10 Movies That Predicted Future Tech (or At Least Came Close)
With movies ranging from Tron to The Truman Show, we highlight flicks that foretold today's technology trends.
By Shane O'Neill
It's no small feat to make a film that is entertaining, has a great story and predicts trends and technologies that later come true. While those fantastic gadgets in James Bond movies are fun to watch (A watch that doubles as a laserbeam cutter! A car that transforms into a submarine!), they're pure fantasy.
But here we spotlight 10 movies—most from the '80s and '90s—that got tech right (or came close). They're the ones that you look back on and say, "My God, those technologies exist now" or "That could really happen today."
If anything, this will be the last time 2001: A Space Odyssey and You've Got Mail are on the same list. Enjoy. (Accuracy ratings are based on a four-star system.)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): When AI Goes Evil
Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi masterpiece is a haunting cautionary tale about giving computers too much control. It's a meditation on technology, space travel and the human condition, but at its core it's about a computer called HAL that mercilessly turns off life support for a spaceship.
Accuracy: 
½
2001's vision wasn't that accurate. It was way off about space travel (Jupiter?), and we don't have computers with consciousness. But the dangers of making computers autonomous ring true. When computers break down, industries like
airlines stop working.
