# Any old movies about the future that got it right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 14, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075 "2009-04-14T15:52:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/41 "2009-04-15T21:17:40Z")
For social changes, how about **Farenheit 451**? While we don’t have firemen that burn books, the idea of a society that disdains reading (and all forms of active, critical thinking) in favor of passive consumption of television images has actually come to be. All people are expected to conduct themselves along the lines of a strict ultra-P.C. code of behavior. The book/movie also speculated that TVs would become supersized wall units that dominated family rooms. People who think for themselves, rather than follow the TV-dictated trends, are ostracized and shunned. IIRC, there is even mention in the program of ‘interactive’ TV shows, in which the viewing audience can send away for scripts (on audio, natch) so that they can ‘be part of the TV show.’ That’s not that far off from the idea of reality TV, wherein ‘normal people’ partake in frankly scripted ‘real life’ scenarios. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/42 "2009-04-15T21:18:29Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Video phones are now almost a reality. [And have been since 1964.](http://davidszondy.com/future/Living/picturephone.htm) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/43 "2009-04-15T21:20:49Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Someone once said that almost anyone could have predicted the automobile before it was invented, and maybe could have predicted drive-in theaters as a logical extension of the car. However, it would take a really gifted author to predict the drive-in theater as the social gathering place it became, and how they became known as passion pits for teens. And it would have taken an author still more gifted to predict that other technologies would emerge and kill off the drive-ins. (How many are there left in America now?) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/44 "2009-04-15T21:36:32Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > “_What the wife selects on her console the husband will pay for on his counterpart console_”. :rolleyes: So far only technology has been mentioned; what social stuff did anybody get right? For example I remember reading a future speculation book from the 70s (sorry can’t think of the title) in my HS library that predicted all kinds of weird thinks. Most of it was a biography of a girl named Milleny (sp?) born in 2000. She only had one name because after 30 yrs of women keeping there own names surnames like Smith-Doe-Miller-Cooper stated becoming common and the law was changed so that people only need one name as long as it was distinctive. There was alot of stuff about group living, open marriages, polyamory, becoming mainstream (by this decade), but nothing about same-sex marriage. Joe Haldeman’s [_The Forever War_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forever_War) envisioned homosexuality becoming near-universal – but that was because the government encouraged it for population control. [A lot of SF was premised on the assumption of an overpopulation problem.](http://davidszondy.com/future/Dystopias/overpopulation.htm) Social stuff is **hard** to get right! And there’s constant mutual interaction between sociocultural and technological developments. [_In the Country of the Blind,_](http://www.amazon.com/Country-Blind-Michael-Flynn/dp/076534498X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229452034&sr=1-1) by Michael Flynn, features a secret society (several, actually), derived from a group of early-19th-Century mathematicians who used Babbage’s “Difference Engine” computer to develop a real, reliable predictive science of history and society – sort of a steampunk version of Isaac Asimov’s [psychohistory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional)) from the _Foundation_ series. When you think about it, that comes under the “flatly impossible” category. No matter how sophisticated their models or how skillful their calculations, how could such scientists possibly have foreseen the sociocultural effects of the radio, pennicilin, or the atomic bomb? The science of their day gave them no grounds even to think such things were possible. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/45 "2009-04-16T06:29:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Another example I’ve seen is that anyone, on seeing the telephone, could have predicted the pocket phone, but it took someone like Heinlein to realize that people would regard the pocket phones as an inconvenience, and deliberately keep them turned off or not take them with them. Meh. I’m not impressed since the vast majority of people don’t do this. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/46 "2009-04-16T07:10:06Z")
> [@Birdmonster](#): > > I’d argue that it predicts the obscene level of violence and greed in professional American football. Rollerball came out in 1975. How is the violence in football more “obscene” since then? Players are bigger and stronger. But they have added more rules to protect the players. No one can do a Deacon Jones head slap. No one is allowed to do a crackback block. The game is no more violent than it was in 1975. If you look at the 1970s Oakland Raiders I would say it is less violent. As for greed, did the owners want to make less money in 1975? The NFL probably wasn’t quite as popular then but it was pretty popular. The big change is the ammount of TV revenue and free agency. So who is being greedy? Should the TV stations keep all the ad revenue? Should the owners keep all the TV and concession revenue? Should the players not want to get their slice of the pie? The average NFL career is 3 1/2 years. Most players are not big stars and are not rich. There are no guaranteed contracts. If they get hurt the money stops. They can get hurt at any moment. Even if they are lucky to have long careers they will have injuries that affect them their whole life. I can not blame them for trying to get as much as they can when they can. The Superbowl in 1975 was the first win for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Terry Bradshaw vs Fran Tarkington. Hardly ancient history. The game was not any different than it is now. Rollerball predicted nothing in the NFL. As someone else said you could make an argument that it predicts reality TV but that is stretching it. