Jon Leighton, managing director at Land Digital, reflects on some of his favourite 80s tech films and asks the question – did any of their predictions about the future of digital come true?
Films in the 80s were awesome and even as we watch them now – admittedly through nostalgia-tinted glasses – this is still the case. So awesome, in fact, that the majority of them are now being remade or having a sequel created for them (although the jury’s still out on whether these live up to the originals).
That’s because the 80s were a time of exciting creativity. Well, when it comes to movies at least – you only have to listen to a day of Absolute 80s on the radio to realise that there are only so many hits you can make with a synth.
And yes, I’ll admit that I might be a little bit biased, if only because all of the great 80s action heroes were called John. John Rambo, John Matrix, John Maclane, John Connor…the list goes on (as do the similarities between me and them, honest!).
An interesting part of a lot of these movies was the predictions they made about the future of tech and while the timings might not be 100% accurate, many of the concepts came pretty close.
So, I thought it might be a little bit of fun to jump in the DeLorean and time travel back to the cinematic universe of the 80s to take a closer look at some of these predictions and if/how they came true. So, hop in – where we’re going, we don’t need roads…
Back to the Future 1 & 2
Back To The Future was my favourite film growing up and of course these films featured a wide range of predictions about the future. Well, I say future – Marty and Doc actually travel to 2015 in Back To Future 2. Feel old yet?
In less distressing news, many of these predictions actually came true in one way or another. Take the ability to transfer funds from one person to another, for example.
Elsewhere, biometrics play a huge role in the films, from opening the door to paying the taxi driver – this isn’t far off the contactless payments we have today, and biometric locks have been around for a while (you’ve probably even got one on your phone!).
Another big part of the films is wearable tech. Who wouldn’t want a pair of trainers that tie themselves? And the good news is that these are now available, with Nike leading the way on the next generation of ‘smart shoes’.
The bad news is that these will currently set you back a decent chunk of cash. Of course, we also have smart watches that collect a whole host of data, and even smart shirts that may well have been inspired by films like these.
For me, perhaps the most notable prediction from the films is video calling. In Back To The Future, we see Marty’s dad get sacked over a video call, which was an accurate prediction of what the future might hold for communication – although I doubt anyone could have predicted just how much time we’d end up spending on Teams or Zoom!
That’s not to say Zemeckis and co got everything right in these films. For example, even though they have been predicted in the ‘real world’ and attempted many times, we’re yet to see a hoverboard or flying car. I guess we aren’t ready for that yet, but our kids are going to love it.
Weird Science
Weird Science is another one of my personal favourites, telling the story of two high school students who create a computer simulation of a ‘perfect woman’, only to accidentally bring her to life.
So, what did this film predict? Other than the continued inability of male teenagers to talk to girls, it also predicted 3D printing. OK, maybe not quite in the way we have come to understand it today – thankfully we’re not able to 3D print humans (or at least not yet). But of course, we’re now able to print 3D replicas and models, albeit a slow process that’s yet to live up to all the hype.
War Games
While it’s not exactly the fun time we got to have with Broderick in Ferris Bueller, War Games is a great film which sparked the interest of many kids who had just sat in front of a computer for the first time and wanted to see what happened if they pressed all the buttons.
War Games was a stark prediction of how important cyber security would become by highlighting the dangers of hacking. And as we know, this prediction has more than rang true in today’s digital age, with the security of sensitive information only becoming more vital as we woke up to how susceptible it was to hacking. And let’s be honest, a lot of companies are still learning this, so maybe it’s worth a few of you streaming this film on Amazon Prime over the weekend.
The Running Man
When it comes to 80s Schwarzenegger films, thankfully The Terminator has remained fiction so far (even with the rise of AI). But what about The Running Man?
Well, although slightly on the extreme side of reality TV, this film makes some interesting predictions about digital consumption and how our viewing habits would evolve – and the mammoth popularity of Squid Games on Netflix last year proves that the film wasn’t far wrong.
Sure, this is still fiction and I don’t think we’ll ever get that far in real life, but there’s still something to be said for how The Running Man captured our collective fascination with extreme reality TV. Do you think someone in the 80s would have guessed that former politicians would go on TV to munch on kangaroo anus?
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is undoubtedly one of the greats and while replicants do not currently exist (that we know of), other elements of the film have become a reality. For example, video calling is as widespread throughout the film as it is today – even if we wish it wasn’t!
Elsewhere, one of the film’s more subtle predictions was digital billboards. Digital billboards are now something we’re used to seeing in everyday life, but these didn’t exist when the film was released in 1982.
That being said, the film has aged well, even if the companies advertised on these billboards no longer exist, notably Pan Am and Atari.
Short Circuit
Focusing on the first Short Circuit and forgetting about the sequel for a minute, this film depicts an experimental military robot that develops human-like intelligence and consciousness after being struck by lightning. Classic.
Short Circuit makes a number of accurate predictions on how robotics might be utilised in a number of scenarios and, across these predictions, touches upon many interesting ethical points that are major points of discussion today.
For example, take the utilisation of robotics in military environments that has been well documented over the years, or even what happens should a robot become sentient and start to develop its own moral compass. In this instance, it was good news for the human race – and as the capabilities of AI continue to rapidly evolve day after day, here’s hoping for the same in real life.
As we exited the 80s and left the hairspray behind, films continued to explore our future relationship with tech, albeit in a different capacity. As our technical capabilities began to grow, films became less concerned with what we could achieve, and more interested in exploring the implications of this evolution.
90s classics like Jurassic Park, for example, explored interesting ethical dilemmas around using tech to play god, while The Matrix introduced us to the mind-blowing idea of living in a simulation.
So what about the films of today? Films of the 00s certainly didn’t take us far, and unfortunately this doesn’t look like changing anytime soon.
Ironically, new developments in tech like streaming have changed how we consume films and, in the process, have impacted the topics films explore – they’re no longer interested in big concepts like our relationship with tech and the future it may create, but instead focused on sequels, remakes, and franchises that guarantee profit in a rapidly depleting market.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. While we may not see these concepts explored in the same way on the big screen, our changing viewing and consumption habits likely means that TV will take up this role and pick up where films have left off.
And on that note, does anyone know when the next season of Black Mirror is out?
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