This year marks the 30th anniversary of the classic sci-fi film, ‘Back to the Future’, as well as the year when protagonist Marty McFly time travelled into the future and discovered all sorts of strange technology. Some of the ideas may have appeared a little far-fetched at the time but the film’s sequel did manage to make some scarily accurate predictions. Here are some of the ones that came to fruition:
[themecolor]Holograms[/themecolor]
Everyone remembers the moment Marty almost has a heart attack when a hologram of the shark from ‘Jaws 19′ pretends to eat him. Holograms aren’t that sophisticated just yet (scrolling LEDs are needed for that), but Microsoft’s HoloLens is pretty impressive. It can fill a room with HD visuals, further blurring the lines between reality and virtual reality.
Moreover, the film’s ‘Holomax Theater’, where the fictional shark film is being shown, is somewhat similar to the 3D cinema screens we have today. Although we still require glasses to view these films properly, stereoscopic 3D (the glasses-free version) does exist and similar tech could become widespread in the future.
[themecolor]Voice-command television[/themecolor]
Staying on the topic of entertainment, voice-controlled devices, including TVs, are everywhere now. In BTTF 2, Marty’s son arrives home and tells the TV which channels he wants to watch. This tech is extremely similar to Xbox Kinect, but we still can’t watch ten channels at once on the same TV. Why would we, though? Having a tablet, mobile phone and laptop near us at all times is distracting enough.
[themecolor]Wearable devices[/themecolor]
Both of Marty’s children use large, clunky VR glasses in BTTF 2 – don’t they look an awful lot like Google Glass? This may be the most accurate tech prediction of them all, as wearable tech is definitely being billed to be the next big thing. Smart glasses, watches, and even rings can monitor our health, enable us to track our fitness goals and allow us to keep in touch with our friends and family. Like it or not, wearables are going to be huge.
Those are just some of the tech predictions came true; even the much-loved hoverboard is now a real thing! Although, something tells us that flying cars are still a long way off.
