"Predictions from old sci-fi movies that actually came true" Topic

"Not all science fiction films age well, and often the predictions they make are hilariously misguided.

1987's "The Running Man," for example, contended that in the year 2019, we'd be watching battle royale-style murder on live television…"

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Armand

Instead we got "Married At First Sight". Thank goodness that didn't come true.

Although as several authors have said SF isn't primarily to predict the future, there are good example -

In the opening scene of Robert Heinlein's "Space Cadet" ( 1947), the lead character has it pointed out to him that his phone is ringing, so he gets it out of his bag. Not only predicting the cellphone, but that other people will notice it before the owner answers. Also, the lead character has had what was thought utterly impossible at the time – a surgical repair of his Achilles tendon.

Or from "A Logic Named Joe" by Murray Leinster ( 1946):" You know the Logics' setup. You got a logic in your house. It looks like a vision receiver used to, only it's got keys instead of dials, and you punch the keys for what you wanna get. It's hooked in to the tank, which has the Carson Circuit all fixed up with relays. Say you punch "Station SNAFU" on your logic. Relays in the tank take over, an' whatever vision-program SNAFU is telecastin' comes on your logic's screen. Or you punch "Sally Hancock's Phone" an' the screen blinks an' sputters an' you're hooked up with the logic in her house an' if somebody answers, you got a vision-phone connection. But besides that, if you punch for the weather forecast or who won today's race at Hialeah or who was mistress of the White House durin' Garfield's administration or what is PDQ and R sellin' for today, that comes on the screen too. The relays in the tank do it. The tank is a big buildin' full of all the facts in creation an' all the recorded telecasts that ever was made—an' it's hooked in with all the other tanks all over the country—an' everything you wanna know or see or hear, you punch for it an' you get it. Very convenient. Also, it does math for you, an' keeps books, an' acts as consultin' chemist, physicist, astronomer, an' tea-leaf reader, with an "Advice to the Lovelorn" thrown in." Now, replace "Carson Circuit" with "CPU" and "Logic" with "Personal Computer" and re-read it.

Back to Hiemlien: In "Stranger In A Strange Land" (1961) there is this passage – "They went to the living room; Jill sat at his feet, and they applied themselves to martinis. Opposite his chair was a stereovision tank disguised as an aquarium; he switched it on, guppies and tetras gave way to the face of the well-known (Newsman) Winchell Augustus Greaves." Sounds like either a screensaver on a PC, or even the more modern "Art screen" TV's that spend downtime as an art display.

Thanks!

Armand