Hey, are we in the future yet?


Sci-fi movies are known for wild technology that doesn’t always hold up in the real world. But in 2020, has fiction become a reality?


maxTV On Demand has a ton of movies for everyone, and we know lots of you have been getting your stream on! When it comes to movie genres, a lot of us at SaskTel are big sci-fi fans. And it’s crazy how the technology in some of our favourite sci-fi movies are starting to look pretty close to real life.

So even though we’re still far away from teleportation being a thing, let’s see what we can spot in sci-fi movies that areactually a thing.

Blade Runner (1982): Throughout Blade Runner, a ‘virtual assistant’ is used throughout to make the main character’s life easier. Now that it’s 2020, Alexa, Google Home, Bixbi, and Siri are just a few of our options when it comes to having a virtual sidekick. It’s pretty spectacular having such a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips when we say ‘Hey Siri’. Or, the magical feeling when we give Alexa a simple command to turn on the lights. And that’s just the beginning—virtual assistant technology is making our lives easier, more efficient, and happy that Blade Runner helped pave the way!

Blade runner

I, Robot (2004): This movie actually takes place in 2035, but the one tech standout that looks familiar to us are the self-driving cars. In the movie, all cars drive themselves and it’s a puzzling moment when a character sees Del Spooner (Will Smith) do a manual override and drive it himself. In the present day, it’s been exciting to see Tesla’s crazy innovations. But it’s still up in the air whether fully autonomous vehicles will be a mass market reality in the next few years. That being said, we’re definitely on the cusp and in the meantime, incredible self-driving car capabilities will continue to be developed.

The Truman Show (1998): Ok, maybe this wasn’t exactly a sci-fi movie, but the central pillar of the story—live streaming—is definitely now a technological reality. Live streaming initially had its mainstream debut with JustinTV. Now, pretty much all social platforms have some sort of live functionality. Live streaming has also evolved how we hear about the news, because no matter what’s happening around the world, we’ve all got a front row seat to watch it unfold.

The truman showresized

Inception (2010): In the film, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character enters another character’s mind through a dream and is able to access their thoughts. In the 10 years since this fantastical sci-fi thriller came out, there have been some amazing developments in the study of dreams (oneirology). It’s crazy to imagine what it would be like to enter our dreams in a conscious state. Perhaps we’ll soon be able to walk around, snap a few pictures for Instagram, and come back to the real world… anything is possible, right?

Inceptionresized


Pacific Rim (2013): In this movie, the Drivesuit takes ‘brain hacking’ to a whole new level. These suits allow two pilots to interface with each other in order to control the giant machines they take into battle the giant monsters. And while we’re not quite there yet, research and work with brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) has been booming, both in its original medical fields and in new applications in the video and VR world. Facebook has been dabbling in BCI tech since 2017, but there’s a long way to go before you’ll be able to update your status just by thinking of it.

Pacific rim

Ready Player One (2018): As VR gaming grows in popularity, perhaps Ready Player One isn’t too far off from the real deal. At first glance, the headsets that the characters wear are quite reminiscent of existing gear from companies like Oculus. But here is where Ready Player One takes it a step further: the characters are able to experience ‘haptics’, which is technology that simulates the feeling of touch and motion when interacting with an artificial world. Complete sensory VR immersion is still something we’ll look forward to in the future, but in the meantime, companies like Teslasuit and Positron are getting us closer everyday. Watch Ready Player One On Demand now with a subscription to Crave + Movies + HBO!

Ready Player One Episodic790x444

Don’t forget to check out these sci-fi movies and more on maxTV On Demand! Also, the CTV Sci-Fi Channel is available for free preview now. Watch it for free until Jan 30th on channel 72/372. And if sci-fi isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other maxTV apps to discover!

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