# Favorite Visions of the Future in Literature, Movies and Television that Have Been Rendered Obsolete



## BAYLOR (May 7, 2017)

By the the passage of time and Ideas and Technology. Which visions and what renders them obsolete .


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## Danny McG (May 10, 2017)

Alexei Sayle show (UK comedy series) in very early eighties, he was waffling on about being a secret agent with a communication device. This involved him walking along the street apparently talking to himself so just ignore if you saw him. 
This comedy idea is now legit with smartphone and bluetooth headset


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## Vladd67 (Jun 29, 2017)

I remember reading a political thriller set in the near future, in it everyone communicated by text messages on their pagers. The idea was sound just the device was wrong.


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## Mirannan (Jun 30, 2017)

The old show UFO. Working Moonbase in the 1980s. Unfortunately - no. Similar remarks apply to the film 2001, unfortunately. A self-aware computer on board a manned Jupiter mission. [sigh]


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## Dave (Jun 30, 2017)

Transport - we were meant to be travelling by rocket ships (UK to Australia in 30 minutes.) They _could_ be built, there have been plans published, but no one wants to pay that much for the journey. Even _Concord_ was too expensive to continue running.

Transport - we were mean to have air-cars or anti-grav cars. Again, the helicopter cars and autogyros are possible but their cost, and the impracticability of take-off and landing, means they are not in general use. Anti-gravity seems very unlikely anytime soon.

Atomic Power - planes, trains, ships, cars, refrigerators, almost everything was going to be run on the power of radioactivity and splitting the atom. Some of the ideas were really quite bizarre. It was going to cure diseases and was magical. The reality was that people were afraid of the weapons, for good reason, and disasters happened. Miniature power plants are not possible, and could they be safe? Then there is the question of the nuclear waste  and the fact that Uranium is not a renewable energy source. It just never lived up to the exciting expectations.

Weather Control - we should only be having rain at night with long sunny days. No more floods or droughts. Perfect farming weather all year around. Yes, no clue where that idea went either. Wishful thinking? The one thing we have leaned is that nature cannot be tamed.


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## HanaBi (Jun 30, 2017)

Those tablet things from the original Star Trek. I think Spock and McCoy used to carry them around. And now here they are for real!


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## Mirannan (Jun 30, 2017)

Dave said:


> Transport - we were meant to be travelling by rocket ships (UK to Australia in 30 minutes.) They _could_ be built, there have been plans published, but no one wants to pay that much for the journey. Even _Concord_ was too expensive to continue running.
> 
> Transport - we were mean to have air-cars or anti-grav cars. Again, the helicopter cars and autogyros are possible but their cost, and the impracticability of take-off and landing, means they are not in general use. Anti-gravity seems very unlikely anytime soon.
> 
> ...



I think the reason we can't control the weather is twofold. Chaotic behaviour of the atmosphere, and the fact that we simply don't have the power available - yet. I imagine that the power beam from a solar power satellite might have interesting local effects if pointed away from the rectenna, but we don't have any of those - yet. I remain hopeful that we will have them eventually.


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## BAYLOR (Jun 24, 2018)

Mirannan said:


> The old show UFO. Working Moonbase in the 1980s. Unfortunately - no. Similar remarks apply to the film 2001, unfortunately. A self-aware computer on board a manned Jupiter mission. [sigh]



I now  think of those tv programs as alternate timelines.


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## Harpo (Jun 27, 2018)

There's a song by The Tinklers called _The Future Is Not As Good As It Used To Be, _which lists various once-futuristic things that the singer had been excited about when young, but which failed to happen.
"Twenty hour work weeks, and everybody speaking Esperanto
International worldwide government solving problems pronto"

And as for inventions:
"Monorails above the city I was gonna love to ride
Tiny pills that you pop in your mouth with a sixteen-inch pizza inside
Jet-powered packs that you strap on your back, and zip off into the sky"


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## Guillermo Stitch (Jun 27, 2018)

Does anybody remember The Two Ronnie's The Worm That Turned?  Probably need to be British or Irish.

