May 19, 2021Remember a few years back, when you came home from work in your flying car, tripped over your kid's hoverboard, rehydrated a pizza, read the latest messages on your family's fax machine, and scheduled a spleen replacement at your local rejuvenation clinic, then took your family to see Jaws 19 in holographic 3D? No? Doesn't ring a bell?
Well, had the Back to the Future franchise's creators had their way, the above might have described your average Saturday. When Emmett "Doc" Brown brought Marty McFly and Jennifer Parker to save their future children in the concluding scene of 1985's Back to the Future, moviegoers were left wondering what would happen next. Four years later they found out, and astounding though it may be, the far-off future to which they traveled is now our past. That future is here, and it's all about the Internet of Things.
In creating the fictional future society of 2015 for their roller-coaster of a sequel, 1989's Back to the Future Part II, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale extrapolated what that world might be like 30 years in the future, based on then-present-day styles and innovations. Some depictions were amusingly off the mark in retrospect (flying cars topping the list), while others were remarkably spot-on. In this weekend's feature story, I'll examine some of the guesses the prescient screenwriters got right.
The movie's accurate predictions included innovations related to smart homes, biometrics, voice-activated control systems, door-lock sensors, AI-based virtual assistants, smart glasses, drones, wireless technologies, wall-mounted flat-screen TVs with picture-in-picture capability, the integration of television with computers and phone services, automated eateries and much more. The film even predicted a long-awaited Chicago Cubs World Series victory, the resurgence of 3D movies and the rise of a Donald Trump-like political figure. Pretty impressive for a comedy made during the days of Reaganomics, eh?
Not all of the films' predictions have come to pass, of course. We don't have flying automobiles, fusion-powered vehicles, true hoverboards, bionic street gangs, a lawyer-free legal system, full-body rejuvenation clinics or self-drying, size-adjusting jackets, nor do we tend to use phone booths or fax machines much these days—and I don't think I've ever worn two neckties at once. Nonetheless, it's amazing just how much Gale and Zemeckis got right in how they envisioned the modern world. Keep an eye out this weekend for the full story, as there's a lot to unpack when we go back to the future to revisit the present-day past.
Rich Handley has been the managing editor of RFID Journal since 2005. Outside the RFID world, Rich has authored, edited or contributed to numerous books about pop culture.
