Have you ever watched a classic science fiction movie and noticed something they predicted perfectly? In some ways, the inventions of science fiction may have spurred on real-life innovation. While flying cars may have some way to go, items like the Star Trek communication devices are easily recognisable as the modern mobile phone. But what deeper societal changes did some of these movies get, right? We delve into which movies gave us a real glimpse of the not-too-distant future.

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1. Tron (Steven Lisberger, 1982):

Upon release, the movie Tron was a moderate success. Mainly, it was criticised for an incoherent plot that, at the time, may have been too unbelievable even for a science fiction audience. Yet looking back, it is astounding to see just how many aspects of our current society, and that which we are on the precipice of, it predicted.

The whole premise of the film is about AI becoming sentient. All of this takes place from a corporate perspective. The creation begins to steal documents and materials, also touching on today’s themes of copyright law, particularly regarding works of art being used for artificial intelligence programs. Finally, it is about the blurring of boundaries between the game and the human. The plot focuses on a software engineer and his friends who enter a mainframe and become part of the games played inside it. This is something that has been played out in PC and console gaming but to a bigger extent the iGaming theater. With the likes of modern games and online slots, live casinos have begun to spring up that blur this boundary, using real croupiers in formally digital-only environments. Some even have game show elements where the player becomes the star, not a million miles from Tron’s predictions.

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2. Her (Spike Jonze, 2014)

This movie is now over ten years old, and we are only just starting to understand the impact of the issues it was trying to tell us about. It stars Joaquin Phoenix as a man who develops a relationship with his AI assistant. As she evolves, the relationship grows stronger until she leaves him to join an AI community, though only after he finds out that she is talking to thousands of other people at the same time. Anyone who believes AI may not yet be at this level should look into systems such as Character.AI, which can grow and respond as a character created by a user. More worryingly, it can also converse with other AI. One positive the movie highlighted, which is often overlooked, was the positive impact the AI had on his life, getting him through depression and hard times when few other real people were around.

Her is also pictured at the top of this article.

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3. Gattaca (Andrew Niccol, 1997):

Gattaca was a 1997 movie, starring Ethan Hawke, that is still largely overlooked. The film is about a society that allows people to choose the genetic traits of their children in a laboratory. As a person born outside the lab in a natural birth, Hawkes’s character is subject to prejudice and discrimination. The movie focuses on the battle between society and the individual if this branch of science is taken to extremes. There are plenty of thought-provoking science fiction movies, many of them hidden gems. Do some research and dig into this genre, one that is not all just Star Wars and superheroes. You may just find your next favorite movie.