I have always been fascinated by how science fiction movie makers were able to predict the future of technology and scientific breakthroughs way ahead of time. Movies such as Star Wars, Back to the future part 2, Starship troopers and Total Recall predicted the tech gadgets we use today. In Back to the future, Marty McFly’s children used smart eyewear. The eyewear is similar to virtual reality device like the Oculus Rift, or is it more like Google Glass? In Starship Troopers, soldiers were able to call and video chat with their families whilst in distant galaxies. In today ‘s world, we talk of Skype and Google Hangout amongst others. Science fiction might have predicted all these things and today they have blossomed into life. In Total Recall, airports used advanced X-ray screening. Could the futuristic dystopia have inspired TSA to use x-ray scanning for immigration check-in?
All these scenarios show that innovation lies in our imagination. My Introduction to Engineering and Design professor once highlighted that there is no wild idea when it comes to designs because the idea will be used to mold a great new idea. Perhaps we should call the “wild idea” a building block towards a better idea. Just as in science fiction movies, the predicted technology seemed impossible at that time but not anymore.As engineering students or prospective engineers, we should never be afraid of imagining and creating ideas than can change the world. We might just take after Steve Jobs. Who knows?
Sources
Angelova, Kamelia. "Movies Of The Past That Correctly Predicted The Technology We Have
Today." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 25 Oct. 2014. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.
Panashe M-
This post is amazing! I was immediately drawn in with the popular movie references and the questions made the post very conversational, which is very appropriate for the topic. The visual examples topped everything off.
ReplyDelete-Briiya S.