Progress is great. Modern technologies simplify human life, make it safer, and with an adequate level of fantasy - also more interesting.
Fiction writers often create a world on the pages of their works, telling us not only about difficult situations and moral choices of people from the future, but also about gadgets, new technologies that, according to their assumptions, can be used through the years.
We now live at that time, which was the future for writers of the 20th century. He tried to describe them. It is interesting to compare their assumptions with what we have now. Mobile devices, wireless communications, lasers in the service of medicine and the military-industrial complex, smart prostheses that have been well-tuned since the days of Long-legged John Silver and so on.
It happens that science fiction writers, authors of comics and films drew in their imagination devices that seemed quite possible to them already in 20 years, and at the same time very convenient and useful. However, the reality turned out to be such that it turned out that the people of the future (that is, you and me) could not create such a device.
Working in the field of information technology, we are constantly faced with new ideas. We in
LANIT have special teams responsible for accelerating external and internal startups. The subject of invention, innovation, search for viable projects is very close to us.
Therefore, today we will talk about devices that would certainly be useful to everyone, but which modern science is unable to bring to life. Until.
The legendary levitating board, having only once met the viewer's eyes when it was first viewed, will almost certainly be remembered forever. Still would! Who would refuse such a thing: the advantages compared with the usual skate or longboard rife. The hoverboard looks cool, and is not so picky about the surface (read - it’s not picky at all, Marty could have cut himself on the water surface), and the impressions of riding it are certainly excellent.
Why it turned out to be difficult to create in reality? Because the industrial (and not only industrial) production of antigravitators is not yet conducted. However, this does not prevent enthusiasts from attempting to make such a thing from improvised means.
Jamie Heineman and the guys from Mythbusters combined a powerful leaf pump and a surfboard. But it is also from the discharge of a hovercraft.
Closest to the original came Lexus, creating your Lexus Hoverboard. True, they made it by the technology of superconductor and magnets cooled by liquid nitrogen, which allows you to ride only on a specific surface. But it looks spectacular, do not argue.
It is not so important who you were rooting for in Star Wars and
whose views on life were shared . You probably wanted a lightsaber, no matter what color it was.
Unfortunately, there is no working copy either. The design and properties of the laser were often criticized, they say, lasers are rays, and when trying to duel with such swords, they will simply pass one through the other, and the beam is just that, and the beam strives to infinity rather than end strictly a certain length of the blade.
But we believe that someday someone will master it.
The lightsaber could become a truly legendary thing - tons of souvenirs, hundreds of references from other films and TV shows and much
more .
One of the components of the Bruce Wayne multifunctional costume is a beautiful cape with a memory effect. With his help, Batman managed to plan from a great height without much risk of dislocating his ankle, as well as dodging bullets.
The electrical impulse from the gloves changed the shape and properties of the cloak to the needs of the superhero.
Speaking of smart cloaks, it is worth remembering another cloak of
Spawn , who also repeatedly saved his life.
As well as
Dr. Strange's levitation cloak.
Something similar in the near future, we can hardly wait until the maximum that science and technology from this area offer is the use of genetically modified silkworms, from whose strands they create experimental
armor for US soldiers.
Iron Man Costume
The coolest superpower is money.Since we started talking about Bruce Wayne, it will be strange not to recall the equally rich genius - Anthony Edward Stark.
One of the versions of his beautiful suit was good for its compactness - all the power of the
Iron Man in a small suitcase.
By the way, of all the gadgets described in this article, it is Starck’s suit that is closest to reality. In fact, this is a very pumped-up exoskeleton, which is now being created by both giants like DARPA and enthusiasts who, in school, instead of the humanitarian classes, decided to choose a physical mat.
The main problem is the power supply. If we imagine that someone will be able to assemble an exoskeleton with the same abilities as that of Iron Man, including the ability to fly and use weapons, he will need energy, frankly, a lot. That is, without a thick power cable behind your back or a miniature nuclear reactor, you don’t run too much.
And if Tony was able to create a new chemical element at home, having only slightly damaged the furniture, then we still have problems with that.
Phil Colson and Tony Stark find the correct use of Captain America's shield.Holographic interfaces
In order not to depart far from the theme of Iron Man, let us recall its working interface.
Here is the same situation as in
“Minority Report” or the old space series
LEXX .
It looks like a holographic interface, no doubt, great. But at the current stage of technology development, it is wildly difficult to achieve such an intuitive return from the touch of a human hand to a holographic element. Even if we are talking about a simple picture that can be moved with gestures in order to get a better look, the interaction experience leaves much to be desired.
Agents Colson and Ward are trying to work with the holographic table ( Marvel's agents of shield ).And already in such complex systems as in "Iron Man" or
"Minority Report" , where the interaction goes with hundreds of elements that overlap each other in different planes. And even if it is ever mastered, there will always be a problem with management - the hand will overlap the elements, and this interaction will also have to somehow be worked out. The hero Tom Cruise (John Anderton), however, had special gloves, but this is not a panacea.
Work in this area is still underway to create interactive training and reference materials.
According to the plot of the film, this is one of the developments of a special unit in order to gently erase the memory of civilians who saw what they should not have seen.
To date, analogues of the device or medicines, allowing to erase the memory without any harm to the human brain, have not been invented (or we just do not remember seeing something like this).
But the thing is, without a doubt, necessary. Imagine how many times you could defend your dissertation. Or quickly correct a situation in which you answered honestly to the question “Does this dress not make me look fat?”
Console rewind life and time machine
Time machines ,
life rewinding consoles , time stopping devices - all this is still infinitely far from reality and, most likely, will remain just a good functional fantasy that can give life to hundreds more books and films about temporary paradoxes.
Item Reducers / Enlargers
From
"Honey, I have reduced children" and
"Inner space" to
"Man-Ant" - the scope of application of gadgets, allowing in the blink of an eye to make a miniature replica or giant of a man, is quite large.
The current level of technology development does not provide for such a cardinal (and fast) interaction with objects of the material world. Alas. And how it would be great - I could not park my Kruzak at the shopping center, peeped a button and hooked Kruzak on a key ring. Must be wildly comfortable. Especially the "lovers" of parallel parking.
What is good is the fact that no matter how strange, naive and overly optimistic the ideas of the science fiction writers of the past seem to us, including they move today's progress, thanks to the enthusiasts and those who want to make it happen.
Forward to new discoveries!
The active development of exoskeletons, that for military needs, that for medical, improved control systems, voice assistants, miniature robots, drones, multifunctional satellites, unmanned vehicles - we live in great time that half a century ago science fiction writers could only imagine. The formation and beta testing of all these technologies is happening right before our eyes. We are moving forward. And this is the main point.
PS By the way, this article will soon be continued. In the new post we have collected for you the ideas of the futurologists, who realized themselves in contrast to those listed in this material.