# Measuring Our Lives on an SF Timescale: What's Already Happened in SF? What's Coming Up Soon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [October 22, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040 "2010-10-22T20:14:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/1 "2010-10-22T20:14:19Z")
A couple months back, it hit me that my son, now 3, could live to see the year 2100. Or even 2101, as in “I[n A.D. 2101, War Was Beginning](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=in%20ad%202101%20war%20was%20beginning).” That made me think of SF landmarks that have already happened: 2001, of “A Space Odyssey” fame, has come and gone, and its 2010 sequel would be happening now. Joe Haldeman’s [Forever War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forever_War) would already be underway. The 1960s cartoon “Astro Boy” is set shortly after the year 2000, so its world is theoretically in our rearview mirror. So what other SF is set in years that are already in our rearview mirror? What else is coming up soon? ---
**Author:** ![SpartanDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SpartanDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpartanDC)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/2 "2010-10-22T20:25:50Z")
In the Star Trek universe, right now we should not only be recovering from the Eugenics Wars, but also making our way toward World War III and first contact with an alien civilization. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/3 "2010-10-22T20:27:06Z")
Well, it’s now more than 11 years since the radioactive waste dumps on the moon exploded, catapulting it out of Earth’s orbit faster than the speed of light. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/4 "2010-10-22T20:30:50Z")
1984 - Totalitarian takeovers of Europe (there were some scifi gadgets like the telescreens). [1984] 1993 - Eugenics Wars begin [ST: TOS] 1994 - Comet passes between the Earth and Moon causing widespread destruction [Thundarr the Barbarian] 1996 - Khan leaves Earth on the Botany Bay in exile. He had ruled over a quarter of the Earth’s population. [ST: TOS] ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/5 "2010-10-22T20:33:53Z")
This is the year which all governments worldwide ban the use of aluminum! (David Brin, _Earth_). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/6 "2010-10-22T20:39:31Z")
There’s still a chance that Nehemiah Scudder will start his ministry. But where are our mechanized roads? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/7 "2010-10-22T20:56:59Z")
Well, if _Back to the Future_ is right, we’ll get our flying cars in 5 years time. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/8 "2010-10-22T21:36:57Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Well, if _Back to the Future_ is right, we’ll get our flying cars in 5 years time. Sweet! I’m going to start saving now. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/9 "2010-10-22T22:05:05Z")
Flying cars, bah! On October 16, 1997 the Jupiter 2 was launched with the goal of reaching Alpha Centauri in five years, on \*Lost in Space. \* And whatever happened to that big monolith we found back in _2001_ and the contact we made with it in _2010_? ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/10 "2010-10-22T22:45:21Z")
In the final decade of the twenty first century men and women in rocket ships will land on the moon. (Forbidden Planet) ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/11 "2010-10-22T23:17:02Z")
Judgment day happened in August 29, 1997. Skynet became self-aware. In a panic, the humans tried to pull the plug. Skynet retaliated by launching the USA’s nuclear weapons at their targets in Russia. Over 3 billion people died in the ensuing war. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/12 "2010-10-23T05:01:07Z")
The Macross crash-landed in 1999, and was relaunched last year. In the meantime, we had a series of wars. The launch coincided with the beginning of a war with the aliens. It hasn’t been a good decade. Especially since in one variant on that timeline, the planet was completely sterilized shortly afterwards. In others, we suffered a rather thorough, but not complete, scouring in February this year. In another variant timeline, there were a series of wars starting in 1989, which ended with the crash-landing of the ship, which gave way to a decade of peace…until the aliens attacked. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/13 "2010-10-23T10:07:01Z")
