Back to the Future II came to our screens in 1989, and brought with it a little taste of what we could hope to see in everyday life on October 21st 2015. OK, so we still have four years to go until 2015, but I’ll forget to blog about this by then!!
Robert Zemekis and team came up with some pretty good predictions of life 25 years in the future... video calling at home, touch screen food ordering at restaurants (our local KFC has this J), video advertising hoardings and personal phones. There was also the odd farfetched prediction, but hey, it’d be nowhere near as ace without a flying Delorean!!
BTTF2 SAYS: Cars would not only fly on skyways, they’d also be powered by household waste
REALITY: The World’s 750,000,000 motor vehicles all still drive on congested roads, burning 1 trillion litres of petrol and diesel each year
BTTF2 SAYS: A “Weather Service” schedules rain at uniform times
REALITY: As this week has shown, the weather is less predictable and more disruptive every year!
BTTF2 SAYS: Marty Jnr uses a phone booth.
REALITY: 90% of children own a mobile phone, and are more likely to own one than own a book!
BTTF2 SAYS: Shoes automatically fasten themselves, clothes electronically shrink to fit your size (and kindly talk to you), and Marty’s jacket even contained its own blow drying facility.
REALITY: Afraid not, it’s just plain old normal clothes still – like our (shameless plug) Back to the Future T Shirts
BTTF2 SAYS: Doc Brown’s USA Today articles include one claiming a record breaking 3 minute mile has been run, one referring to a female president (close one!) and one referring to Queen Diana.
REALITY: The world record mile currently stands at 3:43:12by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj. Although Hilary Clinton came close as the first female president of the USA, Barak Obama beat her to it. Even if the people’s princess were alive today, she would never have become queen after her separation from Prince Charles – although by 2015, the chances are that Kate Middleton may inherit the aforementioned title!
BTTF2 SAYS: All lawyers have been abolished
REALITY: Damn!
BTTF2 SAYS: Jaws 19 is released in October 2015
REALITY: Unless they release 15 Jaws sequels in the next four years, this one’s pretty unlikely!
BTTF2 SAYS: Mass produced Hoverboards are the latest craze for kids
REALITY: This one might not be as far away as we think – see here. But far from being available in all good toy stores!
BTTF2 SAYS: Pizza Hut (and presumably other foods) come in miniature, dehydrated form, and a microwave like “hydrator” is used to cook and expand the food in under 3 seconds.
REALITY: Still cold pizza delivered in a box, I suppose they now have insulated bags on their mopeds!
BTTF2 SAYS: Fax machines are dotted around the house and, along with video calling (got that one right Universal J), fax machines seem to be the messaging system of choice.
REALITY: The fax boom has come and long gone. Email has grossly surpassed the fax as the written communication method of choice.
