Sci-Fi That Foretold the Future

Sci-fi that foretold the future They seemed far-fetched on screen, but these movie moments fast became non-fiction. WORDS BY Allison Mooney ILLUSTRATION BY Matthew Richardson he lightbulb moment are both still in high school – were came during the transfixed by imagined technologies movie I, Robot. In it, that Hollywood made real. They saw the robot says – them and didn’t just applaud – they went thoughtfully – to an on to translate them into hard science. angry Bridget Moynahan: But, long-term, can entertainment “Is everything alright, Ma’am? actually, accurately, be prophetic? I detected elevated stress patterns Or does life inevitably imitate art? in your voice.” Watching that, two Both. Filmmakers start with a kernel Portland, OR, teens asked themselves of truth, perhaps even consult with a simple, profound question: is it really leading scientists and technologists, possible for machines to detect feelings? then take it to cinematic scale. They I mean, could that really happen? A year tell stories. The audience makes an later, their emotion-detecting algorithm emotional connection. And, inspired, won the team grand prize in the they work to fulfill the prophecy. Siemens Competition. So it turns out we’re already living in The Portland pair – Matthew the future. Here are five movies that Fernandez and Akash Krishnan, who prove it. THINK INNOVATION Minority Report passenger’s body. While movie Martians 2001: A Space Odyssey might have taken this in their stride, “John Anderton! You could use a many US citizens bristled and protested. When it comes to technological Guinness right about now.” The ads prophecy, few movies are more calling out to Tom Cruise’s character in Harry Potter and prescient than 2001: A Space Minority Report are actually based on the Sorcerer’s Stone Odyssey. Kubrick’s visions fixed existing technolgy, namely retinal a gleaming future in our minds, scanners and real-time advertising, and and while the real 2001 wasn’t mass personalized ads are already here. Spotting an ex at a party. Realizing quite as sexy as the cinematic version, Check out Immersive Labs – their digital your fly is down. Spying on Draco we did have space stations and space signage technology tailors ads to custom- Malfoy. We’ve all had moments when shuttles. Beyond that, the iconic film ers in real-time. Play Xbox Kinect with a ‘Cloak of Invisibility’ (like the one even presaged eBooks and tablets: your housemates? Not only does it let Dumbledore gave Harry) would come in “He would plug his foolscap-sized users gesture to control the screen, handy. Such cloaks are sci-fi cliché, but Newspad into the ship’s information just like John Anderton, but it could one recently, they’ve passed into the realm circuit and scan the latest reports day recognize who you are – and ask if of the possible – even for Muggles. from Earth. One by one he would you want a beer. In his new book, Physics of the Future, conjure up the world’s major quantum physicist Michio Kaku electronic papers... In a few Terminator describes ‘metamaterials,’ which allow milliseconds he could see the headlines light to wrap around the body and re- of any newspaper he pleased.” Wearable computing pioneer Thad form at the other end, as if you don’t Then, there’s HAL, the malicious Starner looks nothing like Arnold exist. Scientists at Duke have shown the talking computer. Today’s artificial Schwarzenegger – except for the shades. effect in action, and a new material called intelligence isn’t nearly as humanoid, Starner’s home-hacked frames let him Meta-flex shows industrial promise. but IBM’s Jeopardy champion do web searches and see results right “Every physics textbook on the planet computer, Watson, did make us all in front of his eyes, just like Arnold’s is now being rewritten,” says Kaku. feel a little stupid cyborg character. Now, the real world has done Tinseltown one better: the University of Washington is working on LED lenses – more like contacts than glasses – that render digital images right in front of you. Or you could just turn to your smartphone: augmented reality apps like Layar and Wikitude act like annotated viewfinders on the world. This is the next generation, with no bodily alterations required. Total Recall Been to the airport lately? You may have had flashbacks to Total Recall. In the 1990 film, Mars-bound passengers walked through a security scanner that showed X-ray images of their skeletons. In 2010, the Transportation Security Administration installed total- body scanners in many US airports. The ‘millimeter wave’ and ‘backscatter’ machines are meant to reveal any concealed objects, namely weapons, on a THINK INNOVATION.

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