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/47 "2009-04-16T11:39:26Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > Meh. I’m not impressed since the vast majority of people don’t do this. Really? “Meh”? Not impressed, at all? This is from a 1953 story by Heinlein: > [@](#): > > “How come,” he asked as he came abreast, “they had to search for you?” > > “Left my pocketphone in my other suit,” Coburn returned briefly. “Did it on purpose - I wanted a little peace and quiet. No luck.” I’ve done that. A cell phone is a convenience – unless you don’t _want_ to be reached. So, let me hear your prediction for a bit of technology that doesn’t exist yet, in use fifty years from now, and what it’s good for, and why some people won’t always appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/48 "2009-04-16T11:42:42Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Rollerball predicted nothing in the NFL. As someone else said you could make an argument that it predicts reality TV but that is stretching it. The important social predictions in _Rollerball_ aren’t about sports, but about transnational corporations running everything, replacing national governments. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/49 "2009-04-16T12:27:18Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > The important social predictions in _Rollerball_ aren’t about sports, but about transnational corporations running everything, replacing national governments. Well that hasn’t happened yet. Or has it? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/50 "2009-04-16T14:43:17Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > Meh. I’m not impressed since the vast majority of people don’t do this. I do this. My WAG is about 10 percent of people I know do it or would like to do it if they could “get away with it”. My SO bitched me out last week for not having my cell phone on, by calling others with me that DID have theirs on. It was accidental in this case, because its a new phone and I had the settings messedu up. I almost broke the thing in half and threw it away. The fact that I was in the company of others inclined me not to do it. But, “Cocksucker” Swearigine from Deadwood predicted this long ago when the telegraph was coming to town and everyone else was excited. His take on it, paraphrasing : When has someone, particularly a stranger, contacted you with GOOD news? 🙂 there’s wisdom in them there dens of inequity ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/51 "2009-04-16T15:16:19Z")
I recall reading years ago that video phones would never take off because women would have to put on makeup to answer the phone. I can’t recall if this was written jokingly or not but there’s a truth to it. One can answer their phone naked and in rag order. Video phones have other potential problems for users, not being able to fake a sickie as easily, or lie to whoever as to your location. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/52 "2009-04-17T07:17:01Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Really? “Meh”? Not impressed, at all? Not at all. > [@Baldwin](#): > > So, let me hear your prediction for a bit of technology that doesn’t exist yet, in use fifty years from now, and what it’s good for, and why some people won’t always appreciate it. No. > [@billfish678](#): > > I do this. My WAG is about 10 percent of people I know do it or would like to do it if they could “get away with it”. Like I said, the vast majority of people don’t do this. Predicting the cell phone? Sure, good call. Predicting that a handful of people will occasionally intentionally leave it behind? Can’t say I’m blown away by the prescience here. A big yawn from me. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/53 "2009-04-17T11:30:22Z")
Along the idea of cellphones as an irritant rather a godsend convience… did anyone predict traffic jams and folks that find using cars in general irritating? any other conviences that were predicted to suffer some backlash? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/54 "2009-04-17T15:06:52Z")
George Orwell’s 1984 had the whole video-computer screen and big screens for major events. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/55 "2009-04-17T15:27:06Z")
deleted wrong thread ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075/56 "2009-04-18T03:12:55Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Well how old are the actual walkways? I remember them for years. > > What movie showed them that pre-dates them? Come to think of it, I’ve often wondered why there were so relatively few movies set aboard commercial airliners prior to _Airport_. True, relatively few people traveled by plane in those days, but you’d think the dramatic possibilities would have been more than worthwhile, and the exotic quality of a form of travel which most people had not yet experienced would have been a draw. And, it’s relatively easy to mock up an airplane passenger interior in the studio, or I’d think it would be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-old-movies-about-the-future-that-got-it-right/493075.md?page=2)