Anyway, things don't seem to have turned out as depicted. Although if you get your news and analysis from certain sources you might still be worried they will.


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## Ray Pullar (Jun 27, 2018)

Stories that presented the Soviet Union as a necessary part of the future such as 2001 and 2010,  Jerry Pournelle's CoDominion and several of William Gibson's.


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## Ray Pullar (Jun 27, 2018)

West Germany had a public monorail in 1961.  Hasn't Seattle had one for decades?  Arthur Clarke loved to promote them, but hovercraft never replaced ordinary ships and goods trains as he foresaw.  Probably lost support after Jeremy Thorpe almost drowned when his sank off the British coast in 1974.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 9, 2018)

Ray Pullar said:


> Stories that presented the Soviet Union as a necessary part of the future such as 2001 and 2010,  Jerry Pournelle's CoDominion and several of William Gibson's.



Then there is* 2010  A Space Odyssey*  in which the Soviet Union is still standing  and  this 2018 and we have yet to send  managed mission beyond the moon.


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## Ray Pullar (Jul 9, 2018)

Ones which depict the Earth's population reaching 7-10 billion and mass insanity or cannibalism resulting e.g.  Stand on Zanzibar, Soylent Green,  Larry Niven's U.N. birth lottery.


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## Dave (Jul 9, 2018)

Give it time!


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## Ray Pullar (Jul 9, 2018)

Never mind venturing beyond lunar space, the USA has no manned-spaceflight capability.  So much for attack-ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.


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## Ray Pullar (Jul 9, 2018)

The idea of the United Nations as an effective world government starting with H. G. Wells and still with us in the Expanse.


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## Onyx (Jul 9, 2018)

Dave said:


> Atomic Power - planes, trains, ships, cars, refrigerators, almost everything was going to be run on the power of radioactivity and splitting the atom. Some of the ideas were really quite bizarre. It was going to cure diseases and was magical. The reality was that people were afraid of the weapons, for good reason, and disasters happened. Miniature power plants are not possible, and could they be safe? Then there is the question of the nuclear waste and the fact that Uranium is not a renewable energy source. It just never lived up to the exciting expectations.


People get all sorts of kooky ideas when it comes to a newly available technology, but the fact is that both military and civilian nuclear powered ships exist, and the reason we don't use them on trains is because it is much easier to run the trains on electricity from a nuclear power station. Small reactors are used in space to power satelites and Skylab. The Russians have been running small 11 MW reactors since '70s in power plants.

Sometimes there is an over exuberance to new technology, but since we do cure cancer with radiation, power independant craft and even small devices with it, I don't think all that is really off base.


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## -K2- (Jul 9, 2018)

Ray Pullar said:


> Ones which depict the Earth's population reaching 7-10 billion and mass insanity or *cannibalism* resulting e.g.  Stand on Zanzibar, Soylent Green,  Larry Niven's U.N. birth lottery.



Just to counter that (oh yeah, I'm working on one of those ), so what do you do when there are no other options?  It is not out of the realm of possibility being actual history.  Sure, you don't have to have a population explosion, but be sure, if there is nothing else, many people will opt to survive.  Once enough opt to survive, many others who previously refused will give in.  And when enough people give in, then it will become the norm.

I've mentioned it in another thread, yet here is an actual technique used by interrogators, the statement made by a sadistic torturer saying it all:

_"You would be amazed at how malleable the mind becomes when a person is deprived of food, water and comfort.  The terror and suffering however, I inflict for pleasure."_

That said, now what if you simply didn't know, and if you might surmise correctly, would you chose to ignore it?  Meaning, when you're hungry or thirsty enough you'd be surprised at what you're willing to do.

In any case, forget all you have seen regarding 'trembling, madness, etc.' and all of the indicators that have been portrayed regarding cannibalistic people.  Those are myths (sadly).  Those historical times unfortunately will not be the last time.

