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How 34 Sci-Fi Technologies Look in the Real World

By:: Cracked Writers; Brian C. Miller

September 18, 2023

How 34 Sci-Fi Technologies Look in the Real World

It's no surprise that futuristic devices that capture our imagination in fiction often find a way into our real lives, too. That said, when technology finally comes around to creating these fantastic toys and tools, they end up looking a little different than their inspiration. Case in point: Video phones exist in much the same way as they do in Back to the Future Part II, but they’re not displayed on giant televisions. To that end, here’s what a bunch of other sci-fi technologies from movies and TV shows look like in the real world…

33 Technology is dark, man.

'90s Sci-Fi movies promised us worlds of untold horror awaiting us in virtual reality... But none of them prepared us for our actual reality: parents having to face a perfect virtual copy of their dead child asking Have you missed me? CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Things Sci-Fi Promised (And How They Worked Out)

32 We couldn't imagine a society where everyone is TRYING to be Truman.

When The Truman Show came out, it was ridiculous to think anyone would watch a show about one normal guy doing normal guy things. But one look at Twitch or any YouTube celebrity will make you realize our culture has thousands of Trumans. - I - - - Name SOCIAL - - - - MIN - - - - - - - - - - UM - NE - - - - - - . - - - Prom total CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Things Sci-Fi Promised (And How They Worked Out)

31 We owe Scotty from Star Trek a big one here.

IN 1986, A MYSTERIOUS TIME TRAVELER REVEALED THE POSSIBLITY OF TRANSPARENT ALUMINUM. 30 YEARS LATER IT BECAME A REALITY. IT's BULLETPROOF, BLAST-RESISTANT ALON* CERAMIC THAT IS STATE AS SEE-THROUGH AS GLASS. THANKS SCOTTY. Survey CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Things Sci-Fi Promised (And How They Worked Out)

30 We did it. We got rockets to land the way they do in cartoons.

Back in Buck Rogers' day, reusable rockets were obviously the only way to travel through space. And now, thanks to SpaceX, we have commercially viable reusable rockets that land straight up, just like in the comics. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Things Sci-Fi Promised (And How They Worked Out)

29 They're so, SO expensive...

Aldous Huxley imagined a Brave New World where mood-stabilizing drugs are not only free, their use is encouraged! Instead, all we have now are overpriced medications that are incredibly stigmatized. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Things Sci-Fi Promised (And How They Worked Out)

28 Here's hoping Alexa doesn't suddenly have a bad day.

Disney's Smart House featured a built-in smart assistant that could control the lights, temperature, entertainment, cleaning, and other household tasks. Today, our voice-activated assistants and the internet of things allow us to control just about anything we want automatically or with a simple request. All that's missing is the apron and the jealous rage. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Things Sci-Fi Promised (And How They Worked Out)

27 Soylent Green is not the future we're hoping for.

We only have a couple more years till we start turning each other into food, or at least that's what Soylent Green tells us. - - But what if we got our protein another way? Lab-grown meat is possible, viable, and could soon be on our supermarket shelves. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Things Sci-Fi Promised (And How They Worked Out)

26 Maybe stop before we start producing those HKs, huh?

THE TERMINATOR IS A RELENTLESS KILLING MACHINE THAT FEELS NO REMORSE. IT CAN'T BE BARGAINED WITH. IT CAN'T BE REASONED WITH. IT DOESN'T FEEL PITY, OR FEAR. AND IT ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT STOP, EVER, UNTIL YOU ARE DEAD! BIOTS THANKFULLY OUR RELENTLESS KILLING MACHINES STILL NEED MINIMAL HUMAN INTERACTION, OTHERWISE WE MIGHT BE IN TROUBLE... CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Things Sci-Fi Promised (And How They Worked Out)

25 Seriously, just text me.

Sci-fi has always been obsessed with long-distance face-to-face communication. Fulltsu. Ito T Occupation: Super 1800 Now that we have it on almost every device with a screen, we hate it! GRACKED COMP — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

24 We're still waiting on that sass before we're impressed.

Rosie the Robot gave us hope for a clean, automated future. Johan - While we do have dozens of different cleaning robots, none of them have built-in sass... yet GRACKED COM — Source: 15 Things Sci-Fi Promised (And How They Worked Out)

23 Jetpacks aren't quite to Boba Fett standards, but we're getting there.

Who hasn't dreamed of soaring through the sky with their own personal jetpack like Boba Fett or The Rocketeer? We now have the technology to rent or buy some time to hover and fly* *over water GRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Things Sci-Fi Promised (And How They Worked Out)

22 Knight Rider is closer than ever.

Ever since Knight Rider first hit the scene, everyone wanted a cool car that could talk to you and drive itself. While Teslas don't talk to you (yet), they can drive themselves and they have arcade games too, just like KITT. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Things Sci-Fi Promised (And How They Worked Out)

21 It'd be nice if a little wriggly guy was optional, though.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fans have long known about the babel fish, a small, yellow and leech-like creature that lets you instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. 5:00 English Russian Thanks to translator English . How much are the tickets? apps, you can now have real-time is Russian conversations in Сколько стоят билеты? Skofko stores bilety? languages you don't know without something disgusting wriggling in your ear. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Things Sci-Fi Promised (And How They Worked Out)

20 It still only listens about 50% of the time.

IF THERE IS ONE SCI-FI STAPLE, IT IS BEING ABLE TO SPEAK TO A MACHINE AND HAVE IT DO WHAT YOU WANT. YOU HAVE I PROBLEM Now it's hard to imagine a time when your machines didn't listen to you. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Things Sci-Fi Promised (And How They Worked Out)

