It’s often believed that science fiction writers are terrible at predicting the future, while moviemakers simply try to showcase their wildest dreams of some impossible, futuristic world. But it’s entirely true – we do have submarines and spaceships, we do have robots and pocket computers. And it’s not all – there are several incredible futuristic real-life gadgets inspired by films and which you can get for less during the upcoming Prime Day.
The tablet
It sounds unbelievable, but yes, in its 1968 book “2001: A Space odyssey” (and then in Stanley Kubrick’s legendary feature adaptation) Arthur C. Clarke describes a surprisingly familiar object. He says that will all use a thin tablet computer and read the news from all around the world. Moreover, the word he uses nearly matches the one, chosen by Steve Jobs – “newspad”. Other predictions by Clarke include remote surgery, automated mass transit, and many more.
While Google may not be exactly a gadget, its prediction is truly astonishing. Considered one of the greatest sci-fi authors of all time, Isaac Asimov saw the Encyclopedia Galactica as a collection of the entire human knowledge, organized and gathered in a single place and available for all future generations. Isn’t that what Google exactly is (or least tries to)? Read “Foundation” and you’ll realize a lot of things.
The hoverboard
The cult classic with Michael J. Fox “Back to the Future Part II” showed a lot of amazing technologies that we already have today – video calls, flat screen TVs, Google Glass, and even the self-tying power-lace sneakers, which are now under production by Nike. But the iconic hoverboard (the floating skateboard) is also here – although what is available on the market right now is a bit distant from an actual hoverboard. A California-based company Arx Pax is now making its Hendo hoverboard and a few years, we’ll all be flying around just like Marty McFly!
Earbuds
1953’s “Fahrenheit 451” by genius Ray Bradbury is probably one of the most popular dystopian books and it has been used as a basis for a number of movies. You may not believe it, but the idea of the earbuds can found in the story – a “thimble radio” which has “an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk”, occupying completely the listener. Bradbury also predicts the power of television and the decay of individualism, personal opinion and art. Instead, we’ve overpowered by consumerism and digitalization. Sounds familiar?
The real-time Skype Translator
“Farscape” is a sci-fi TV series, full of futuristic ideas and incredible technologies. Astronaut John Crichton is injected with “translator microbes” and he suddenly starts to understand aliens’ speech. This kind of universal translator may seem too sci-fi, but Microsoft’s Skype Translator translates conversations into different languages in real-time!
Flying cars
Flying cars have been a dream for many sci-fi fans for decades, but in “Blade Runner” (1982) Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, operates a flying police car. But this technology has been under development for at least a decade and now several companies across the world, including in the U.S. and in Slovenia, have quite successful prototypes.
