Anyone who grew up in the 90s would have heard the tales; how the dawn of the new millennium would herald the widespread use of devices that took you inside cyberspace, or how we’d all have computer enhanced bracers that could do everything and more. Heck, even our soldiers were going to become cyborgs armed with exoskeletons!
Well, it’s 2012 now. Our last year of existence according to the Mayans. There are neither any flying cars around nor any robots doing our bidding. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve been had.
1. Virtual reality goggles
>> The claim
Anyone here ever watched The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest? Remember those cool head pieces the shows cast would wear, the one that projected a sweet energy beam across the eyes and warped them into cyber space? Hanna Barbara’s adventurers weren’t the only ones tossing the idea around. Whether you were a part of the television, gaming or even military industries, everyone was thinking of cyberspace, and how one day we would actually walk within its digital halls by simply wearing a pair of funky shades.
>> The reality
While gaming and graphics tech has certainly evolved to a quite frankly terrifying level, we still do not have the virtual reality that everyone thought we would. While we do have 3D goggles and other headsets claiming to be VR glasses, fact of the matter is we still rely on the humble monitor and television screen to get a peak inside a digital world. [Note: Google Glasses, if you were wondering, works on the principles of augmented reality and not virtual reality.]
2. Wearable computers
>> The claim
Countless sci-fi novels and shows depicted their respective cast as wearing a wristwatch or bracer that was in fact a computer. These computers aided the characters in everything from communication to weather prediction, and even blowing up other people (don’t be shy, that ability is something you always dreamed of having, admit it). Often times the bracer would have an inbuilt projector and even remote vehicle piloting app (more on that later).
>> The reality
Wearable computers as a concept seemed to die down some time between 2000 and now. Google’s Glass project does kind of fit in here, but frankly, it’s over ten years late, and still only in early prototype mode. US military forces have some cool eyepieces too, but even those aren’t the game changers that were predicted, nor are they the standard of human existence.
3. Remote controlled vehicles
>> The claim
Tomorrow Never Dies featured a scene where everyone’s favorite spy used his cell phone to drive a car past a mob of angry gunmen. The idea of piloting a car – or even an aircraft – via a remote device was floating around for a quite a while, and it really does seem awesome, doesn’t it? After all, we have been using the old fashioned steering wheel for way too long at this point. It’s time for a change, right?
>> The reality
For whatever reason, remote controlled vehicles are not the norm. The US military does currently use them for piloting drone aircraft, but that tech is still seen as something of a mystery. Forget the fact that few other militaries in the world have such things, remote controlled vehicles are practically unheard of in the civilian sector, let alone vehicles that can seat passengers. We’re still sitting behind an obnoxious wheel device like the cave men we claim to be evolved from.
4. Laser guns
>> The claim
If you don’t understand the claim by simply reading the title, I don’t even want to talk to you anymore…
>> The reality
Deadly death ray guns simply do not exist yet. Even the most advanced military powers of the world are still throwing metal at their targets.
5. Artificial intelligence
>> The claim
In the future, computers will be capable of thinking autonomously, either within certain bounds or as completely free synthetic life forms. Most of our technology will be run by such AI, and we’ll even have such dramatic situations as computers trying to be human or, on the other end of the spectrum, trying their best to ‘terminate’ us all.
Speaking of termination, fun fact; the original Terminator specified that by the year 1997, such an artificial intelligence would in fact come into existence. Harlon Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” was less specific about the time, but suggested it would be around the era of the Cold War.
>> The reality
Video games still display amazing feats of stupidity on the part of their villains’ behavior during a play session, while actual AI – that is, intelligence not based on scripted behavior – is yet to be fully realized. Occasionally we’ll read about a university or research group boasting about how their computer is learning and adapting to some basic situations, but we are still very, very, very far away from making SkyNet (which for a chance, is probably a good thing…).
6. Robots will do all the work
>> The claim
Somewhat related to point 5, but less about actual intelligence and more about how we’d all have robots bringing us martinis and doing all the stuff we’d rather not do.
>> The reality
It’s currently a massive achievement for a research group to get a robot to even walk, let alone clean our glasses and shine our shoes. Let’s not even talk about “fight our wars”. To be fair, most of our factories (well, in the west at least) are mechanized with machines that run on some basic (scripted) AI, but we haven’t seen many practical bipedal bots yet.
7. Solar power will replace fossil fuel
>> The claim
Exactly what it says; solar power was slated to be the energy of the future, with more or less everything running on some form or the other of it. The Sun was supposed to be all of humanities’ personal power plant!
>> The reality
Look outside your window and count how many cars are running on solar power.
Okay, that one’s mean, so let’s make it easier; look around your house and count how many devices run on solar power. If you can list – with photographic proof – even five such things in your home, my next article will come with a tribute video to you.
8. Hovering cars
>> The claim
Wheeled vehicles will be phased out in favor of cars that hover. Most aircrafts will be VTOL’s (Vertical Take Off and Landing). We’ll even have hover boards that replace skateboards!
>> The reality
Again, look outside. No, this one does not come with a special prize for those of you who can find something to the contrary (because current day hover crafts just don’t fit the bill).
9. Colonies in spaaaaaace!!!
>> The claim
Humanity will have outposts on the Moon, Mars, and a bunch of other planets. Space travel will be as routine as airplane travel.
>> The reality
Simply landing on the moon is still an amazing accomplishment, and space travel remains an expensive and very dangerous endeavor. We haven’t even landed on Mars, let alone established a colony on its surface (no, rovers do not count).
10. Jetpacks
>> The claim
In the future, we will have access to backpacks that let us soar into the sky!
>> The reality
Besides the fact that a jetpack is a bit of a flawed idea in itself, there haven’t even been any signs of a variation there of.
11. Exoskeletons and powered armor
>> The claim
We will either pilot giant robots or wear mechanized suits that let us accomplish superhuman feats like lifting heavy objects, flying and more. Soldiers will wear powered armor that can resist even direct missile hits and helmets that have lag and distortion free video and audio feeds, as well as complex targeting systems.
>> The reality
A wireless exoskeleton is still a long way from showing up in any practical form. For the moment, Iron Man continues to exist exclusively in movies and comics.
Powered armor is also nowhere to be seen, though we do have helmets and eyepieces that can be used for video feeds and targeting solutions.
Basically, so sum everything up, everyone was right, reality really sucks.
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