# Things you thought were (still) Sci-Fi... that aren't
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 22, 2009, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290 "2009-05-22T12:00:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2009, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/1 "2009-05-22T12:00:44Z")
Every now and then, I’ll come across some article about some technical gizmo that’s just been invented or has actually been around for some time, that I would’ve thought utterly impossible with today’s technology, or perhaps even at all.
Take, for instance, force fields. They’re a staple of contemporary science-fiction, to the point of being disastrously overused – I’ve always wondered why they didn’t make their bloody tea cups out of force fields on _The Next Generation_, they were used for pretty much everything else. Even the sickbay beds had restraining force fields instead of simple straps!
But anyway. Force fields are as overrepresented in fiction as they are impossible in reality. Except, of course, we already have them (or something very much like them, at least)! And in two different realisations\*, no less. One is the so-called [plasma window](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_window): you sandwich a volume of plasma between magnetic fields – currently, this is done in the form of a flat plane, hence ‘window’ – and thus create a barrier stable enough to separate a vacuum from gas at normal atmospheric pressure, kinda like those shuttle hangar field on TNG. OK, so it doesn’t really scale up well, but that’s just a question of energy.
The second, which I found out about today and brought on the creation of this thread, is a bit bigger, and not really so much of a force field than rather force ‘cell bars’, going by the unspectacular name [Portal Denial System](http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/police-brutality-is-the-easy-part/portal-denial-system-electroplasmalaser-261936.php). Basically, a laser creates a conducting channel in the air, which a current is then sent through (I’ve heard about a technology like that being researched for weapons application – basically, a kind of lightning gun). Try to go through, and get zapped with some 10,000 volts. Looks hella cool, too. Unfeasible and needlessly extravagant? Perhaps; after all, a set of actual bars could do the job better, while not sending your electrical bill through the roof. Thwartable by medieval chain mail? That, too. It’s still hella cool, though!
So, what are your ‘damn, I thought that was still Sci-Fi’-techs?
\*Actually, while googling for links for this thread, I found a third one that’s at least being proposed – creating a [plasma bubble](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9567-plasma-bubble-could-protect-astronauts-on-mars-trip.html) around a space ship to shield astronauts from cosmic radiation!
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### Author:  [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2009, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/2 "2009-05-23T11:12:53Z")
Hmm, nobody? No exciting future techs to add? Not even a ‘wow, force fields’? Well. What about exo-skeletons? Sure, they’re not quite up to Iron Man levels, but, just as a bonus, the company making some of the currently most advanced ones is called Cyberdyne, and they named their product Hybrid Assistive Limb, or, for short, [HAL](http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/robotsuithal/index.html)! Kinda asking for it, don’t you think?
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2009, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/3 "2009-05-23T12:27:54Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#):
>
> The second, which I found out about today and brought on the creation of this thread, is a bit bigger, and not really so much of a force field than rather force ‘cell bars’, going by the unspectacular name [Portal Denial System](http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/police-brutality-is-the-easy-part/portal-denial-system-electroplasmalaser-261936.php). Basically, a laser creates a conducting channel in the air, which a current is then sent through (I’ve heard about a technology like that being researched for weapons application – basically, a kind of lightning gun). Try to go through, and get zapped with some 10,000 volts. Looks hella cool, too. Unfeasible and needlessly extravagant? Perhaps; after all, a set of actual bars could do the job better, while not sending your electrical bill through the roof. Thwartable by medieval chain mail? That, too. It’s still hella cool, though!
I saw an article in Laser Focus World in the early 90s about a proposal to use similar technology for an anti-lightning system. A UV laser would be set up at a location where lightning strikes have bad consequences for people, such as an airport or a golf course. The UV laser would create a plasma channel from the storm clouds to the ground, allowing the storm clouds to discharge in a controlled location away from people and sensitive equipment.
In other words We call lightning from the sky like GODS!!
Back off man, I’m a scientist. BWah ha HA ha HA ha HA!
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/4 "2009-05-23T13:22:04Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#):
>
> I saw an article in Laser Focus World in the early 90s about a proposal to use similar technology for an anti-lightning system. A UV laser would be set up at a location where lightning strikes have bad consequences for people, such as an airport or a golf course. The UV laser would create a plasma channel from the storm clouds to the ground, allowing the storm clouds to discharge in a controlled location away from people and sensitive equipment.
I saw a picture of a tabletop version of the “laser guided lightning” technique. Very cool; a bright fuzzy beam with electrical arcs coming off of it.
How about an [experimental anti-mosquito laser system](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123680870885500701.html) ?
> [@](#):
>
> Not only can the laser target a mosquito, it can also tell a male from a female based on wing-beat.
>
> That’s a crucial distinction, since only females feed on blood and thus transmit disease. Males in the wild eat sugary plant nectar. (In the lab they get raisins.)
>
> “If you really were a purist, you could only kill the females, not the males,” Mr. Myhrvold says. But since they’re mosquitoes, he says, he’ll probably “just slay them all.”
[Levitating animals by magnetism](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1vyB-O5i6E).
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### Author:  [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/5 "2009-05-23T16:02:59Z")
How about [reading people’s minds](http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/12/scientists-extract-images-directly-from-brain/)?
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### Author:  [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/6 "2009-05-23T16:37:07Z")
I like the cockroach-powered robots, personally. I’d sort of like one for a pet. I’d name him Irvin.
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### Author:  [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/7 "2009-05-23T17:06:58Z")
3D printers are something that I was surprised to learn exist.
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### Author:  [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/8 "2009-05-23T17:26:33Z")
> [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](#):
>
> How about [reading people’s minds](http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/12/scientists-extract-images-directly-from-brain/)?
That’s a little freaky. It looks like it would be time consuming and expensive, I wonder if they can adapt it someday for an interrogation method?
