2001 What the movie predicted and what came true

"Odysseus - "2001 Today you can check how far the film is in today's reality

When Stanley Kubrick's monumental film "Odyssey" 2001 was first screened in 1968, it represented not only a milestone in the art of cinema, but also man's desire to go beyond the limits of the earth. There is no doubt, because for the wide-eyed observer the future has never looked more amazing.

The film's heavenly themes were also compressed into quite a few technological revolutions, as predicted by Kubrick and his screenwriting partner, the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clark. But now, 33 years later, the question arises, how close did the filmmakers' fantastic predictions come to reality?

Clark predicted the Internet

Those interested in artificial intelligence and space exploration can now debate how well Clark predicted the future in 2001, but those involved in new technologies must acknowledge the prophetic power of his depiction of Dr. Floyd catching up on the news during a Pan-Am flight to the moon 25 years before the Internet. There was a common saying in everyone's mouth. "When he got tired of official reports, memos, and protocols, he used to connect his little news sheet to the spaceship's information circuit and review the latest reports from Earth. One by one he uploaded the main electronic newspapers in the world. He remembered the codes of the most important ones and didn't need to consult the list on the back of his notebook." And: "The text was automatically updated every hour; Even if you only read the English versions, you could spend a lifetime just absorbing the incessant stream of information from the news satellites." Everyone who roams the internet knows what this is about.

Below is the comparison

Space Flight:
In the film, flights to space stations were conducted by the airline "Pan American". Dr. Haywood Floyd is dozing on board the spacecraft while a motion picture flickers on the seat of the chair in front of him. And what about today? In the late 60s, Pan American received 90 bookings for flights to the moon. But a carrier with a regular space flight line will operate in the near future. However, many airplanes are equipped with personal screens for watching movies. Kubrick ordered an 'atomic pen' from the Parker pen company, which would operate in zero gravity, without filling the plane with floating ink clouds. The concept behind the special design - a heat generator - was the inspiration for today's inkjet printers.

Telephone-TV:
In the film, a phone was shown with a monitor that allowed face-to-face contact between the Earth and the space station. The price for a two-minute call was $1.70. In practice, the "PicturePhone", which was aggressively marketed by the "Bell" company in the 60s and early 70s, did not capture the public's sympathy due to the fear that the phone would ring when they got out of the shower and they would be seen as wearing only a towel. But internet technology, digital cameras and video communication have evolved to a stage where face-to-face communication is gaining momentum.

Voice recognition:
In the movie, voice recognition was used as an entry code to various systems. In reality, voice recognition software is increasingly being used to log into computer and cell phone systems and identify the caller.

Hotels in space:
In the movie, the Hilton and Howard Johnson chains have franchises in the space. And what really happened? Howard Johnson seems very far from opening a zero-gravity suite, but Hilton is investigating the possibility of opening space hotels 150 km above the Earth.
"We are interested in examining whether we can be the first network in space in 20-15 years," said the company's spokeswoman, Ginny Detz, last year.

Moving to the moon

Moon colonies: the film showed colonies that were established by Americans and Soviets and where various studies will be conducted. In practice, there is only an unmanned spacecraft, scientific equipment, a lunar rover in good condition and a few golf balls on the moon. NASA's plans for a lunar colony were shelved.

A flood of TV channels: the media explosion, according to the film, caused the BBC to expand and reach up to BBC 12. In reality, the BBC still only has two stations (in 2005 they have 4, as far as I know), but dozens of satellite and cable stations have many more than 12 channels each. However, the curiosity is that the most watched series in Britain is the old soap opera "Coronation Street".

Tiny flat screen TVs:
As in the movie, flat screen plasma display has already infiltrated televisions, computers and DVD players. "Watchman" portables and televisions have been on the market for a long time.

Hibernation:
In the movie, astronauts went into hibernation on the long journey to Jupiter. In reality, research at the University of North Carolina has identified two genes that apparently control hibernation by inhibiting calorie burning. Applications of these genetic or hormonal therapies may also include preservation of donated organs.

artificial intelligence:
In the movie, a computer not only performed all the functions required in the spaceship, but also defeated humans in chess, held conversations and sang. Oh, and he also killed people. Kubrick's "Hal" 9000 computer was ahead of his (and our) time in terms of a thinking machine. In reality, computers are undergoing a development process using cognitive tools that may allow them to respond to stimuli without waiting for instructions. But the road is still long.

Lynn Andrea Stein, lecturer in computer science at Franklin W. College. Olin Engineering in Massachusetts, emphasizes: "When it comes to judgment or creativity, technology is still not enough. These are very complex phenomena and I think we will have to understand them much better before we can help the computer acquire them."

The filmmakers hit on one thing. In 1968, chess master David Levy said that no computer would be able to defeat him in the next ten years. He won an intervention in 1978 when he defeated the computer "Chess". . And what about killing? Although sometimes we really want to destroy our computer, fortunately, computers do not (yet) have such thoughts.