Per the Universal Century timeline (Gundam) the world Federation was established in 1999. The first solar powersat was launched in 2005. According to The Morrow Project, WWIII was fought in 1989. Prime Base was attacked and shut down within five years, putting the Project in serious jeopardy. St. Vidicon will be martyred in just ten more years. On 13 SEP 2000, the event known as Second Impact happened, which the world is told a resulted from a collision with a small meteor traveling at relativistic speeds impacted on Antarctica, melting most of the austral ice cap, and causing massive damage and flooding worldwide. In reality, it was a direct consequence of fiddling with the extra-Terrestrial entity known as ADAM. (Neon Genesis Evangelion) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/14 "2010-10-23T13:36:23Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > And whatever happened to that big monolith we found back in _2001_ and the contact we made with it in _2010_? Well, whatever it was, it was wonderful… We’re now ten years past the “critical mass” described in _Logan’s Run_, where almost all the world’s population is under 21, sparking the Little War and complete overthrow of the established order. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/15 "2010-10-23T14:03:45Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Well, if _Back to the Future_ is right, we’ll get our flying cars in 5 years time. I have a theory about this. In his quest to put his life on the right path, _Marty Mcfly_ inadvertently ruined the future. Picture this scenario: _Robert Rutherford III_, the heir to the _Rutherford_ fortune, a brilliant but listless twentysomething billionaire is on his way home from yet another all weekend bender. Even though his IQ is off the charts he has resigned himself to a life of idleness, debauchery, and spending the _Rutherford_ fortune. Suddenly a black pickup truck hits his white _Rolls-Royce_. _Robert_ is badly injured and spends the next few days in a medically induced coma. After waking up and realizing that no one but his loyal valet came to visit him in the hospital, _Robert_ vows to clean up his act and save his father’s now crumbling legacy. With new found vigour he slowly raises _Rutherford Industries_ from the ashes into the massive economic powerhouse it would be today. Personally overseeing and developing such projects as hover technology, portable fusion devices, self drying and fitting clothes, ultra-dehydrated food, dust-repellent paper, and much more, the name _Robert Rutherford III_ becomes a house hold name often mentioned in the same breath as _Einstein_, _Newton_, or _Stephen Hawking_. _Robert Rutherford III_’s genius and humanity has inspired mankind to reach further than ever before. For the first time in human history the thought of world peace and universal prosperity doesn’t sound so far fetched. All because of a fateful car accident on October 27, 1985 that forced one of mankind’s greatest geniuses to reevaluate his life. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/16 "2010-10-23T15:46:32Z")
While the _Blade Runner_ world is 9 years away, that doesn’t seem like nearly enough time to develop: flying cars (the theme of this thread?), off world colonies and at least 6 model-generations of androids. Time to get going on these things. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/17 "2010-10-24T03:22:45Z")
Sam should have been stuck leaping through bodies for almost 11 years now. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/18 "2010-10-24T03:52:45Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > While the _Blade Runner_ world is 9 years away, that doesn’t seem like nearly enough time to develop: flying cars (the theme of this thread?), off world colonies and at least 6 model-generations of androids. Time to get going on these things. Not to mention Los Angeles finally getting some really notable landmark skyscrapers. The blimps projecting weird Japanese ads, though, you could probably do today…and make money off of it. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/19 "2010-10-24T04:09:25Z")
In the year 1987, NASA launched the last of America’s deep space probes. Aboard this compact starship, a lone astronaut, Captain William ‘Buck’ Rogers, was to experience cosmic forces beyond all comprehension. In a freak mishap, his life support systems were frozen by temperatures beyond imagination. ‘Ranger 3’ was blown out of its planned trajectory, into an orbit one thousand times more vast. An orbit which was to return Buck Rogers to Earth five hundred years later. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040/20 "2010-10-24T04:39:19Z")
On the first day of the year 2000, God was assassinated. (_The Jehovah Contract_) In 2007, two time travelers arrived, both soldiers in a centuries-long future war. A cyborg “Troll” of the Kanga Empire, who wished to enslave or failing that destroy humanity. And Colonel Ludmilla Leonovna, the immortal “Thuselah” whose goal is to kill the Troll and preserve humanity. (_The Apocalypse Troll_) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/measuring-our-lives-on-an-sf-timescale-whats-already-happened-in-sf-whats-coming-up-soon/558040.md?page=2)