The Future is Almost Here, Part I

The Future is Almost Here, Part I

Today is Sunday October 18^th, 2015 and it’s almost the future.  As any intelligent person knows, this Wednesday the 21^st is the day Marty McFly arrived to the future.  And like any good fan, I am preparing for the date. I’ve ordered my Delorean T-shirt, secured my movie tickets to see part II, and just finished watching the first movie tonight (instead of writing all my grad school papers that are due soon).  And all this commemoration excitement has really got me thinking about the future, the past, and just life in general.

I never really understood how much Back to the Future influenced me as a kid.  I might have been a little young compared to other 80s fans (since I am regretfully considered a millennial, born 1983), but I have always been a big fan. This movie, along with other 80s classics (e.g Princess Bride, Ghostbusters, and The Goonies) were simply part of my childhood culture. 

My childhood friend and I would watch those movies on loop and then pretend we were part of them. Yes, we captured ghosts, flew dangerously down a homemade zip line, rode our bikes in search of treasure, and whatever other awesome adventures kids could get up to in those days. But, Back to the Future definitely holds a special place in my heart. I remember that we made our own time machine out of some plywood, a wheeled bed frame, boxes, and some old computer parts his dad brought home from work.  Then one of us would push our creation down the street, while the other one pretended to arrive in the future. It was great!

There was always a fascination with the future when we watched that second movie.  I would imagine how awesome it would be one day. Although, I can’t say I quite comprehended that I would actually find myself here one day; not by a time machine, but with good OLD fashioned aging. It just seemed so far away. In fact, I still look at the date sometimes and think how future-y it seems.

So, as the future is finally arriving I keep wondering about the state of the world, the state of my own life, and whether or not the 8 or 9 year-old me would still be excited about getting here. I mean, the lack of flying cars and hover boards is a little disappointing.  If I stop to consider the things we take for granted now, I realize we are totally doing crazy future stuff all the time.  The technology is better than even the Back to the Future folks could even imagine.  Of course there are too many to list, but one of them stands out the most to me.  It’s almost creepy really.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would one day walk around with basically the answer to most of my questions in my pocket (I had a lot of questions as a kid…and still do). The most exciting thing I ever imagined being able to do when I got older was being able to drive a car and go pick up my friends to “play.”  Who knew this would end up looking like this: 

•   Drive to pick up my friend for an adventure (at least I still find time to play)
• Talk to a device while driving and tell it to notify my friend that I’m on the way
• Ask the device how the weather will be for the day
• Tell it to play my favorite song...then yell at it when it plays the wrong one
• Pick up some coffee and pay for it with the same device I just had an argument with
•  Tell it to shut the pod bay doors
• Tell it to call my friend so I can tell her I’m outside
•  Ask it for directions to our destination
•  Ask it the meaning of life and everything
•  Arrive
•  Take an awesome picture with my device of real Millennials who are all sitting together, bu taking selfies on their devices instead of interacting with one another
•  Upload my picture to multiple applications simultaneously that share it with a gazillion people
• Receive instant feedback from others who appreciate such art
•   Count my steps with the device while we walk around (gotta stay healthy)
• Scan the barcode of something I found that I like in order to look it up online, buy it cheaper, and  have it mailed to me the same day
•  Receive a real-time “video call” from another friend who lives far away and catch up with our lives, while walking around shopping
•  Play a fun game, read a book, or check the news while I wait on my friend to get out of the bathroom
• Check the cheapest gas stations on my way home
• Drop off my friend and return home
• Pull out my slightly bigger version of the device and watch a movie before falling asleep

And that’s just one product we have here in the future. Love it or hate it, but you have to admit the world has changed dramatically by the technologies that surround us every day.  I know my childhood self would not be let down.