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Back in 1989, the world was shown an amazing, futuristic prediction of our lives in 2015 that included flying cars, hoverboards and pre-planned weather.
This was the world of Back To The Future II, and the day Marty McFly arrives here (October 21 2015) has come – so just how accurate were some of director Robert Zemeckis’s seemingly “out there’ technology predictions?
Not too shabby, we have to say.
Wearable technology pops up in several guises in the movie, but one of the most prominent is video glasses and smart headsets.
That sounds very familiar to anyone who’s encountered Google Glass. Not only that, but we also have virtual reality headsets becoming more of the norm with each passing week. Samsung’s Galaxy Gear is already on sale, while the Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR (formally Project Morpheus), Microsoft HoloLens and HTC’s Vive are all high-profile headsets that are on the way.
At one point during his trip to the future, Marty teaches two kids how to play Wild Gunman, a shooting game, while in an 80s cafe. The old-style arcade game – complete with plastic gun – doesn’t impress the kids, who declare: “You have to use your hands?! That’s like a baby’s toy.”
Chalk up another point for Zemeckis – he clearly saw the PlayStation Eye and Xbox Kinect coming.
The movie also shows them being used to make calls – something that is also right on target for the real 2015 thanks to the likes of Skype and FaceTime.
A big feature in Marty’s adventure, hoverboards aren’t exactly mainstream in 2015, but they do exist – with the one Lexus built earlier this year (albeit for marketing purposes) a prime example that the technology not only exists, but could potentially be utilised on a wider basis in years to come.
One of the most coveted aspects of future technology in the movie has always been the Nike Air MAGs, complete with self-tying laces. This short history from trainer enthusiasts Nice Kicks sums up exactly why.
Since then, there’s been a further update – with designer Tinker Hatfield saying that the aim was to deliver the shoes in 2015, complete with the self-tying Power Laces.
And then there’s a few things that didn’t come true…
We’ve seen car-style cockpits complete with wings, but fully fledged flying cars are still yet to come to fruition sadly. Though we’d put money on Elon Musk being behind them when they do.
Frankly they don’t sound great; a device that turns shrivelled food into full-scale versions. Happily, this is not something we have to face up to in 2015 – though we can 3D print food, which is almost as weird.
