Stranger Than Fiction: Top Movie Inventions That Came True

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It can be fascinating sometimes, to finish up watching a movie with some incredible sci-fi inventions and think to yourself just how much life would change if those remarkable inventions were actually true. It’s certainly not an uncommon thought, as even in the eighties (and much earlier), people were leaving the theatres wondering what would happen if the crazy inventions they saw in that film actually came true. In the past two or so decades, the truth has certainly proven to be stranger than fiction, what with the incredible pace technology has taken over the years.

Better yet, technology has shown absolutely no signs of stopping, which means those crazy new gadgets and tech that you’ve seen in recent movies actually have a very good chance of eventually being developed in the foreseeable future. In fact, here are a few movie inventions that have actually come true – or at the very least are well into development.

Gesture recognition technology

Taken from movies such as Minority Report or Ender’s Game (and even movies such as Iron Man), gesture recognition technology almost feels like a natural step in technological evolution. As a matter of fact, you’ve probably already experienced gesture recognition technology in family home consoles such as the Wii or Xbox’s Kinect feature. What it does is it makes use of sensors or a camera in order to understand the gestures you’re making, and it will then react according to those gestures. In more recent years, this technology has begun to pick up some steam, utilizing facial recognition tech among many others.

When you think of the near future, perfecting gesture recognition technology seems to be close to the top of the list of technological progress, and it’s safe to assume that we’ll likely even be surpassing the technology being used in movies like Minority Report.

The self-driving car

Another incredible invention from movies such as iRobot and even Total Recall, the self-driving car always felt like something of a pipe dream. As a matter of fact, many people thought that there would be flying cars before they even thought that there would be a car that drove itself to its intended destination. However, this is very slowly becoming a reality, as self-driving cars are making the news as being well under development. When you think about it, the technology that we have right now seems to be paving the way for the development of a truly self-driving car.

We have GPS systems that have become remarkably advanced over the years, having applications in our phones that can easily calculate which routes to take and when to take them in order to get to our destination. The technology that governs self-driving cars is remarkably similar, but it will need to consider visual cues as well, something that advanced cameras and computers have been known to do.

The smartphone

While this is something that we’ve had and enjoyed for more than a few years, there was a time when the mobile phone was just a twinkle in Martin Cooper’s eyes (the inventor of the first mobile phone). When asked about where he got his inspiration to create the world’s first mobile phone, Cooper said that he got the idea from an episode of Star Trek, where Captain Kirk made use of a small communicator that resembled a modern flip phone to speak to other members of the crew. We may have a tendency to take the smartphones of today for granted now, but it’s an absolute revelation from a technological standpoint. It’s amazing to think that this absolutely essential tech device in today’s world came from a sci-fi series that wouldn’t know just how much of an impact it would have. You can also head to Real New World for some specific guidance

Holographic technology

Speaking of a film series that began with the word Star, the Star Wars series is well-known all around the world as having a massive influence on current technology. One of the examples comes from the very first Star Wars film, where Luke Skywalker finds a holographic message from Princess Leia regarding the current state of the rebellion. At the time, this kind of technology seemed impossible to achieve – which was why it looked so amazing on the big screen.

However, there have been numerous breakthroughs in the realm of holographic technology, with one of the most impressive being the holographic performance of Tupac Shakur all the way back in 2012. Another great performance would happen two years later when Michael Jackson would be shown performing to his music during the Billboard Music Awards.

Virtual reality technology

One of the most popular pieces of movie sci-fi tech has to be the realm of virtual reality. As a matter of fact, it’s so popular that it’s appeared in a great number of well-loved movies. From movies like The Matrix as well as the Surrogates, and even movies already previously mentioned such as Total Recall, virtual reality has always been a recurring sci-fi theme that has grown into something else entirely. There are also movies out there like Lawnmower Man that envisioned virtual reality to come from headsets that would allow you to see this virtual world. At the time of this article, this is the vision of virtual reality that’s currently come to pass, and it’s growing more and more advanced with each passing year.

You can actually purchase a virtual reality headset for video game consoles and other entertainment systems if you would like to experience this kind of technology for yourself.

To conclude, while some might think that virtual reality is still far from being an immersive experience, these headsets have come a very long way, and you’ll find yourself singing a different tune once you’ve had a chance to give virtual reality a shot. Many other types of sci-fi tech you only find in movies are following very similar trends, and you’ll eventually find reality far surpassing the sci-fi technology that used to be only found in movies.