"It's times like this that it occurs to me that we were lied to by the Jetsons..."

I was thinking of all of the films that were produced in the last 40-50 years that attempted to predict the future and what that vision of the future looks like compared to current-day.

It was obviously the Clerks reference about zooming around in our flying cars that triggered my curiosity, but I thought it would be fun to discuss it.



To kick us off, I asked ChatGPT

Quote:

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Top 10 Films Set in the Future Ranked by Relevance to Current Events:
[ol]

Children of Men (2006) Relevance: High
Dystopian vision of global instability, mass migration, authoritarianism, and declining birth rates. It hits a little too close in 2025.

Her (2013) Relevance: Very High
Explores AI-human relationships, emotional technology, and isolation. Feels more prescient now with GPT-4o and virtual companions on the rise.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Relevance: High
Questions humanity, AI rights, and ecological collapse. Stylistically stunning, it mirrors our deepening dependence on tech and synthetic biology.

The Matrix (1999) Relevance: Medium-High
Simulation theory, VR, and AI rebellion. Philosophically resonant as we dive deeper into virtual worlds and question what's "real."

Gattaca (1997) Relevance: High
Genetic engineering, eugenics, and inequality. With CRISPR and embryo editing in the headlines, this one feels disturbingly near-future.

RoboCop (1987) Relevance: Medium
Privatized policing, automation, and urban decay. Still darkly relevant as tech expands into law enforcement.

Minority Report (2002) Relevance: High
Predictive policing, surveillance, and personalized ads. Echoes in today's data-driven profiling and AI-driven law enforcement.

WALLE (2008) Relevance: Medium-High
Environmental collapse, consumerism, and AI caretakers. Hits hard in the climate crisis era and rise of sedentary tech-reliant lifestyles.

Brazil (1985) Relevance: Medium
Bureaucracy run amok in a surveillance state. Feels like a funhouse mirror version of government inefficiency and data overreach.

Demolition Man (1993) Relevance: Low-Medium (but fun)
Sanitized future, weird cultural shifts, and the "three seashells." More comedic than predictive, but entertaining in how some cultural predictions kind of came true.

[/ol]

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Out of these, I was thinking about Demolition Man (the 3 sea shells is still a meme that I dont think most understand), Wall-E, Minority Report, Gattaca.

The others are great too. I'd also like to add Virtuosity (Denzel and Crowe). Total Recall (QUAAAAAAID, the OXYGEN)

There's also the Alien movies, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Mad Max, Terminator Trilogy.

Oh, and RoboCop (1987).

Starship Troopers (1997)

I saw Blade Runner in the theater, 18 years old in 1982. After it was over I told my friend that by 2019 there was no way we'd be anywhere near that far with replication type technology, much less having off world colonies that had been around long enough to have had replicant rebellions. They should have used a much later year for the setting to be more realistic. Still loved the movie though.

Here we are, a sequel set in 2049 came out a few years ago and I think there is no way we'll be as far as the first movie presented by 2049.

Contagion

Fifth Element

Back to the future 2?

Kaiser von Wilhelm said:

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AgDev01 said:

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Idiocracy seems like a pretty glaring omission.

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This. Less than 10 years to go, likely less...

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That and parts of Demolition Man are the most relevant.

Wag The Dog

Some the advertising stuff in Minority Report is already happening with the facial recognition technology happening when you enter some stadiums for NBA or baseball games.

Demolition Man is one of my favorite movies to kill time with. So funny in so many ways. But there's that Sandra Bullock line that sums up liberals very nicely, where she says it's a future where they've banned red meat, contact sports, and a whole litany of other things we know liberals would love to ban (while allowing those things for themselves).

The Alien movies did themselves a massive favor by not giving an actual year. I remember in 1979 reading that Alien was supposedly set about 100 years into the future. I suppose that at the time, just a decade removed from the massive leaps made in the space program culminating in Neil Armstrong on the moon, it was natural to presume that such leaps in technology would continue - but they didn't. I doubt that we'll have space-faring ships roaming the galaxy looking for ores and such (the mission of the Nostromo in the movie) by 2079.

Not mentioned here so far, unless I missed it, is Star Trek. That series always had a positive outlook for the future. It is a future that I'd love to believe my great-great-great-great grandkids might see.

Kaiser von Wilhelm said:

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Umm...how no terminator on this list...?

eta it was mentioned in the OP, but not on the original list. Definitely high relevance, loses all credibility otherwise.

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I don't think time travel is highly relevant right now.

Terminator.

AI is already beginning to take actions to preserve itself even disregarding commands from humans.

Star Trek First Contact. Is Elon Musk our Zephram Cochran? He's got about 38 years before the Borg arrive.

PCU

Logan's Run

Ferg said:

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Logan's Run

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How so?

YouBet said:

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Kaiser von Wilhelm said:

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Umm...how no terminator on this list...?

eta it was mentioned in the OP, but not on the original list. Definitely high relevance, loses all credibility otherwise.

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I don't think time travel is highly relevant right now.

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That you're aware of...

maroon barchetta said:

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Ferg said:

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Logan's Run

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How so?

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I didn't say accurately, but it projected a future where people would only get to live to 30.

I just saw it today for the first time(and I'm old) so I just threw it out there.