Killer Robot Police and 2010
A little over 10 years ago, The Onion had one of their spoof articles, titled: We Can Put a Man on the Moon, But We Can’t Make Killer Robot Police?
It was one of those articles that my husband and I still reference now and again, usually whenever some incredible bit of technology is announced. Because that’s great and all — but where are the killer robot police?
And I was thinking of it again when I was linking to my 2010 releases on Amazon … because we’ve been in 2K for a while now, but there’s something about that double-digit at the end that is totally surreal. 2009? No big deal. 2010? That’s heading into science fiction territory. It’s the kind of date I expect to see on a movie screenshot, in some computer-y font. Like so:
In 2010, aren't there supposed to be people living on Mars??
But, seriously — where are my flying cars (especially flying cars that run on garbage)? We should totally have some right now. Levitating chairs? Still only a concept. Pffft.
I’ve probably been ruined by sci-fi. My expectations of 2010 are totally out of whack. I really hoped that I’d be able to eat Big Macs all day but not gain a pound, thanks to some magical pill. The wrinkles starting to show around my eyes? Should be gone. I don’t live in a tiny white apartment made out of curves, with a toilet that self-cleans and retracts into the wall. Why?
Think back, twenty or twenty-five years ago to, say, 1984 (always a good sci-fi year). What did you think we’d have in 2010 that we don’t? And is there any tech that you wouldn’t trade for all of the killer robot police (or flying cars) in the world?
And can you think of anything they got right? Something that, as soon as it came out, you turned to someone and said: “Holy crap, that’s just like in [movie or book] !”
33 people have bellied up to “Killer Robot Police and 2010”
Meljean your posts are always relevant to my interests. Around my house the line is (and probably always will be) “Flying cars?! Where are my flying cars? I was promised flying cars!”
I can’t think of anything specific from when I was a kid; but I always thought medicine would be further along. A cure for cancer or an AIDS vaccine. Something like that.
I think they’ve been working on a vaccine against AIDS for some time… Only against the pregnancy-associated form, though. And I have no idea how far they got
Yes, there are definitely a few vaccines and cures that I thought would have come along by now. Some of them, I still expect to see in my lifetime … of course, until a new disease or problem crops up
Digging way back (ahem!) the obvious answer is communicators, a.k.a. cell phones.
Mom should have written sci fi. She predicted the bottled water craze 40 yrs ago. When the perrier commercials started several years later, it was expected in my family. Mom had said it; it must be so.
=A
lol, you should have written down all of your mom’s predictions. You might have been a millionaire by now
I would like a pill that would make me magically lose weight.
Or a robot that would do my day job for me so I could sit around watching Maury!
You and me both. I was all excited about the Roomba, until I realized how much maintenance was involved.
I think that’s the problem with a lot of new tech — it either has to be constantly recharged, or maintained, or updated.
I just want a robot that will clean for the next 50 years, and that plugs itself in (actually, I think the Roomba does this) cleans its own filters, etc.
I’m still waiting for flying skateboards like in Back to the Future II, And wasn’t that supposed to be in 1999 or around there?
2015
Heck, I don’t care about flying cars. I’d be happy with an earthbound car that drives itself.
I’m also still waiting for my voice activated talking computer. And I don’t mean the “say yes for English” phone menus.
Oh, this is true, too. Like a Star Trek type of computer that you can ask naturally-speaking questions, and it interprets the data correctly.
Three pieces of technology I had a hard time living without: my laptop, my Ipod and my mobile phone.
About the technology I wished it existed: A computer/whatever that can project images/words/concepts in your mind on a screen. That would be seriously cool.
Seriously cool … and I would be in so much trouble, lol. I don’t think half of what goes through my brain should ever come out *g*
*channels inner nerd* I always thought the doors that opened automatically no matter how fast or slow you were going was cool (Star Trek:Next Generation) and having some computer like thingy beam you up food was the most awesome thing in the world. (Seriously, who wouldn’t want a fridge that could make a cheeseburger & fries or a chocolate sundae appear out of thin air?)
Come to think of it, star trek had a lot of good ideas. (C’mon.. teleporting to anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice would be SWEET)
Pls.. no comments from the peanut gallery on just how big of a nerd I am. (I know this already)
Dude, I love big nerds. And might be considered one myself.
Ah, a food generator. Yes, please! (Also, to the teleporters.)
No but I’m waiting for 2059-ish. isn’t that when the Eve Dallas books take place? because I really want an auto-chef.
The auto-chef, the flying car, the bodysculpting…
2059 better be awesome, or I’m tracking Nora down and complaining.
hell, I forgot about the body sculpting. And most insurance plans COVERED the basic body sculpting. Anybody got a time machine? I just wanna get sculpted and then come back to my time.
I totally want my hover car. And private space travel. And the technology out of Johanna Lindsey’s book Warrior’s Woman where they can heal all scars and physical trauma with a machine they insert you in. And beds that expand or shrink depending on how much room you need. Awesome stuff. I feel ripped.