K2


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## Ray Pullar (Jul 9, 2018)

I have been hungry and thirsty and what I did never surprised me.  My point was that the Earth has nearly attained these population levels (quick check - currently 7.2 billion) without drastic consequences.


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## -K2- (Jul 9, 2018)

Ray Pullar said:


> I have been hungry and thirsty and what I did never surprised me.  My point was that the Earth has nearly attained these population levels (quick check - currently 7.2 billion) without drastic consequences.



Ah, my mistake... although, regarding Soylent Green (vs. the non-cannibalistic story it was based off of "Make Room! Make Room!"), the primary premise was ecological collapse or loss of resources (and population) _respectively_ that was the source of the problem.  Overpopulation was a sidebar in Soylent Green to simply exasperate the problem.

In any case, I see your point.

K2


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## BAYLOR (Jul 17, 2018)

The original *Lost in Space* was set in 1997


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## Dave (Jul 17, 2018)

In _Back to the Future 2_ they went forward to October 21, 2015. I'm still waiting for a hoverboard (not those with wheels) but maybe not for _Jaws 17_.


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## BAYLOR (Jul 28, 2018)

Dave said:


> In _Back to the Future 2_ they went forward to October 21, 2015. I'm still waiting for a hoverboard (not those with wheels) but maybe not for _Jaws 17_.



Given the quick drop of of quility, Im rather glad we didn't get Jaws 17 .


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## Ray Pullar (Aug 10, 2018)

Zardoz, meet Viagra.


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## Edward M. Grant (Aug 15, 2018)

Stories about humans struggling to survive a million years in the future as the coal-fired sun burns out.

Obviously the bikini-clad Martian princesses and Venusian dinosaurs who would have quadrupled NASA's budget overnight as soon as we got pictures of them.


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## Vince W (Sep 2, 2018)

Well, I'm rather pleased Judgement Day hasn't happened. Yet.


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## Pyan (Sep 2, 2018)

Dan Piraro had it right...


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## TheEndIsNigh (Sep 2, 2018)

Ray Pullar said:


> I have been hungry and thirsty and what I did never surprised me.  My point was that the Earth has nearly attained these population levels (quick check - currently 7.2 billion) without drastic consequences.



I take it global warming (a nonsense IMO too), ocean pollution and the rate of species depletion doesn't count.

Screens v Paper/Ink (dead in the water by 2030)

Galactic credit tattoos v Cash (soon to be a thing of the past in the West.)

Human Life - I give it twenty years on this planet.

(but that could be too controversial for this site. Maybe Brian's other site for that discussion)



Vince W said:


> Well, I'm rather pleased Judgement Day hasn't happened. Yet.



You're preaching to the wrong choir with that one


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## Pyan (Sep 2, 2018)

Well, Skynet has just passed five years of being self-aware, according to canon, so it's presumably become obsolete or is just lying very low, waiting the opportunity to take over all the social media sites, plus Google, Amazon, etc.


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## Dave (Sep 2, 2018)

pyan said:


> Well, Skynet has just passed five years of being self-aware, according to canon, so it's presumably become obsolete or is just lying very low, waiting the opportunity to take over all the social media sites, plus Google, Amazon, etc.


It looked at the world and it thought, my work is already done, I'll just give them 10 years.


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## BAYLOR (Sep 2, 2018)

pyan said:


> Well, Skynet has just passed five years of being self-aware, according to canon, so it's presumably become obsolete or is just lying very low, waiting the opportunity to take over all the social media sites, plus Google, Amazon, etc.



Skynet proved to be no match for hackers


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## Vince W (Sep 2, 2018)

BAYLOR said:


> Skynet proved to be no match for hackers


Hmmm....


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## BAYLOR (Sep 2, 2018)

Vince W said:


> Hmmm....



From a technology standpoint that film is almost quaint.


