Technology Back to the Future Got Right
It’s almost Back to the Future day, and where are our hoverboards? (I’m kidding, I can only board without falling to my doom on video games like Sunset Overdrive!) While we don’t have true hover boards yet, you’d be surprised how much Back to the Future II got right about technology in 2015.
Face-to-Face Phone Calls (On Your TV!)
I remember being blown away by the idea of being able to talk to my friends and family through my TV—Back to the Future II nailed it on this one. It’s October of 2015 and while I don’t have any TVs in my living room, I have my Xbox One connected to my big monitor and use it to Skype with my friends and family frequently. With the Kinect, the camera can track me around the room. We even have FaceTime on our magic computers in our pockets (smartphones). Way to predict the future, Marty!
Neverending Sequels
While Back to the Future II predicted Jaws 19 in 3D, which we clearly haven’t seen this year, they weren’t too far off in the sequel craze. Did you know that the movie The Land Before Time has 13 sequels? SO MANY SINGING DINOSAURS.
Thumbprint Recognition
Back to the Future II showed us thumbprint recognition as a way to enter homes, and we clearly got that one! Apple added the Touch ID fingerprint recognition to the 5s in 2013. We have been lazily manhandling our phones ever since, rather than typing in our passcodes.
Holograms
Holograms have been a huge part of my imagination since I was a kid, sparked by the Jaws 19 ad in Back to the Future II. While we haven’t seen giant Death Stars popping out of buildings to advertise the new Star Wars movie (AHHH TWO MONTHS AWAY UNTIL STAR WARS EPISODE 7!), holograms—or similar effects—are popping up today. Today, Hatsune Miku is a J-pop hologram musical star that performs to sold-out concerts, and in 2012 we had a hologram of Tupac perform on stage at Coachella. Now we just need to implement this in our movie theater signage (hopefully not with Land Before Time 19).
Honorable Mention…
We are so close to those hoverboards, people—I can almost feel the itchy cast I’ll have on my arm from breaking bones falling off of it. We’re not going to see these on the streets in 2015, but companies like Hendo Hover are clearly working on it. Their hoverboard got off the ground with a Kickstarter in 2014, and while it will be some time before Marty can hover down the street, we’re getting closer!
The way the technology grew in reality vs. what happened in Back to the Future II has some pretty awesome Parallels (sorry, I couldn’t help myself). What do you think, is there any tech that Back to the Future predicted that you wish we had in our hands right now? Chime in below and let us know!
