A selection of films about the future that has already come
Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 8:35 am
Have you ever wondered, “When will the machines conquer us all?” In the film The Terminator, James Cameron managed to create an image of the apocalypse on screen that still worries people and seems realistic.
The only problem is that Cameron's ideas, like the series "Westworld", have nothing to do with reality. Each time, the audience has to be disappointed with the following answer: robots will not conquer us for a very long time. We have not even come close to understanding how to build multi-task autonomous systems that could independently formulate tasks for themselves and then solve them.
However, there are many other films whose "fantastic" ideas have become reality. As they say, the future has already arrived, but we haven't noticed it. Here are just a few examples of such films.
"Ghost in the Shell" (1995)
A full-length animated film set in a dystopian future (2029). Thanks to the spread of computer networks and cyber technologies, almost all people have implanted neural implants. But this has led to a new danger for humanity: it has become possible to "hack the brain" and other biological crimes.
The main character is a cyborg police officer who fights hackers who are hacking into people's cyber brains. During her investigation, she asks herself whether technology can become second nature, what makes a person human in the age of cyborgs, and whether it is possible to create a new form of life using artificial intelligence.
Hackers have not yet cracked people's cyber brains (but there are still 9 years left until 2029), but issues of digital security are being discussed everywhere, and there are many companies and laboratories in the world working on creating neural interfaces.
Perhaps the most famous example of the use of a non-invasive neurointerface is the exoskeleton, which was used by a paralyzed man to take the first kick at the opening of the World Cup in Brazil.
"The Thirteenth Floor" (Germany/USA, 1999)
A team of scientists creates a hyper-realistic simulation of Los iceland number data Angeles in 1937. The simulation is deployed on a huge supercomputer and can be used as an attraction. A person can connect and spend time in Los Angeles in the thirties. Problems begin when the project manager suddenly disappears, and the inhabitants of the simulation realize that they are living in it.
First, computer games and virtual reality are a huge market, growing by 33% annually and, according to Marketswatch, will reach $43 billion in just four years.
But while just a few years ago VR and AR were used mainly in the entertainment industry, recently such solutions have been used in business - in particular, in metallurgy, construction, telecom, and the oil and gas industry.
A whole class of "open universe" games has emerged. Such games do not have a limited plot or "end of the map," as shown in the movie "The Thirteenth Floor," but there are laws of game "physics" that allow for the construction of many new worlds.
Second, in the early 2000s, philosopher Niklas Boström published an article called “Proof of Simulation.” In it, he shows that the probability that we live in a simulation is higher than the probability that this universe is not being calculated on an “internal” supercomputer.
The only problem is that Cameron's ideas, like the series "Westworld", have nothing to do with reality. Each time, the audience has to be disappointed with the following answer: robots will not conquer us for a very long time. We have not even come close to understanding how to build multi-task autonomous systems that could independently formulate tasks for themselves and then solve them.
However, there are many other films whose "fantastic" ideas have become reality. As they say, the future has already arrived, but we haven't noticed it. Here are just a few examples of such films.
"Ghost in the Shell" (1995)
A full-length animated film set in a dystopian future (2029). Thanks to the spread of computer networks and cyber technologies, almost all people have implanted neural implants. But this has led to a new danger for humanity: it has become possible to "hack the brain" and other biological crimes.
The main character is a cyborg police officer who fights hackers who are hacking into people's cyber brains. During her investigation, she asks herself whether technology can become second nature, what makes a person human in the age of cyborgs, and whether it is possible to create a new form of life using artificial intelligence.
Hackers have not yet cracked people's cyber brains (but there are still 9 years left until 2029), but issues of digital security are being discussed everywhere, and there are many companies and laboratories in the world working on creating neural interfaces.
Perhaps the most famous example of the use of a non-invasive neurointerface is the exoskeleton, which was used by a paralyzed man to take the first kick at the opening of the World Cup in Brazil.
"The Thirteenth Floor" (Germany/USA, 1999)
A team of scientists creates a hyper-realistic simulation of Los iceland number data Angeles in 1937. The simulation is deployed on a huge supercomputer and can be used as an attraction. A person can connect and spend time in Los Angeles in the thirties. Problems begin when the project manager suddenly disappears, and the inhabitants of the simulation realize that they are living in it.
First, computer games and virtual reality are a huge market, growing by 33% annually and, according to Marketswatch, will reach $43 billion in just four years.
But while just a few years ago VR and AR were used mainly in the entertainment industry, recently such solutions have been used in business - in particular, in metallurgy, construction, telecom, and the oil and gas industry.
A whole class of "open universe" games has emerged. Such games do not have a limited plot or "end of the map," as shown in the movie "The Thirteenth Floor," but there are laws of game "physics" that allow for the construction of many new worlds.
Second, in the early 2000s, philosopher Niklas Boström published an article called “Proof of Simulation.” In it, he shows that the probability that we live in a simulation is higher than the probability that this universe is not being calculated on an “internal” supercomputer.