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## BAYLOR (Sep 13, 2018)

-K2- said:


> Ah, my mistake... although, regarding Soylent Green (vs. the non-cannibalistic story it was based off of "Make Room! Make Room!"), the primary premise was ecological collapse or loss of resources (and population) _respectively_ that was the source of the problem.  Overpopulation was a sidebar in Soylent Green to simply exasperate the problem.
> 
> In any case, I see your point.
> 
> K2



The setting of the Harry Harrsion's * Make Room Make Room  *of which the film was based* ,  *was set in the 1990'd wasn't  it ?


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## -K2- (Sep 13, 2018)

BAYLOR said:


> The setting of the Harry Harrsion's * Make Room Make Room  *of which the film was based* ,  *was set in the 1990'd wasn't  it ?



August, 1999 (naturally, hehe). Soylent Green takes place in 2022.  Having such a great antagonist to work with, the series I'm working on 'Liberty Stumbled,' which deals with similar issues, takes place in 2028=>>,  although begins in 2017.

Who knows, maybe I'll be in the obsolete list soon enough 

K2


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## Vladd67 (Sep 13, 2018)

Well the crew of Moonbase Alpha started their epic voyage exactly 19 years ago today. The nuclear waste accident occurred on 13 September 1999.


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## Vince W (Sep 13, 2018)

Vladd67 said:


> Well the crew of Moonbase Alpha started their epic voyage exactly 19 years ago today. The nuclear waste accident occurred on 13 September 1999.


Thanks for the reminder, but I don't think it's outdated. We just never lived up to our potential.


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## Ray Pullar (Sep 13, 2018)

Vladd67 said:


> Well the crew of Moonbase Alpha started their epic voyage exactly 19 years ago today. The nuclear waste accident occurred on 13 September 1999.



So it's a fake Moon we see in the sky?  Stanley Kubrick's dying masterpiece.


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## Dave (Sep 13, 2018)

Ray Pullar said:


> So it's a fake Moon we see in the sky?  Stanley Kubrick's dying masterpiece.


Everything is fake. After the Moon left the Earth was devastated. We are all living inside a computer program.


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## Pyan (Sep 13, 2018)

No, you’re all a figment of my imagination - when I close the Chrons, you all cease to exist until I log on again


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## BAYLOR (Sep 13, 2018)

pyan said:


> No, you’re all a figment of my imagination - when I close the Chrons, you all cease to exist until I log on again



Yes but , how do we know your not a figment of our imaginations?


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## Vince W (Sep 13, 2018)

I watched Timecop today for the first time in many years, and I'm not so sure that part of that future didn't come true. Ron Silver is eerily familiar as a US presidential candidate as are many of the news clips.


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## BAYLOR (Sep 13, 2018)

Vince W said:


> I watched Timecop today for the first time in many years, and I'm not so sure that part of that future didn't come true. Ron Silver is eerily familiar as a US presidential candidate as are many of the news clips.



That film gets worse every time I see it . It did spawn a shot lived tv series and a forgettable sequel.


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## reiver33 (Sep 14, 2018)

Aside; the original tag line for Timecop was “Turn back the clock and you’re history” - which I thought was neat. Somewhere alone the line it became “His wife died 10 years ago tonight - there’s still time to save her” - duh. These are quotes from memeory though...(I have a thing for tag lines)


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## BAYLOR (Sep 14, 2018)

reiver33 said:


> Aside; the original tag line for Timecop was “Turn back the clock and you’re history” - which I thought was neat. Somewhere alone the line it became “His wife died 10 years ago tonight - there’s still time to save her” - duh. There are quotes from memeory though...(I have a thing for tag lines)



It really is a preposterous film.


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## Robert Zwilling (Sep 14, 2018)

The idea that all aliens look the same instead of just one or two varieties is gone.
Weather control has taken a big step backwards with all the extra moisture in the atmosphere and warming up the planet a degree or two is a lot of energy when you look at the sheer mass of it. Its like the stove is always on the warm setting, never needs to warm up to get started.
Natural global disruption by overpopulation is a work in progress.
Skynet is alive and well in our heads, but that's about it.


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## BAYLOR (Aug 14, 2019)

*Logans Run* written in 1967 , Pretty much obsolete in all of its projections.