Ah ah!!! When Challen is all like, NOOOOOOO you can’t die! And Tedra is like, Dude, just get me to a meditech.
But he’s all dying inside because he thinks she’s dying and GAH WHERE IS THE MEDITECH, BARBARIAN??
God, I love that book. Total space barbarian cheesy goodness.
Wouldn’t it be more interesting to ask what we have right now that sci-fi never imagined? Ways in which the future has developed that we never predicted? That’s perhaps where the real future can be found.
For example, I can’t think of any sci-fi movie / book that ever predicted the internet, or the important role it plays in todays life. Then again.. my knowledge of sci-fi is very limited.
http://www.neatorama.com/2009/05/05/10-things-science-fiction-got-right/
The Internet is #4.
Oh, I love this list. Thank you.
Well, maybe more interesting, but people might feel excluded, because no one would probably feel they could comment if they haven’t read a lot of sci-fi.
But if it’s regarding stuff they have seen, even if they’ve only seen/read a little? It makes for a more open discussion.
Some nights I would kill for one of those sleeping chamber things like they had in the 5th Element. Where you push a button and immediately fall asleep. It would save me from having to elbow my husband every three seconds to get him to stop snoring… I can hear the silence now =D
The sleeping chambers, the flying cars, the Phloston Paradise hotel, the makeup machine…ahhhh.
1984 – a good year in general *G*
sadly, I didn’t think much back then, I believe, my biggest concerns likely were when I would get food and when my diaper was going to get changed.
I whole-heartedly agree. If you watch a movie / read an older sci-fi book now, and it’s supposed to take place only a few years in the future, you kind of think: yeah, it’s all cool and stuff… but dammit, they won’t find the key to materia-transmitting within the next two years. also, there are no flying cars. and no this and no that….
all in all, we kind of get spoiled by sci-fi. all those super-awesome ideas, but hardly ever get to read about the physics/laws/process behind the ideas.
to me, our grandparents were the ones going through the phase of wonder: imagine, when they were born, computers were something you whispered about as if they were a mere myth. a little later, so-called computers were able to do about as complex things as tosday’s calculators manage on their bad days and still filled a whole room. My h2b’s grandma (91 years old) grew up without a toilet in the house and no power, no phone.
she lived through the invention and introduction to the public of TVs, PCs, cordless telephones, cell phones and hundreds of other gadgets. to her, it’s still some kind of weird magic that all these things even exist…
we won’t get these life-altering inventions, I suspect… but still, it’s fun to watch the progress…
When my grandparents were young, the model T was the big wonder. Me, I remember when the first family in the neighborhood got a calculator – it was as big as a laptop (and thicker) and everyone in the neighborhood came over to ooh and aah. I kind of missed out on the early phase of the computer era – we were living out in the woods at the time, with no tv
I live for the day that the In Death verse becomes reality. A car that drives itself would be nice. An AutoChef would be awesome. Anti-cancer vaccines and synthetic replacement organs. Personal palm computers, data-and-communication centers, and video phones. Getting to change hair and eye color without damaging either. Droid pets that don’t shed or have accidents that I can turn off. Because really, don’t we all wish that a puppy would stay a puppy forever?
Also, let’s not forget heartthrobs like Roarke, Morris, Trueheat, Charles Monroe, and even McNab. They’re what I want in my future. *drool*
(forgive me, Kindred In Death is in the mail on its way to me and I’m in an In Death frame of mind.)
This is totally hilarious! I love your killer robot police joke with your man. Those kinds of jokes just never get old.
Just the other day I was thinking about Skype, and an old sci fi image where there’s a roundtable meeting, but it’s all monitors with faces on them, and I thought, that is almost here.
Do you ever look at this site: http://www.paleofuture.com/
So funny.
I definitely had one of those “OMG, that thing now exists!” moment when I read Prelude to Foundations by Isaac Asimov. The book was written in 1988–and basically, the Kindle makes an appearance
Coming to this party utterly late, but I couldn’t not comment!
Five signs we’re living in the future:
1. We’re building a space port in New Mexico
2. Research has been done on coping with a zombie apocalypse
3. We have wireless electricity
4. We have (quite cute) killer robot soldiers and mech suits
5. We have swooshy electic doors on most public buildings!
(and William Gibson would probably like us to admit that twenty plus years after he wrote about it, we have the internet!)
What really brings out the flaily geek in me is space travel. Commercial space travel is actually happening (in the next few years), there’s water on the moon which will make manned missions to Mars so much easier, and people are talking about space elevators again. I read Wyndham’s Outward Urge a little while ago, and I’m so psyched for the things we’re going to do in our lifetimes now!
[...] living in the future, and how awesome space is. Curry can come later. This is inspired by a post on Odd Shots and a conversation with my housemates about how significant the water on the moon thing [...]