What predictions of the future were your favourites?

[DAgent]

One thing I've always loved about Sci Fi stories is that some of them try to predict the future, whether that's technologically, socially or any other way. Sometimes seriously, sometimes just for fun, and sometimes they do make correct guesses, but other times they miss the mark or set the bar far too high.

I think one of my favourites is how some TV shows seemed to think we'd have space stations and moon bases in operation by the 1980s or slightly earlier (UFO, Space 1999) and heading off on manned missions to Mars (can't remember the name but there was 1960s B movie set in the 80s where they sent a team to Mars) and of course we'd have to kind include movies like 2001 into all of that too since we're well past that date and still don't have anything quite like that in use.

Then there's movies like Soylent Green, which again we're now past the date, but are we maybe heading towards that route anyhow? Hope not.

 

[BAYLOR]

One thing I've always loved about Sci Fi stories is that some of them try to predict the future, whether that's technologically, socially or any other way. Sometimes seriously, sometimes just for fun, and sometimes they do make correct guesses, but other times they miss the mark or set the bar far too high.

I think one of my favourites is how some TV shows seemed to think we'd have space stations and moon bases in operation by the 1980s or slightly earlier (UFO, Space 1999) and heading off on manned missions to Mars (can't remember the name but there was 1960s B movie set in the 80s where they sent a team to Mars) and of course we'd have to kind include movies like 2001 into all of that too since we're well past that date and still don't have anything quite like that in use.

Then there's movies like Soylent Green, which again we're now past the date, but are we maybe heading towards that route anyhow? Hope not.

The Mars film you might thinking of is Mission Mars 1968 with Nick Adams and Daren McGavin. They run into giant Sentient Alien Sphere which trying to collect a human specimen, it has the plantlike weapons that fire blinding rays that can melt a person eyeballs .

 

[DAgent]

The Mars film you might thinking of is Mission Mars 1968 with Nick Adams and Daren McGavin. They run into giant Sentient Alien Sphere which trying to collect a human specimen, it has the plantlike weapons that fire blinding rays that can melt a person eyeballs .

I just google it, it's not that and I've not seen that one, but might give that a look.

The one I'm thinking of doesn't have any aliens at all, at least that I can remember. What I can recall they started off on a large wheel space station and took off in a rocket with swing wings on the side and landed on one side. They later rotated the rocket vertically to take off like a traditional rocket, using the wings as a foundation to leave. Enroute, one of the astronauts died and was "buried in space" leading to the CO slowly having a mental breakdown and once on the planet he tries wrecking their equipment because he's realised humans shouldn't be there. He dies, and his son takes over command.

I think one of the oddest moments is when one of the astronauts, a Japanese crewmember I think, mentions he's got some seeds he wants to put in some high-quality soil, which he apparently finds near their landing site and plants there. Pretty sure in real life nothing is going to grow on Mars right now.

 

[Harpo]

The future is not as good as it used to be

 

[BAYLOR]

I just google it, it's not that and I've not seen that one, but might give that a look.

The one I'm thinking of doesn't have any aliens at all, at least that I can remember. What I can recall they started off on a large wheel space station and took off in a rocket with swing wings on the side and landed on one side. They later rotated the rocket vertically to take off like a traditional rocket, using the wings as a foundation to leave. Enroute, one of the astronauts died and was "buried in space" leading to the CO slowly having a mental breakdown and once on the planet he tries wrecking their equipment because he's realised humans shouldn't be there. He dies, and his son takes over command.

I think one of the oddest moments is when one of the astronauts, a Japanese crewmember I think, mentions he's got some seeds he wants to put in some high-quality soil, which he apparently finds near their landing site and plants there. Pretty sure in real life nothing is going to grow on Mars right now.

two films you might want to take a look at

It the Terror From Beyond Space 1958

Planet of the Vampires 1965

The the were the chime inspiration for the movie Alien

Voyage the Space Beagle ( black Destroyer section) by A E Van Vogt was one of the the Literary inspirations for Alien and so was The Vaults of Yoh-Vombus by Clark Ashton Smith

 

[paeng]

Another is 2001, which referred to a space age by the year 2001.

 

[Oligonicella]

Oh, hell.... Flash Gordon - space ships in 1934 with an evil emperor, interplanetary war w/ interplanetary communications - the works. Inspired by When Worlds Collide (1933) with space ships and daring rescue.

 

[sknox]

I am very fond of pretty much the entire song IGY. Fagan and Becker capture exactly the sentiment. For those who don't know, the title is an abbreviation: International Geophysical Year. You can read about that if you like, but I was sold on the song from the title and was tickled that these hipsters even remembered such a thing.

I remember it because I got a Christmas present that year. i was eight. It was a play set like army men except these were scientists on a polar expedition, with all the accoutrements. I had that set (in decreasing detail) for several years. How many play sets do we have today that celebrate international scientific collaboration?

Anyway, here are some of the lines.
On that train all graphite and glitter, undersea by rail, ninety minutes from New York to Paris
(more leisure for artists everywhere)

Here at home we'll play in the city powered by the sun;
perfect weather for a streamlined world there's be spandex jackets one for everyone

--and my favorite--
A just machine to make big decisions, programmed by fellows with compassion and vision
We'll be clean when their work is done
We'll be eternally free yes and eternally young

 

[paeng]

This can probably be seen in light of shows like Colossus: The Forbin Project and the Terminator franchise, if not thrillers like WarGames:

AI models preferred to launch nuclear strikes in wargames test

Large language models (LLMs) acting as diplomatic agents in simulated scenarios showed "hard-to-predict escalations which often ended in nuclear attacks.

www.euronews.com