What Predictions Came True From Back to the Future?

By John Breaux | January 12, 2019

Back to the Future Part II is one of the most iconic movies of all time, as it envisioned a future full of crazy new technologies like flying cars, instant food, and other wacky things. When Marty McFly and Doc Brown travel to the future, the date is October 21, 2015. While some of the things we see never came true, like those sweet hover-boards, other things were pretty spot on to what we have in today’s age.

Tablets and Mobile Payment Technology

When we see elderly Terry ask Marty to electronically donate $100 to save the town’s historic clock tower, he is holindh a flat, wireless electronic device way ahead of its time when the movie came out. However, now, it can be easily recognizable as a tablet. Wireless payments are also predicted, when we see Marty pay for a cab using a wireless device. Now, could you imagine a time where we didn’t have Venmo and Apple Pay?

Hands-Free Video Games

When you see Marty enter the Cafe 80’s nostalgia arcade to play some video games, several boys are stunned to see him playing a game with his hands, incredulously asking, “You mean you have to use your hands? That’s like a baby’s toy!” Now, we have all sorts of hands-free video games, like Xbox Kinect, which allowed users to play games using just their voice and gestures.

Video Phones

When Marty’s future self gets fired via video phone call, little did we know how big of an impact video calling would be in our lives. From FaceTime to Skype, it has allowed us to communicate and share information in an unprecedented way.

Biometric Devices

We see fingerprint recognition quite often in the movie, with Marty’s girlfriend even using her fingerprint to gain entrance into her home. Biometric scanning is now used in a variety of devices, it is almost difficult to find a phone that doesn’t use some form of it nowadays.

Wearable Technology

One of the coolest parts of the movie is when Marty wears the power-lacing sneakers and a special size-adjusting, auto-drying jacket. While we don’t have that yet, we do have a variety of wearable technologies that have transformed the way we live. These include the Apple Watch, Fitbit, and “smart shirt” that monitor heart rate and breathing, and many others.

Personal Drones

We see drones have become a conventional part of modern life. Some capture footage for news organization while others can be used to walk a dog. While I haven’t seen drones walking any dogs as of late, drones are being used to capture breathtaking aerial footage, to find and locate survivors of a natural disaster, and even to deliver packages to your door.