SciFi: What It Gets Wrong and What It Gets Right

#1

n_huffhines

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#1
I love SciFi for the simple fact that it predicts the future, and it's interesting whether it gets things wrong or right. This thread is for discussing these predictions. I'll start:

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress correctly predicts the internet, connectivity, and the speed at which information travels....but people were still printing it on paper as the best way to consume the information. LOL.

What ya got?
 
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#2
#2
Star Trek predicted cellular communication, tablets, flat screens and automatic doors lol. Now if we could just figure out 3D printed food…
 
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#3
#3
Still waiting for my flying car and those "cities of the future". But it's fun to dream. I love that stuff.
 
#4
#4
Still waiting for my flying car and those "cities of the future". But it's fun to dream. I love that stuff.

Every year I see an article about the flying car almost being here.

What was that scouting magazine? Boy's Life? I remember you could buy a kit to supposedly make a hovercraft. wth
 
#5
#5
LOL

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#6
#6
I have several pet peeves about sci fi tropes. The two most pronounced are how the void of space is handled and the future is dystopian.

I thought the movie Gravity did a great job with space. Especially the sequences where debris was hitting the crafts and there was no sound. It made it much more terrifying to think things are disintegrating and exploding a few hundred feet behind you and there is no audible warning of the destruction.

Not sure I have seen a sci fi movie which treats the future with a fair approach...probably because that would be far too boring for the audience.
 
#9
#9
I have several pet peeves about sci fi tropes. The two most pronounced are how the void of space is handled and the future is dystopian.

I thought the movie Gravity did a great job with space. Especially the sequences where debris was hitting the crafts and there was no sound. It made it much more terrifying to think things are disintegrating and exploding a few hundred feet behind you and there is no audible warning of the destruction.

Not sure I have seen a sci fi movie which treats the future with a fair approach...probably because that would be far too boring for the audience.

I think the thing is all these movies have to have a problem, and if the future is the setting then it's likely to be part of the problem.

Minority Report has a dystopian feel to it, but if you think about it, it seems like a good time and place to be alive, despite the fact that future crimes are a violation of rights. I wonder how the book is because big Dick based all his scifi on alternate realities he visited in his sleep, and he said they're all terrible.

BttF II seems like a chill future, it's just a nightmare for Marty.
 
#10
#10
The movie I Robot did get right for driverless cars, although still waiting for that to be made as safe as possible in the real world.

Also, the movie I Robot got the very right touchless Credit Cards and Debit Cards instead of having to continue to use the same common way that is swiping a debit card or credit card.
 
#11
#11
Jetsons - telehealth, teleconferencing, robot cleaning devices, online exercise classes
I have several pet peeves about sci fi tropes. The two most pronounced are how the void of space is handled and the future is dystopian.

I thought the movie Gravity did a great job with space. Especially the sequences where debris was hitting the crafts and there was no sound. It made it much more terrifying to think things are disintegrating and exploding a few hundred feet behind you and there is no audible warning of the destruction.

Not sure I have seen a sci fi movie which treats the future with a fair approach...probably because that would be far too boring for the audience.

The Jetsons has you covered.

"One of the things that separates “The Jetsons” so clearly from other sci-fi, according to Danny Graydon, author of “The Jetsons: The Official Guide to the Cartoon Classic,” is that it’s neither dystopian nor utopian — definitely not “Mad Max” but not the peaceful Federation of “Star Trek” either. "
 
#12
#12
I liked Prometheus just wish it hadn’t been tied to the alien series. I think they could have take a more interesting route there.
 
#13
#13
I liked Prometheus just wish it hadn’t been tied to the alien series. I think they could have take a more interesting route there.

That was the best part of it, IMO. You have all these breadcrumbs from the original movie and then Prometheus tells the story of those breadcrumbs and it's mind-blowing. Who knows how much of it was planned out 40 years ago, but it seems like all of it was.
 
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#14
#14
Jetsons - telehealth, teleconferencing, robot cleaning devices, online exercise classes


The Jetsons has you covered.

"One of the things that separates “The Jetsons” so clearly from other sci-fi, according to Danny Graydon, author of “The Jetsons: The Official Guide to the Cartoon Classic,” is that it’s neither dystopian nor utopian — definitely not “Mad Max” but not the peaceful Federation of “Star Trek” either. "

No robot maid but I do have a Roomba.
 
#15
#15
pretty much every scifi movie set in space gets dropping out of lightspeed/some high speed wrong. they always show the crew making big lurch forward as if they were dealing with a car coming to a sudden stop, not from above light speed to some relatively slow pace. it would be orders of magnitude more forceful and would smash them to smithereens. There would have to be some way to compensate for that sudden drop of speed, or else it would have to be an incredibly long process. and it seems strange to think they reduced the impact of that reduction from matter-shattering down to something we can relate to, and just stop there as if a large crew could safely operate under those conditions.

also most show asteroid fields as being chock full of big asteroids. they are actually mostly empty, and in pretty much every case if the fields were that populated it would be quicker to maintain speed and go around, rather than having to constantly accelerate/de-accelerate and make course corrections to avoid the clutter at some speed humans could actually react to in a meaningful manner.

also most tend to show space ships steering via fixed engines. there would still have to be some sort of rudder or ability to physically move those engines in order to change direction. or you would need a set of secondary fixed engines spaced all over the ship to effect significant course changes.

most did get it right that we would integrate physically with technology, I-Robot. we haven't gotten to the point of it being pretty just yet. but there are powered/smart prosthetics out there. and if Musk gets his way there will be chips in heads soon.
 
#16
#16
pretty much every scifi movie set in space gets dropping out of lightspeed/some high speed wrong. they always show the crew making big lurch forward as if they were dealing with a car coming to a sudden stop, not from above light speed to some relatively slow pace. it would be orders of magnitude more forceful and would smash them to smithereens. There would have to be some way to compensate for that sudden drop of speed, or else it would have to be an incredibly long process. and it seems strange to think they reduced the impact of that reduction from matter-shattering down to something we can relate to, and just stop there as if a large crew could safely operate under those conditions.

also most show asteroid fields as being chock full of big asteroids. they are actually mostly empty, and in pretty much every case if the fields were that populated it would be quicker to maintain speed and go around, rather than having to constantly accelerate/de-accelerate and make course corrections to avoid the clutter at some speed humans could actually react to in a meaningful manner.

also most tend to show space ships steering via fixed engines. there would still have to be some sort of rudder or ability to physically move those engines in order to change direction. or you would need a set of secondary fixed engines spaced all over the ship to effect significant course changes.

most did get it right that we would integrate physically with technology, I-Robot. we haven't gotten to the point of it being pretty just yet. but there are powered/smart prosthetics out there. and if Musk gets his way there will be chips in heads soon.

I can't find the gif of him crashing

Space Balls Meme GIF - Space Balls Meme Cult Classics - Discover & Share GIFs

I nearly shat myself as a kid when he mutters "My brains are going into my feet."
 
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#17
#17
That was the best part of it, IMO. You have all these breadcrumbs from the original movie and then Prometheus tells the story of those breadcrumbs and it's mind-blowing. Who knows how much of it was planned out 40 years ago, but it seems like all of it was.

The storyline of where we came from and who created us was pretty interesting to me followed by the discovery of them preparing to destroy us. Then it goes on a rogue android thing. I like aliens but can’t say I loved it and thought there was potential for something more interesting.
 
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