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## tegeus-Cromis (Aug 14, 2019)

Most SF dealing with ET encounters. Our notions of aliens and UFOs come from a time when we still thought there may be Martians. Given how greatly our known universe has expanded since the 1950s, let alone the 1890s, we should realize that visitors from outer space are much, much, much less likely than we thought back then. Given the immensity of space, even if the exist, they are much less likely to find us -- let alone to come visit -- and us to find them. We are, for all intents and purposes, alone out here.


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## Robert Zwilling (Aug 14, 2019)

tegeus-Cromis said:


> We are, for all intents and purposes, alone out here.


That's the funny part, just about everyone out there is also alone, if you figure advanced advancement looks like a pyramid. Can you imagine what it would be like in one of those systems overloaded with stars and planets, to be perhaps a thousand years of travel time from your nearest planetary neighbor also with organized life on it. Maybe you could see the smoke from the smokestacks, send messages that take forever to go back and forth.


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## BAYLOR (Oct 7, 2019)

Robert Zwilling said:


> That's the funny part, just about everyone out there is also alone, if you figure advanced advancement looks like a pyramid. Can you imagine what it would be like in one of those systems overloaded with stars and planets, to be perhaps a thousand years of travel time from your nearest planetary neighbor also with organized life on it. Maybe you could see the smoke from the smokestacks, send messages that take forever to go back and forth.



For example,  a Science fiction writer who in 1967 writes a novel set in   future times,  can only do so  based on the reality that he or she currently exists in. The trouble is , their prediction and projections are static ,  the actual future is not.


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## Dave (Oct 7, 2019)

BAYLOR said:


> For example,  a Science fiction writer who in 1967 writes a novel set in   future times,  can only do so  based on the reality that he or she currently exists in. The trouble is , their prediction and projections are static ,  the actual future is not.


Yes and No.

People are still people. Some views and ideas change but many do not. Victorians had views about death that are weird to us now. Dead children would be stood up and dressed up to appear in family photographs. However, views about how we are governed and freedom of speech - very similar viewpoints expressed by some people today, to those from (UK) Civil War period, or Magna Carta, or probably even earlier. We are still driven by sex, personal wealth and power - even those people who think they are not, or who say they are not, that's how they are always brought down. So, in some ways we will react differently in the future, but in most ways we will still be very predictable.

Technology changes and some technology has the capacity to change society - railways, telegraph and telephone, TV, internet and social media - how we deal with technology doesn't change so much - we deal very poorly with the changes brought about. Luddites and Saboteurs try to prevent it happening. You can't write a story about social media back in 1967 because you cannot predict that it will happen, but you could write one about people being obsessed with the lives of celebrities, and being shut-off, listening to their own personal music, rather than communicating with their own family. Ray Bradbury did exactly that in _Fahrenheit 451_.  

Sometimes the predictions just need a little more time to come true. Many books and films in the late '60's and early '70's thought the future world would be run by monopolistic corporations who had more influence and political power than national governments. _Rollerball_ (original version) has a world divided by corporations such as those called Energy and Transport. Well, the world has moved on, now people are worried about Amazon, Facebook and Google. Same old, same old!


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## BAYLOR (Nov 9, 2019)

Vladd67 said:


> Well the crew of Moonbase Alpha started their epic voyage exactly 19 years ago today. The nuclear waste accident occurred on 13 September 1999.



Andrew Gaska did a Graphic novel  story *Space 1999 Aftershock and Awe   *which treated Space 1999 as an alternate timeline .


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## BAYLOR (Jul 30, 2020)

Strange Days .


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## Don (Jul 30, 2020)

Vince W said:


> I watched Timecop today for the first time in many years, and I'm not so sure that part of that future didn't come true. Ron Silver is eerily familiar as a US presidential candidate as are many of the news clips.


I re-watch _Timecop_ about once a year. If nothing else, the original _MacGyver'_s side-kick, old what's his name, keeps it amusing.


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## paeng (Jul 31, 2020)

_Blade Runner_, November 2019.


