A Predictable Future?

For some reason my mind was wandering and it struck me as somewhat prophetic that much of what we now take for granted, or at least use on a daily bases, originally came from the  minds of past movies,  perhaps better stated, novelists and writers of movies, particularly Sci-fi movies.

Take Stanley Kurbrick’s groundbreaking film 2001 A Space Odyssey for example which clearly predicted the tablet computer.  If not in reality, then the devices depicted bear an uncanny resemblance to the tablets we use today.  Apple’s iPad made it’s debut in 2010 which is roughly nine years after the setting making Kubruck’s film pretty accurate in it’s depiction of the time period these devices would appear.

Interestingly many issues society faces were confronted and questions raised and solutions found in Star Trek.  Diversity in appearance, culture, race, age and even robots were accepted.

As astounding are the technologies mentioned in Star Trek such as 3-D printers and the hand held communicators.  Martin Cooper, the inventor of the first cell phone, cited  Star Trek and the hand held communicators as  his inspiration for his invention.

I have to give a nod to one of my favourite movies, Short Circuit made in 1986, in which a robot becomes self aware after being struck by lightening.  While watching a news clip recently regarding advances in robotics, I was immediately reminded of this movie.  Johnny Five was created by the military for military applications not unlike current robots used by the military for reconnaissance and attack purposes.  The best known are by far, the unmanned aerial vehicles the U.S. and other militaries worldwide use.  Interestingly they use the continuous track-based design that mimics or at least looks very similar to Johnny Five’s.

It could be argued that many inventions came from the minds of movie writers. Some individual somewhere, saw the potential and created a specific application we now use.  What will the future hold, I wonder?