Voice assistants and video callers in classic sci-fi movies and television showed us glimpses of the future before the devices were actual. From the very beginning of both the television and film industries, science-fiction films have ignited the general public’s imagination.
Their popularity is due not only to their ability to entertain viewers but also to predict or inspire inventions that would come to fruition, often decades afterward. This is our future story, as seen in seven classic sci-fi films and television shows.
Video Calls – Metropolis (1927)
The film is considered the first science-fiction feature film; Fritz Lang’s Metropolis was a long way to the forefront of technology when it premiered in 1927. It is perhaps best known for depicting a robot-like android with a human appearance.
The film also introduced the concept of a phone that had a screen. The film was released when just 40% of households within the United States had a traditional audio phone, and the foresight to imagine an era of video-calling is awe-inspiring.
In reality, only in the past 20 years has video calling become normal. Although there were mixed reviews when it was first released, the film is regarded as one of the most important silent films ever made.
The Moon Landing – Le Voyage Dans la Lune (A trip towards the Moon) (1902). The 1902 masterpiece of the pioneering French filmmaker Georges Melies Le Voyage Dans la Lune (a trip to the Moon in English) was heavily influenced by the writings of famous writer Jules Verne.
However, Melies brought this fantastical adventure to the screen and imagined a journey to the Moon’s surface nearly 70 years before the event occurred in 1969.
At the risk of being lost forever, the film was found and brought back to prominence decades after its first release. The scene in which a spacecraft crashes into the Man in the Moon’s eye is now a classic and is thought to be among the most influential films of all time.
Robotic vacuum cleaners – The Jetsons (1962-1963)
Following the success of The Flintstones and its prehistoric adventures, Hanna-Barbera turned its attention to the future in The Jetsons. The world depicted is filled with technological marvels. The premiere episode had an enormous flat-screen television, and the final episode featured Elroy playing The Flintstones on your TV.
However, the show was only an episode (although it was revived in the 80s) and is known for its numerous gadgets designed to make your life more convenient.
Mainly, a tiny self-contained robot vacuum cleaner is activated at the touch of a button, as iRobot’s existing Roomba series first debuted in 2002, 40 years after the original.
Of course, it was not just the Jetsons that had the robotic vacuum cleaner. Jetson’s family also included Rosie ( often called Rosey) as the Robot, which is usually depicted with a duster or even a vacuum cleaner for all her other needs in cleaning.
Mobile devices: Star Trek (the original series) (1966-1969)
The creators of the original Star Trek TV show have been repeatedly recognized for their role in influencing mobile phones. None is more influential than Martin Cooper, the Man who was the leader of the team that created the first handheld phone and who made the first phone call using that device back in 1973 could have been more recognizable as the character Captain Kirk.;
He later acknowledged that work began way before star trek went on air and that the wristwatch radio developed by Dick Tracy in the 1940s was as or even more influential.
However, Star Trek used various mobile devices during their travels, including multifunctional tricorders and mobile universal translators. Nowadays, smartphones and wearable devices, such as smart watches, accomplish the same functions.
AI Voice Assistants – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
While the majority of the forecasts made by the film 2001″Space Odyssey” didn’t occur, at least not in the year 2001, a few innovations from the film of 1968 have been realized.
A business trip calling video to his daughter from his home is now a joint event, as is watching films on a tablet. And both of them are featured on the screen.
Perhaps the most accurate idea was that in the future, we’d communicate with computers, who will be able to understand what we say and respond using their voice. The HAL 9000 character only has a voice and red light, but it’s not much different than Siri, Alexa, and other voice assistants powered by AI launched in the last decade.
Military Drones – Terminator (1984)
So far as we’re aware we know, there’s never been a robot killer in the future who hunted an individual, such as in 1984. The Terminator. However, one horrifying scene from the film’s dark future, the robot-dominated universe, featured armed flying machines.
It was a science-fictional story until 2001 when the US introduced its MQ-1 Predator, the first known drone that remotely fired weapons in its war against terror.
Today, the military can launch a deadly attack from miles away, yet the debate on ethics is ongoing about whether it is necessary. Additionally, there are reports of drones making targeting decisions by themselves.
Driverless Cars – Total Recall (1990)
If there’s a common theme in this list, that’s “autonomy,” specifically machines which perform tasks that previously required human intervention.
This is the case with autonomous “Johnny Cab” taxis that were initially fully recovered. It wasn’t a novel concept (Leonardo da Vinci created a self-contained chariot powered by springs at the end of the 16th century).
Television’s knight-rider was well-known for depicting a sophisticated vehicle called KITT in the preceding decade. Fully recovered, it came out in the year 1990. The main thing that made the film popular was the all-too-real concept of a vehicle that fails to comprehend its passengers’ needs.
When he tries to give him directions verbally, Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes so angry that he pulls the animatronic controller from his base and begins to control himself.
Self-driving cars in real-life are only a few years away from becoming an actuality, yet they’re already famous for their erratic decisions, with often fatal results. In addition, after investing thousands of dollars for development, ride-hailing company Uber declared in the last quarter of 2020 that it would stop self-driving vehicles partly because of lawsuits.
