Sometimes science fiction predicts technology that comes true, and sometimes it has technology that we reallywishwere true. Some of these will eventually become a reality, but the rest are probably closer to magic than science. Still, there are some that I’ll keep holding thumbs for.
There’s so much to talk about the secondBack to the Futurefilm. The cultural impact of this very 80s view of the year 2015 has meant that some companies, likeNike, simply decided to make part of the movie real with their futuristic shoes.
Unfortunately, flying cars still aren’t real, and neither are the food rehydrators that no one ever seems to talk about. In the movie, the McFly family is seen putting tiny shrunken pizzas into the rehydrator, and a few seconds later a huge hot and fresh pizza pops out.
Now, I know that this is probably impossible (unless a real scientist wants to give me false hope), but I can’t help but feel it would be life-changing to have food you can shrink down and store basically indefinitely and then restore to fresh status. I sort-of have that with my special pre-packed flash-frozen food I need tomanage my diabetes. Goodness knows, air fryers are almost as good too, though I have no idea why we couldn’t have had them in the 80s.
I know things are great in the kitchen these days when it comes to cool tech, but I’ll always wish for the possibilities the food rehydrator would unlock.
2The Self-Driving Audi From I, Robot
Despite being very loosely based on the writings of Asimov, possibly my favorite author, the movieI, Robotis still a great movie in its own right. There’s a lot of slick futuristic stuff, and of course the robots take center stage. They’re quite evocative of current household robot prototypes like theTesla Bot.
For me, though, the absolute best machine in the film is the Audi RSQ—a self-driving Audi concept car that in the film represents vehicles from 2035. For one thing, I’m glad that the economy in 2035 is doing well enough that a police detective can afford a high-end Audi, but apart from that, the things this car does defy the imagination.
Besides perfect self-driving capabilities (which we probably won’t have by 2035) its omnidirectional wheels and tires are remarkable. Omnidirectional wheel concepts already exist, such as this one from Hankook tires:
So, maybe we’ll have EVs that can drive in any directions regardless of the car’s orientation, though without good autonomy it’s probably better that they don’t yet.
3The Makeup Machines From Fifth Element
I don’t wear makeup myself (though maybe I should?) but I know and live with several people who do, and it seems to me that the makeup gadgets fromThe Fifth Elementwould make their lives so much easier.
Now, we actually do have nail painting robots like the one in the video below, but it doesn’t quite meet the level of the gadgets in the movie.
In the movie, we see a receptionist instantly change her nail colors with a small thumb-sized device, and Leeloo, Milla Jovovich’s character, changes her facial makeup in seconds using a visor-like device. I don’t know if we can make a gadget that works that fast, while still being safe, but it would be pretty cool!
4Auto-Doctors From Various Franchises
Sometimes I feel like I understand how doomsday preppers feel. I would like to go underground into a bunker with thousands of books, games, and TV shows… you’ll never see me again! The big problem is, what happens when you get sick?
That’s where the idea of the “autodoc” comes into the picture. There are lots of different sci-fi media that feature these devices, but effectively, it’s an all-in-one machine that you climb into, and it can diagnose and treat mostly everything, from infections to surgery.
We are moving in that direction with the robotic surgery systems that have been around for some time, but fictional autodocs use various imaginary technologies to work, which means there’s a lot of R&D that has to happen to equal them. However, perfect is the enemy of good, and any sort of automated medical care would be amazing for a long list of reasons.
5Holograms… Any Holograms
Circling back to, er, Back to the Future II, that movie had an iconic scene where Marty McFly encounters a giant holographic shark as a promo forJaws 19.
We’ve also seen these sci-fi holograms inStar Trek, and numerous cyberpunk films. No special glasses needed, no special enclosures, just a projected 3D image that anyone can see.
We do have lots of real-world technology that attempts the same effect, such as augmented reality glasses. Maybe that’s enough, but I’d still like to see something that looks as good as a holodeck.
Arthur C. Clarke famously said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”, and while I believe in a lot of things, actual magic isn’t one of them. Still, the universe is a vast and mysterious place, so I’m not giving up hope for tiny waterless pizzas yet.
