In honor of the recent Oct 21, 2105 “Back to the Future Day” I have started to re-watch the trilogy with my daughters. It is their first time seeing it. I guess I underestimated how difficult it might be for a 4 year old just starting to master the concepts of yesterday and tomorrow to comprehend multi-timeline time travel, but both she and my 7 year old are have enjoyed parts 1 and 2 so far.
I have seen some lists of BttF’s 2015 predictions, but sitting there watching the movie I wrote the following list (roughly in order they appear in the movie), which I believe to be more comprehensive than I have found elsewhere.
| Prediction | Hit or Miss | Notes |
| Bar Code License Plates | Miss | |
| Sleep Inducing Alpha Rhythm Generator | Miss | |
| Weather control | Miss | |
| Self adjusting jacket | Miss | |
| Self tying laces | Miss | |
| “Caution Silicone” – label on boxes in alley | Miss | well… there was a flap over silicone breast implants, but the MSDS shows it to be still be mostly harmless |
| $50 for a Pepsi | Miss | |
| Flying Cars/ Freeways in the sky | Miss | |
| Personal inter-continental transportation | Miss | The sky-way sign shows London as a destination |
| Personal fusion power | Miss | |
| Doc’s opaque metal goggles | Miss | Could be considered “hit” if you charitably assumed these are augmented reality lenses of some sort |
| Nostalgia Café for the 80s | Hit | We had these circa 2000, not sure if they are still around |
| Fashion | Miss (mostly) | Rainbow hat (Marty Jr) Face tats (Biff’s gang) Two ties (older Marty) Broad shoulders, metallic material, etc. |
| USA Today logo | Miss | |
| 2 hour justice / eliminated all lawyers | Miss | |
| Youth treatments (that have no discernable effect) | Hit | Although I have not heard of doing blood transfusions |
| Bionic implants (Griff) | Miss | Not counting surgical joint replacement here |
| Holographic ads | Miss | We have something, but nothing like the Jaws ad |
| Holomax theater | Miss | No credit for 3-D movies – they had those in the 50s in some form |
| Hover boards | Miss | |
| Automated gas station | Miss | |
| 05 Second Service Pac Fax” (on US Mail box) | Miss | I could give credit her for email, but this is something involving a physical mailbox |
| Pepsi logo | Miss | |
| Pepsi bottle | Miss | Crazy wide-top design |
| Video games do not use hands | Hit | The kids in the café scoff that Marty uses his hands to play the video game |
| Video games with hands are considered “children’s toys” | Miss | not yet… |
| Auto-drying clothes | Miss | |
| Cashless payment on a tablet (save the clock tower, taxi) | Hit | |
| Books on “vinyl paper” | Miss | They totally missed the advent of eBooks |
| Drone camera (USA Today reporter drone) | Partial | Yes to the camera, not to it being used for news reports (apparently autonomously) yet |
| Autonomous Drone trash cans | Miss | |
| Thumbprint to assess ID (biometrics) | Hit | |
| Scrolling LED Name Tags on Hats | Miss | As the police had |
| Surf Vietnam | Partial | Not necessarily a “destination”, but there is some chatter on surfing Vietnam on the web |
| Suspended Animation Kennel | Miss | |
| “Tranks lobos, and zipheads” (slang used by the Police) | Miss | |
| Home automation “lights on” | Hit | |
| Scene screen (using actual window-shade like screen) | Miss | |
| Flat screen monitor in house | Hit | |
| No doorknob on door – biometrics only | Miss | not commonly used for home |
| Food Hydrators / de-hydrated food | Miss | |
| 100s of channels | Hit | But we had this by the 90s, so not a bold prediction |
| Drone for walking dog | Miss | |
| Voice commands | Hit | And they still do not work well: “Fruit PLEASE” |
| Wearable Tech (Goggles on Marty Jr and Marty’s daughter) | Hit | |
| Video 2-way communication | Hit | |
| Fax still popular | Miss |
So that is 11 out of 47, or 23%
Even so, it does not really look like our reality. It is crazy to think that the 80s are as distant in the past to us, as the 50s were to the folks who first watched BttF in the theaters.