Sci-fi movies already predicted these inventions


Science Fiction is mainly characterized by futuristic settings, with technology not yet seen or worlds of another time and dimensions. Many times, what was mere technological fiction has turned to reality. Here are some of the notable inventions that had already been predicted in sci-fi movies:

Flip phones – Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

The Star Trek franchise has predicted future technologies on more than one occasion. Having predicted 3-D printers, videophone communications and computer speech recognition, it could be said that it tops all other science movies in correct predictions. The most notable of Star Trek’s technological predictions that became true however has got to be the mobile phone. Before the handheld communication device appeared in this film, it was founded in the Star Trek TV series. There were wrist-worn communicators also used in the first two theatrical releases of the franchise, which puts the smart watch on this list too.

The inventor of the first cell phone, Martin Cooper, even claimed that the devices used in the Star Trek Universe were an inspiration for his invention. It wasn’t until 1973 that Motorola debuted the first cell phone, and in 1989, the phone maker released its first flip phone which was more similar to the device on Star Trek.

Flip phones – Star Trek

Space travel – Woman in the Moon (1929)

Fritz Lang’s depiction of space travel in his 1929 movie Woman in the Moon came very close to what happened 28 year later with the first rocket launch of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1. The movie made closely accurate depictions of a multistage rocket launch. While the film got some of the aspects completely off like launching the rocket from water and the presence of a lunar atmosphere, it came close to the mark in most other space travel related aspects.

Video calls – Blade Runner (1982)

Before we had FaceTime, Skype others, video calls used to be the stuff of futuristic science fiction movies. Many of these movies portrayed this technology, but it was the 1982 Blade Runner that made the closest call. In the movie, Rick Deckard goes to a payphone-like machine and types in a number. On the screen, he can see the person he’s talking to.
The only lacking aspect was portability, but they did a nice job with this prediction. This technology was first tried out by AT&T in 1964, who created a videophone in the from of a small box, but it was not successful. Almost three decades after the Blade Runner movie, Skype was created and shortly after, FaceTime.

Tablet computer – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Stanley Kubrick depicted a lot of gadgetry in his 1968 science fiction film, and the tablet computer is one of the most notable. Kubrick not only depicted this later technology very accurately, he was also not so far off the mark in his prediction of when it would come around. Nine years after the setting of the movie, Apple first released its iPad in 2010.

Tablet computer – 2001: A Space Odyssey

Driverless cars – Total Recall (1990)

This 1990 movie predicted a technology that is fast moving towards becoming a reality. The film depicted a lot of technologies, some that are yet to be invented. The robot driver from the film is however missing from the driverless car projects in the works, but the movie came close enough to what is about to become a widely used technology.

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