space station would require zero training or preperation is gradually coming true.Artificial Intelligence however has been a major disappointment.Until more efficient propulsion systems can be developed, none of the spaceward jaunts in the film are possible.Also videophones are not in high demand now and probably never will be.If getting to the fourth rock from the sun seems like the biggest challange of the century imagine planning a trip to Jupiter.
Hal says I am putting myself to the fullest possible use,which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
SO2001 was, like most of Clarke's work (and that of a few others of the "old school") rooted in the hard science they actually knew - so it's not surprising those particular stories have proved to be pretty spot on.
SO2001 was, like most of Clarke's work (and that of a few others of the "old school") rooted in the hard science they actually knew - so it's not surprising those particular stories have proved to be pretty spot on.
In the case of Soylent Green, and I suspect many other movies about the future based on books or short stories, it's the visual image of the movie that jumps out at you as being so horribly wrong or right. Soylent Green, is based on the book Make Room! Make Room! by famous sci-fi author Harry Harrison. Although I don't know for sure, I doubt that Harrison described his characters' hairstyles, clothes, cars and computer games in his book. That's all on Hollywood's movie people to go out on a limb and visualize the imagery of the future.
I think of George Orwell's 1984 and the movie 1984 (John Hurt, Richard Burton) and lately, it has occured to me that he might not have been wrong about Big Brother. There are so many technological advances and law changes where being watched all the time by street cameras, cameras in domestic unmanned aerial vehichles (drones), warrantless wiretaps and searches, full body scanners, government intrusion into private lives, economic decline, forever wars, rewriting history, etc., that the only thing Orwell got wrong was he undershot the year and that 1984 maybe should have been called 2020. I'll have to take a look at that movie, again. It was released in 1984 so it would be hard to say that the look of the movie was wrong.
"Things to Come" a British film. Screenplay by HG Wells. Revolved around a future world from 1936 to 2036 and a devastating protracted war. It was very accurate in predicting the strategic bombing campaigns employed against civilians during WW2.
SO2001 was, like most of Clarke's work (and that of a few others of the "old school") rooted in the hard science they actually knew - so it's not surprising those particular stories have proved to be pretty spot on.
And it's amazing how wrong Clarke was on most points.
I remember reading 2001 as a kid, and reading how meat had become a rarity on most American dinner tables, we had a permanent base on the moon, and inter-orbital travel was common.
And it's amazing how wrong Clarke was on most points.
I remember reading 2001 as a kid, and reading how meat had become a rarity on most American dinner tables, we had a permanent base on the moon, and inter-orbital travel was common.
Well I was meaning spot on in the hard science areas....
jet-pack travel
"happiness" pills
monorails for public transportation
destruction/abandonment of books for electonic media
large-screen TVs with interactive programs (or programs that only SEEM interactive)
Heh. Check out Youtube for "sperm collector" - be sure to read the parking meter comment.
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