# What scary futuristic things from movies/books have come true? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200 "2010-08-23T20:42:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/1 "2010-08-23T20:42:30Z")
I’m talking horrible dystopian things. 1984, Brave New World, Logan’s Run, the works. With our obsession with reality TV, the Running Man seems to be getting closer and closer to becoming…well, a reality. And with the way we’re so obsessed with physical appearance, sometimes I think that Brave New World where everyone looks physically perfect (well, the Alphas, I suppose, and even then excepting people like Bernard) is starting to come true. When Linda who’s been stranded in the savage lands comes back, everyone thinks she looks hideous, and it just seems like things like wrinkles and old people are starting to be seen as flaws and defects instead of as the natural aging process. And in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, the emphasis on procedures for staying young, etc.–some that work, some that don’t…that pretty much seems to be the way things are now. I also was reading about surrogacy being outsourced and a lot of people seem to find that Handmaid’s Tale-esque, though I don’t think of if that way because there’s no real element of force there. What do you think has come true, and what do you think might? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/2 "2010-08-23T23:49:47Z")
In _Minority Report,_ you can’t walk down the street without scanners reading your retinal pattern to get your identity, and tailored ads hawking wares at you based on your buying history. The streets aren’t like that yet. But the Internet . . . ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/3 "2010-08-23T23:54:00Z")
From **The Golden Kazoo** , politicians run their campaigns around public opinion polls and sell themselves to the public via pure marketing strategies based on the polls. The book was written in 1956. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/4 "2010-08-23T23:54:18Z")
Soylent Green, still people. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/5 "2010-08-23T23:56:02Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Soylent Green, still people. You do **not** want to know about Soylent Brown. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/6 "2010-08-24T00:18:10Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > **What scary futuristic things from movies/books have come true?** Well, women these days are generally uppity sorts who think that they are as good as men. They wantonly have sex without the sacrament of marriage. And some of them even marry black guys! :eek: Why, you can’t even tell what race to assign a lot of people to with all the miscegenation going on! Just making the point that some horrors predicted in yesteryear came true…but we don’t think they are horrors anymore. > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > And with the way we’re so obsessed with physical appearance, sometimes I think that Brave New World where everyone looks physically perfect (well, the Alphas, I suppose, and even then excepting people like Bernard) is starting to come true. When Linda who’s been stranded in the savage lands comes back, everyone thinks she looks hideous, and it just seems like things like wrinkles and old people are starting to be seen as flaws and defects instead of as the natural aging process. Well, here’s the thing; the natural aging process IS the accumulation of flaws and defects. That’s why it eventually kills you, after all. > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > What do you think has come true, and what do you think might? The ever increasing power and privilege of corporations and the wealthy, for one. Environmental degradation, for another. Urban decay is getting worse and worse and little is done to stop it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/7 "2010-08-24T00:18:25Z")
If we include TV… In several seasons of the show _24_, we had a :eek: Negro President! ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/8 "2010-08-24T00:18:42Z")
TimeCop, pretty much everything except the time travel and ugly cars. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/9 "2010-08-24T00:21:08Z")
[Killer robot assassins](http://xkcd.com/652/) ---
**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/10 "2010-08-24T00:28:36Z")
Just about everything in the movie [_Network_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/). ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/11 "2010-08-24T00:30:09Z")
Organlegging. Small countries ruled by nutcase dictators with nukes. _Almost:_ Robot war machines (Predator drone, etc. still wisely have no autonomous ability to fire their weapons.) Battlefield lasers (scary or cool depending on your viewpoint). ---
**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:** [August 24, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/12 "2010-08-24T00:31:35Z")
America being hit by a major terrorist strike, and becoming more racist, religiously fanatical and authoritarian as a result. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/13 "2010-08-24T02:55:49Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > America being hit by a major terrorist strike, and becoming more racist, religiously fanatical and authoritarian as a result. Except that everything after “strike” didn’t actually happen. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/14 "2010-08-24T03:04:32Z")
Pretty much everything the GWB administration did was straight out of Orwell’s 1984. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/15 "2010-08-24T03:08:17Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > > > **What scary futuristic things from movies/books have come true?** > > Well, women these days are generally uppity sorts who think that they are as good as men. They wantonly have sex without the sacrament of marriage. And some of them even marry black guys! :eek: Why, you can’t even tell what race to assign a lot of people to with all the miscegenation going on! > Just making the point that some horrors predicted in yesteryear came true…but we don’t think they are horrors anymore. Heh. Good point. > [@](#): > > Well, here’s the thing; the natural aging process IS the accumulation of flaws and defects. That’s why it eventually kills you, after all. But we’re not so much focused on getting rid of aging–it’s more the outward appearance. That is, no one ever died of too many wrinkles. Yet what you see many people focusing on is retaining smooth skin and looking young. Not that anyone wants to die either, but maintaining the illusion of youth is what I was most struck by. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/16 "2010-08-24T03:19:31Z")
John Brunner’s book [The Shockwave Rider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shockwave_Rider) did a pretty good job at predicting a world-wide computer network and some of the disadvantages thereof. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/17 "2010-08-24T05:00:32Z")
In Heinlein’s _Stranger in a Strange Land_, one of the top politicians had a wife who was heavily into astrology. She had a lot of influence on her husband, and whoever advised her in astrology also had a lot of influence on him, indirectly. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/18 "2010-08-24T05:16:36Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Pretty much everything the GWB administration did was straight out of Orwell’s 1984. This. We can be specific … he did things no other President has done such as 1. Systematic torture used and sanctioned from the very top, publicly defended. 2. Tried to dump habeas corpus .. and succeeded. 3. Politicized the Justice Department, replacing independent Justice Dept. members with political hacks who would investigate the “right” people and come up with the “right” results. 4. His servant Karl Rove used dirty tricks to secure Bush’s election in 2000. We’re not living in 1984 yet, but Bush moved us that way, farther and faster than any President before him, even Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/19 "2010-08-24T05:28:50Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Except that everything after “strike” didn’t actually happen. _The Matrix_ is real!? ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200/20 "2010-08-24T06:42:48Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > America being hit by a major terrorist strike, and becoming more racist, religiously fanatical and authoritarian as a result. I’m not necessarily opposed to your conclusion, however, you fail to mention which book/movie predicted this… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-scary-futuristic-things-from-movies-books-have-come-true/551200.md?page=2)