In 1989 it was still a long way off, now an American has Marty’s hoverboard McFly recreated from “Back to the Future”. Other technologies from sci-fi films have long since become a reality.

A man jets several meters on a hoverboard over the asphalt along a street. That sounds like Robert Zemecki’s cult film “Back to the Future” from 1989. On the board is not actor Michael J. Fox aka Marty McFly, but Hunter Kowald. The American describes himself as a “Hoverboard Aircraft Developer” and on April 24, 2021 caused a storm of cheers among sci-fi enthusiasts – and probably everyone – with a video in which he hovers over an intersection on his hoverboard Green Goblins of this world.

This man is living in 2030! pic.twitter.com/fgXLCEPldS

— Buitengebieden (@BuitengebiedenB) April 24, 2021

Hunter Kowald skillfully maneuvers his vehicle past advertisements over a typical American intersection. Between the swanky pickups and trucks, the aircraft hobbyist looks like a time traveler on his illuminated hoverboard. According to Kowald, loads of over 200 kilos can be transported through the air on his drone. What looks dangerous is even halfway accident-proof. According to the company’s own information, two motors and the power supply system can fail and a safe landing is still possible. In addition, the hoverboard has FAA aircraft navigation lighting.

Whether Kowald wants to use his hoverboard like Marty McFly for a good cause, or whether he wants to like it the green goblin from Spiderman is holding, the tinkerer has not yet revealed. One thing is certain: the video is one of the many pieces of evidence that science fiction does not have to remain fiction. Here are ten more technologies that have made it from the screen into our everyday lives.

Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report” (2002) is set in the year 2054 and has a lot of futuristic technologies in its luggage. A special focus is on interfaces that enable people to interact with digital processes without having to physically use an input device.

The Film delves deep into the complexities of precognitive technology in the future, dealing with hidden identities as Tom Cruise tries to prevent murders before they are even committed.

Disregarding the time travel element, some of the things that are touched on in the Minority Report have become a reality. The potential shown is far from being exhausted, but gesture-based control is now possible with many smartphones. Apple’s Face ID can be mentioned here as an example.

Director Sam Raimi said in his 1990 film “Darkman” an important scientific development ahead. The film chronicles the life of a brilliant scientist who wants to avenge crime bosses after they pronounced him dead and burned him alive. Main character Peyton Westlake worked on making synthetic skin to reconstruct his face, which had been disfigured by the burns.

A process that is now done with 3D printers is actually possible. Even human organs can now be produced this way. In 2019, the first human heart was printed entirely from fabric in Israel.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in the self-driving “Johnnycab”. (Screenshot: Youtube)

In the 2084-set sci-fi classic “Total Recall” from 1990 there is already self-driving cars. The “Johnnycab” did not make a particularly modern impression and the robot-like driver looked quite scary, but it was able to drive autonomously all the better – despite a skeptical-looking Arnold Schwarzenegger,

Schwarzenegger’s dream from “Total Recall” to relocate to Mars does not seem too far off. But that’s a different topic.

In his work based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, the Dutch director Paul Verhoeven created a fictional world, which doesn’t really correspond to today’s reality. However, autonomous driver assistance systems are already being installed in new cars and are constantly being further developed and researched. Companies like Tesla have already brought this vision to life.

The film “Elysium” has not yet started in 2013 too old and set in a post-apocalyptic world in 2154 that has little to do with the one we currently live in. Matt Damon has the gigantic task of reuniting two worlds in which two very different classes of people live.

While Matt Damon’s task will hopefully never become a reality, another aspect of “Elysium” has long been: The people in the film by director Neill Blomkamp live in space stations. This is already possible today without any problems. Greetings from the ISS. Astronauts work and live on the international space station around 400 kilometers above the surface of the earth, sometimes for months – and have been for over 20 years. While the ISS will abdicate by 2028 at the latest, other space stations could follow its model. Space analyst Laura Forczyk assumes that there will be many more successful space stations in the future, the areas of application of which can vary from economic aspects to pure luxury objects. China recently launched the first module for its own space station into orbit.

A little more than 50 years ago, in 1968, “2001: A Space Odyssey” premiered. The film is now considered to be one of the most defining sci-fi films of all time. Director Stanley Kubrick created a vision of the future that anticipated technological advances in speech recognition and artificial intelligence.

Starred in 2001: A Space Odyssey the supercomputer HAL. Among other things, the AI ​​played a game of chess against Dr. Frank Poole. This scenario was to become a reality as early as 1996. The world chess champion Garri Kasparov competed in the USA against the IBM computer Deep Blue – and lost. The triumphant advance of artificial intelligence began and is today an important part of many modern developments. In terms of intelligence, today’s AI is now light years ahead of the supercomputer HAL from “2001”, to use sci-fi jargon. One can only hope that in reality the AI ​​does not develop a similar life of its own as HAL 9000.

Classic battle droids as known from the Star Wars epic, which has existed since 1977, have not yet been sent to the crisis areas of our planet, but the company Bos ton Dynamics has already developed some impressive prototypes that at least show in which direction it can go.

Achieve particular fame In particular, the dog-like Robodog spot, which was even used by the US police on missions, was used here. Creating freely moving robots or droids that behave like humans, can communicate and make decisions independently is a much greater challenge. However, not one that seems impossible. If problems arise, George Lucas may also be able to help. He should be very familiar with droids.

Also the Internet of Things and the associated smart home technology had its first appearance much earlier than expected. In 1977 the film “Demon Seed” came into the cinemas, which was shown in Germany under the title “Des Teufels Saat”. In the sci-fi horror flick, computer scientist Alex Harris created “Proteus IV”, an artificial intelligence with an integrated neural network. Initially, the computer should be used to heal leukemia, but it quickly develops a life of its own.

“Proteus IV” begins to take control of all technology and devices in the house. In short: “Proteus IV” becomes the control center of a smart home. Like its real counterparts, the computer could control lights and door locks, manage the house’s alarm system, record videos of the entrance area and even operate the automatic pool cover. In 1977, “Proteus IV” practically combined everything that the smart products from Ring, Philips Hue and Co. can do today. Only it wasn’t quite so harmless.

“Back to the Future” is a classic that delighted the audience in 1985 with a look back at 2015 and was sometimes not so wrong. In the second part of the film, drones are used to walk dogs. In reality, this doesn’t happen all that often at the moment, but theoretically it is quite possible, as videos on the net show again and again.

In one In another scene, Marty is attacked by a shark, which after the initial shock turns out to be a hologram. Such attacks can be admired nowadays at least through your own smartphone. Augmented Reality has reached a wide audience at the latest with the hype about Pokemon Go and is used in a wide variety of areas.

Many devices such as tablets or smartphones are now secured with the fingerprint of the owner. Similar sensors already existed in “Back to the Future” when the police officers used their fingerprints to unlock a door.

Hoverboard, tablets and self-driving cars – a few years ago still dreams of the future, today reality. While directors and screenwriters used to be visionaries, today it is often difficult to follow the daily developments of real tech developments. One can only hope that the creative people in the film industry can still provide us with crazy ideas. But as long as we don’t all have to choose between a red and a blue pill in run-down hotels at some point, everything is fine. You might also be interested in