19 THIS is the Minority Report technology we actually want.

How 34 Sci-Fi Technologies Look in the Real World — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

18 Fifth Element cigarettes don't even taste like pie.

In The Fifth Element (1997), future cigarettes have a large filter and very little tobacco. REEL GU SIOVE Less than 20 years later, we've already moved on... CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

17 Tying our shoelaces belongs in the past.

In 1989's Back to the Future Part 2, when Marty McFly gets to the year 2015 he finds a pair of self-lacing Nike sneakers. IT'S 2016 AND THEY'RE FINALLY A REALITY. Nike's HyperAdapt shoes tighten automatically until they sense friction, and they have LEDS in the heels that light up when the shoes are tightening or when they're low on battery. The shoes can also be adjusted anytime with a pair of buttons near the tongue. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

16 You don't get that cool chunky device, though.

The Star Trek MEDICAL TRICORDER is a diagnostic device used to obtain a patient's vitals. ... The SCANADU SCOUT, currently under evaluation by the FDA, reads your heart rate &ECG, blood pressure, temperature, respiratory rate and oximetry by just placing it near your forehead. HI - - MAY - - CRACKED COM — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

15 We still prefer Geordi's little visor.

Geordi La Forge's VISOR allowed him to see by transmitting electromagnetic signals to his brain through neural implants. CRACKED.COM The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System provides sight by capturing the image and converting it into electrical pulses representing light and dark. These pulses are then transmitted through a series of skin and retinal implants to the optical neural pathways. — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

14 The Roomba doesn't have a cute little face, though!

How 34 Sci-Fi Technologies Look in the Real World — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

13 Reality is actually BETTER than movies in this case.

This is a PADD (Personal Access Display Device) from Star Trek, which is set in the 22nd century. Meanwhile, here in the 21st century we have the iPad which has a better display and can perform more functions. - - - All without that ridiculous stylus. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

12 We're not just crashing expensive probes into stuff.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK In science fiction, whenever a probe is launched it is basically shot like a missile and crashed into the planet. Real-life science is much cooler. For example, to land the Curiosity rover on Mars, after parachuting the module to within one mile of the surface, rockets slowed the descent to almost zero velocity and a SKY CRANE used cables to gently lowerthe rover onto the planet. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

11 We've invented... uncomfortable guns!

How 34 Sci-Fi Technologies Look in the Real World — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

10 The Terminator is a little too close to reality.

Machines becoming so intelligent that they escape our control and turn against us is a staple of science fiction. In March, 2016, Microsoft unveiled Tay, an experimental conversational A.I. with its own Twitter account. By the next day, Tay had learned enough from its surroundings to start spouting Nazi rhetoric. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

9 This isn't the Minority Report technology we actually want.

GAP Facial recognition technology is already used in advertising. And while some ads are just as invasive as in Minority Report, others are interactive and entertaining. can see - - in you - are installed - looking at me CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

8 Nobody is dumb enough to ride these in the forest.

Star Wars Episode VI featured super fast speeder bikes that CRACKED.COM hover over the ground. Real life hoverbikes are coming in 2017. The currently in development Aerofex will be much slower at 72km/h (45mph), and will cost $85,000. — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

7 We mostly use this technology for dumb toys.

CRACKED.COM Professor x wears a device to increase his mind power for better telepathy This is Emotiv EPOC, a device that uses your brainwaves to control several devices including keyboard and mouse with your brain — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

6 Are we going to hide these an Arctic ice fortress?

GRACKED.COM HOLY BIBLE Researchers from the University of Southampton have developed a nanostructured glass they call Superman memory crystal. A disk of about one-inch in diameter of said crystal can store up to 360 ТВ of data and survive billions of years. — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

5 Probes don't look quite like we were expecting.

- Well, Scotty? -Beats me, but isn't she a beauty? - Interesting design. -I've never seen anything like her. And ion propulsion, at that. They could teach us a thing or two. It seems they did. This is NASA's Dawn space probe. It's the first mission to use ion propulsion, the first to orbit two extraterrestrial bodies, the first to visit either Vesta or Ceres, and also the first to visit a dwarf planet, arriving at Ceres in CRACKED.COM March 2015. — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

4 The yellow jacket really pulled the watch together.

Dick Tracy's 2-way wrist radio was something we'd love to have owned when we were kids. Now we can buy a better version with a number of functions other than making calls. . 14 But for some reason, we hate it now. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

3 We were promised Princess Leia and got Mariah Carey.

Star Wars envisioned holograms in the '70s. In 2011, Mariah Carey performed a concert in five European cities using a 3D hologram projector. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

2 Does Iron Man make a whole thing of keeping the suit out of the hands of the military?

CRACKED.COM Tony Stark's high-tech Iron Man suit is getting a real life version. The U.S. army is developing an Iron-Man like military suit set for 2018. TALOS will be made with liquid body REVED armour that can transform into solid in milliseconds. It will also have health monitoring sensors, and in-helmet technologies that improve visibility. NO WISE CRACKING AI UNFORTUNATELY. — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

1 Space stations aren't at all what we were promised.

By 2001, we were supposed to have huge civilian space stations and regular commercial spaceflight to Earth orbit and the Moon. Fifteen years past that date, we're still stuck with a couple cramped stations and space tourism is only a budding industry for people with deep pockets. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Fiction Vs Science Fact, Side By Side

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