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## BAYLOR (Aug 30, 2020)

paeng said:


> _Blade Runner_, November 2019.



Now an Alternate timeline.


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## BAYLOR (Sep 13, 2020)

*The Demolished Man* by Alfred Bester  was original published in 1953,  It projection  of the future are pretty much obsolete but it  is still a terrific book  and,  it had an influence on the tv show *Babylon 5*.   I'ts been optioned a number for the Cinema but had never gotten into production.   I think iif it were updated , to would make a terrific film , maybe even a terrific  tv series.


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## Guttersnipe (Sep 14, 2020)

"The Blessington Method" by Stanley Ellin (1956) has a Utopian 1980 I wish I could see


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## Dave Vicks (Sep 20, 2020)

I noticed SF ignores Global Warming.A lot of Aliens (Visitors) and Zombies instead.


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## MikeAnderson (Sep 22, 2020)

Robert Zwilling said:


> Skynet is alive and well in our heads, but that's about it.



Wrong! It just legally changed its name...


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## svalbard (Sep 22, 2020)

San Francisco 2020


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## BAYLOR (Sep 23, 2020)

MikeAnderson said:


> Wrong! It just legally changed its name...



Oh not, The Gamesters of Triskelion have come for us all !


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## BAYLOR (Nov 26, 2020)

Dave Vicks said:


> I noticed SF ignores Global Warming.A lot of Aliens (Visitors) and Zombies instead.



In the movie *Soylent Green* there is mention of Global Warming.


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## Dave Vicks (Nov 27, 2020)

Split Second to.


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## BAYLOR (Nov 27, 2020)

Dave Vicks said:


> Split Second to.



Ive never seen that one . Is it a good film?


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## Dave Vicks (Nov 27, 2020)

Yes good B film.


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## reiver33 (Nov 27, 2020)

Split Second - we're going to need bigger guns...


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## BAYLOR (Dec 7, 2020)

Star Trek the next Generation episode  *The Royal   * The subject , Fermat's last Theorem . Apparently Picard was unaware that it had been solved in 1994.


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## CupofJoe (Dec 7, 2020)

Any wall/desk mounted videophone in just about any film. It looks so strange now that people would go to the a phone and not bring the phone to them. At least the one in the bar in *Blade Runner* [when Deckard calls Rachel] is covered in graffiti and scratches. This is realistic...


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## Vince W (Dec 22, 2020)

*Johnny Mnemonic* is set to take place on 17 January 2021. Time's running out to make this future a reality.


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## Venusian Broon (Dec 22, 2020)

Double obsoletion:

_Red Dragon _by Thomas Harris, then the (second) film of the book.

First the book (published 1981) has....



Spoiler: Book Spoiler



...the killer observing the families he stalks by watching their home movies - i.e. actual film. Yes, the stuff used in ye olde times for cinema. Long spools of images that need to spin around a light source to project...



So then the 2002 film updated this (there was the older _Manhunter _that stuck to the original story wrt to this!) to...



Spoiler: Film Spoiler



the families using VHS recorders. Another tech that has for the home died.



Nowadays....



Spoiler: It wouldn't work now



...because everyone would use their phones and probably augment, edit and publish it themselves. No more victims for the tooth fairy.


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## TomMazanec (Dec 23, 2020)

Reading _Stranger Suns_ (1990) by George Zebrowski. 
Set in Spring 2022.
Not much time to build that orbiting tachyon telescope.


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## BAYLOR (Dec 24, 2020)

Nevermind


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## BAYLOR (Dec 24, 2020)

Vince W said:


> *Johnny Mnemonic* is set to take place on 17 January 2021. Time's running out to make this future a reality.





TomMazanec said:


> Reading _Stranger Suns_ (1990) by George Zebrowski.
> Set in Spring 2022.
> Not much time to build that orbiting tachyon telescope.



Then, try rethinking them as alternate history.  It's what I do with  obsolete science fiction.


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## Danny McG (Jan 13, 2021)

Vince W said:


> *Johnny Mnemonic* is set to take place on 17 January 2021. Time's running out to make this future a reality.