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/9 "2009-05-23T18:39:46Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#):
>
> What about exo-skeletons? Sure, they’re not quite up to Iron Man levels, but, just as a bonus, the company making some of the currently most advanced ones is called Cyberdyne, and they named their product Hybrid Assistive Limb, or, for short, [HAL](http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/robotsuithal/index.html)! Kinda asking for it, don’t you think?
The development I think is really sci-fi is [operating a robotic arm by mind control.](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/science/29brain.html)
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/10 "2009-05-23T19:52:00Z")
The first step towards the Krell mind expander. [http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/neuro/TMS\_NYT.html](http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/neuro/TMS_NYT.html)
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2009, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/11 "2009-05-24T06:47:13Z")
Google maps does it for me.
The one thing I’ve always hated about internet maps of any kind is that it just gave you the street names that you are supposed to turn on. You had no way of knowing what land markers to look for when you got close to a turn. It wasn’t until recently I learned you can go to “Birds Eye” view of one map tool I use (My favorite) or you can use google street veiw.
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### Author:  [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2009, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/12 "2009-05-24T08:07:38Z")
Speaking of mind-control,Mattel is releasing a [toy](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/4126913/Mind-game-where-players-use-brainwaves-to-float-ball-through-hoops-unveiled.html) where you control a ball with your thoughts.
Apparently brain-scanning technology of various types is further advanced that most people realize. You have to be at least a little apprehensive of where this technology will go in the next couple of decades.
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### Author:  [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2009, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/13 "2009-05-24T08:09:01Z")
Oh and scientists seem to be making some [progress](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8025886.stm)towards devising invisibility cloaks.
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### Author:  [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2009, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/14 "2009-05-24T10:05:25Z")
**Lantern** , what I find most fascinating about those invisibility cloaks is the speed at which they’re being developed – seems to me that I first heard about the theoretical possibility of developing something like that in the microwave spectrum using advanced metamaterials a couple of years ago, at best, with wild speculations that one day in the far future this might be adaptable to visible light – and now they’re rapidly getting there, already!
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> How about an [experimental anti-mosquito laser system](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123680870885500701.html) ?
Hah, that’s not so much something out of Sci-Fi as it is something straight out of XKCD… I love it! I’d be in line for one if this ever becomes commercially viable… And then I’d leave the light on and the window open in warm summer nights on purpose, just to enjoy the show!
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> The development I think is really sci-fi is [operating a robotic arm by mind control.](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/science/29brain.html)
Oh my god, yes. All those ‘neural interfacing’ developments are absolutely mind-boggling to me – to think that we really are on the brink of machinery that, even if only in a somewhat roundabout way, can directly interface with a person’s thoughts… Maybe I will eventually get that cyborg body!
> [@rowrrbazzle](#):
>
> The first step towards the Krell mind expander. [http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/neuro/TMS\_NYT.html](http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/neuro/TMS_NYT.html)
Now that is something I’d never heard about. Extremely interesting! I wonder how it’d impact our picture of ourselves if we truly could ‘switch on’ genius-like abilities in certain fields – is super-calculator me really still _me_?
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### Author:  [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/15 "2009-05-24T12:59:49Z")
There are a lot of neat robot videos out there but [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHJJQ0zNNOM)is probably the best I have seen. Big Dog being developed for DARPA; I bet we will see a future version on a battlefield within 10 years. Its ability to regain its balance after being pushed and while walking on ice is quite remarkable.
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### Author:  [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/16 "2009-05-24T13:56:57Z")
It’s not near as fuchuristic as the other examples, but display technology is getting both thin enough and cheap enough that you’re starting to see screens show up EVERYWHERE. Our Arbys has three up showing ‘entertainment’ (read: Advertisments for Arbys food and ABC programming), and the cinema downtown’s Concessions Stand menu is _12_ screens - bright and fully animated. (The geek in me knows it’s just a single computer with 4 displays and a multiplexer to show it on 12 screens, but still. I’ll bet it wasn’t even all that expesive…considering)
All of the sci-fi shows that have the future as a constant barrage of full color animated ads, that’s coming true sooner than you’d expect. I’m still amazed how quickly full video road ads are becoming. [http://www.signindustry.com/led/articles/2002-07-30-LBledBillboards.php3](http://www.signindustry.com/led/articles/2002-07-30-LBledBillboards.php3)
(For better or for worse)
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### Author:  [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/17 "2009-05-24T14:08:49Z")
FWIW, I found this clip:
> [@](#):
>
> Lower sign costs
> In the last four years, Klausmeier says, the purchase of a single digital billboard has come down by at least 35%. In 2004, an average (depending on additional features), 14-foot x 48-foot digital billboard was about $400,000 per board. Today, the same billboard can be acquired for about $290,000.
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/18 "2009-05-24T23:08:28Z")
Tractor beams exist as small versions called laser traps. The use I know them for is holding small (microscopic) stryofoam beads that are attached to muscle proteins to measure their force.
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### Author:  [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2009, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/19 "2009-05-25T02:11:58Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#):
>
> All of the sci-fi shows that have the future as a constant barrage of full color animated ads, that’s coming true sooner than you’d expect. I’m still amazed how quickly full video road ads are becoming
Makes ya wonder if those scifi movies were actually subsidized by big marketing, it will pay off in the end , have no worries
Declan
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### Author:  [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-thought-were-still-sci-fi-that-arent/497290/20 "2009-05-25T17:53:20Z")
Okay, I was incredulous when I went to the Apple store awhile ago and was able to make my purchase from the salesman in the middle of the store. The kid helped me find whatever it was I needed, then ran my debit card on a little machine on his belt, and emailed me my receipt. No standing in line necessary, totally paperless.
Well, _I_ was amazed.
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