Only 4 days left, the clock is ticking remorselessly!


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## BAYLOR (Jan 14, 2021)

Danny McG said:


> Only 4 days left, the clock is ticking remorselessly!



And then , it becomes an alternate timeline.


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## Vince W (Jan 14, 2021)

BAYLOR said:


> And then , it becomes an alternate timeline.


This is Gibson. It becomes an alternate Stub.


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## BAYLOR (Jun 13, 2021)

Vince W said:


> This is Gibson. It becomes an alternate Stub.



He did make some interesting projections .


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## Ray Zdybrow (Jul 6, 2021)

Corona-shaped elephant in this chatroom?


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## BAYLOR (Mar 13, 2022)

*Back to the Future II  * no flying  cars by the year 2015.


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## Dave (Mar 13, 2022)

BAYLOR said:


> *Back to the Future II * no flying cars by the year 2015.


That's surely not a "vision of the future rendered obsolete" though, is it? We have autogyros. We have drones. We also have these seven flying cars...






We don't have flying DeLoreans powered by Plutonium and waste vegetable peelings, but... (and I don't know about you) however, when I watched _Back to the Future II_  I never really thought that we would in 2015. Neither did I think I'd be seeing a Jaws 19 movie. 

There are flying vehicles, they just don't look like an 1980's car.


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## BAYLOR (Mar 13, 2022)

Dave said:


> That's surely not a "vision of the future rendered obsolete" though, is it? We have autogyros. We have drones. We also have these seven flying cars...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Impressive .


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## BAYLOR (May 9, 2022)

The newer version of Planet of the Ape has really gone there.


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## Bramandin (May 9, 2022)

I was just thinking about the Jetsons and their robot maid that uses a vacuum cleaner.  Sure the robot in Robot and Frank is an actual prototype of a service robot, but I think if a robot is going to vacuum, they're more likely to have a Roomba.

Also, yeah the idea of flying cars is cool, but I think they're going to be self-driving only and only allowed for people who can keep them properly maintained instead of trying to hold it together with bailing wire.

I think that another thing that's not going to be commonplace is "fun" electronics being implanted, just medically necessary ones.  People are even going to resist RFID chips.  I'm a tech-bane so I had the attitude since the 90's that I'll accept interface wires, but the processor and such needs to be removable without a knife.


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## Christine Wheelwright (May 9, 2022)

The rate of progress is generally much slower than many people imagine.  Microelectronics (computer tech) has seen some great gains in the last 50 years and, sure enough, our machine interfaces (touchscreens etc) look way more advanced than the push buttons and pilot lights on the consoles in old episodes of Star Trek.  But significant advances in electro magnetic engineering just aren't here!  I can think of things like improved permanent magnets leading to better motors.  3D printing (facilitated by advances in electronics).  Improved automation (again, really down to computer tech).  Better battery tech thanks to chemical engineering.  But the kinds of advances we will need for, say, manned Mars shots are still some way off.  We are even struggling to get ourselves off fossil fuels (basically C19th technology).  I know what I am saying goes against the current hype (eg ridiculous Youtube videos that imply Musk will be opening shopping malls on Mars by the end of next year).  I'm sorry about that.


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## BAYLOR (May 15, 2022)

*Looking Backwards 2000- 1887* by Edward Bellamy Yeah, I can safely say this book is a very obsolete prediction of the future from an 1888 perspective and it's 20 year past the 2000 date its set in . It would make a good alt universe story at all. 

And for the record , I found it a very aggravating read.  It had no real plot and no villain .


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## BAYLOR (Aug 29, 2022)

*Things to Come* ends in the year 2036. This is another film that we safely slide into the alternate timeline.


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## Ray Zdybrow (Nov 13, 2022)

Dave Vicks said:


> I noticed SF ignores Global Warming.A lot of Aliens (Visitors) and Zombies instead.


PKD's "The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch" takes global heating into account


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## Danny McG (Nov 13, 2022)

TheEndIsNigh said:


> (but that could be too controversial for this site. Maybe Brian's other site for that discussion)


What site is it?


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## TheEndIsNigh (Nov 13, 2022)

In fact Brian has cut all ties with that site as it was causing him grief above and beyond the those expected of a site manager.

The arguments can get pretty heated and sometimes personal. It's a lot more "Moderater hand off" - though it was moderated to some extent when I last visited.

I'll check with Brian to see if he's happy to have a reference/link to it on this site before I post any.

Cheers for now.


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## Ray Zdybrow (Jan 5, 2023)

United Nations as "World Government". Apologies if this has been posted before


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## Ray Zdybrow (Jan 5, 2023)

Ray Pullar said:


> The idea of the United Nations as an effective world government starting with H. G. Wells and still with us in the Expanse.


Òops


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## JunkMonkey (Jan 6, 2023)

Ray Pullar said:


> The idea of the United Nations as an effective world government starting with H. G. Wells and still with us in the Expanse.





Guillermo Stitch said:


> Does anybody remember The Two Ronnie's The Worm That Turned?



Sadly I do. Not because it means I'm old but because, even by the Two Ronnies standards, it was laboured unfunny sh*te.


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## JunkMonkey (Jan 6, 2023)

Ray Zdybrow said:


> United Nations as "World Government". Apologies if this has been posted before



'Obsolete' or just 'unrealised'?


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## BAYLOR (Jan 6, 2023)

Sea Quest's version of the future didn't pan out at all.


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## paranoid marvin (Saturday at 11:59 AM)

Christine Wheelwright said:


> The rate of progress is generally much slower than many people imagine.  Microelectronics (computer tech) has seen some great gains in the last 50 years and, sure enough, our machine interfaces (touchscreens etc) look way more advanced than the push buttons and pilot lights on the consoles in old episodes of Star Trek.  But significant advances in electro magnetic engineering just aren't here!  I can think of things like improved permanent magnets leading to better motors.  3D printing (facilitated by advances in electronics).  Improved automation (again, really down to computer tech).  Better battery tech thanks to chemical engineering.  But the kinds of advances we will need for, say, manned Mars shots are still some way off.  We are even struggling to get ourselves off fossil fuels (basically C19th technology).  I know what I am saying goes against the current hype (eg ridiculous Youtube videos that imply Musk will be opening shopping malls on Mars by the end of next year).  I'm sorry about that.




I've been thinking about touchscreens and more modern controls, as opposed to the 'clunkier' buttons/switches of scifi shows from the 60s/70s/80s. The more sophisticated the controls, the more likely they are to go wrong, or for accidents/faults to occur, including human error. Imagine using a touchscreen and accidentally brushing against the wrong control! 

Not too much of an issue when you're on/close to Earth, but more problematic the further you get. Perhaps the future of longer distance space travel is less sophisticated controls; mechanical, 'manual' switches and buttons that are less likely to go wrong and are easier to repair. It wouldn't surprise me if the first piloted mission to Mars or beyond has a cockpit which better resembles a 60s tv show than a more streamlined modern one.


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## AllanR (Saturday at 1:42 PM)

paranoid marvin said:


> modern controls, as opposed to the 'clunkier' buttons/switches


When I bought my gas stove I couldn't even find one that had non-electronic timers. That means, if the electricity goes out, I can't use my oven.


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## Pyan (Saturday at 5:40 PM)

paranoid marvin said:


> I've been thinking about touchscreens and more modern controls, as opposed to the 'clunkier' buttons/switches of scifi shows from the 60s/70s/80s.


I always thought it looked odd that the controls of the _Enterprise_ _NX-01 _looked more 'modern' than those of the _Enterprise NCC-1701_


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## BAYLOR (Saturday at 8:51 PM)

Pyan said:


> I always thought it looked odd that the controls of the _Enterprise_ _NX-01 _looked more 'modern' than those of the _Enterprise NCC-1701_



Which was made more apparent in the the two part story *In A Mirror Darkly.*


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