TORONTO, Oct. 21, 2015 – Today is Back to the Future Day. It marks 26 years since the sci-fi comedy’s Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) zip forward to this day in 2015. Do the movie’s predictions of what life would be like today really pan out? Ask some of York University’s experts.
In the film, Back to the Future II (1989), fax machines are everywhere, attached to mailboxes and in almost every room of the house, including the bathroom. But today’s electronic communication capabilities have made fax machines a thing of the past.
“Instead, we have advanced to the point where we can send an electronic message representing a 3D object that can be printed on a home ‘3D fax machine’,” says York mathematics & statistics Professor Mike Zabrocki who has used 3D printers to teach algebra and geometry, as well as to print solid objects such as jewelry. Zabrocki can speak to how far electronic communications have come, including some which were probably unthinkable when the movie was released.
Some of the future technology in the film wasn’t far from the mark, for instance, instead of video glasses, we have Google Glass, but flying cars have not yet taken off. “But thanks to nanotechnology we have new light weight, but strong materials used in a range of applications from airplane wings to tennis rackets. We also have new drug delivery and precision microscopes,” says York U chemistry Professor Muhammad Yousaf.
So what are some of the predictions the movie missed the mark on? York U physics and astronomy senior lecturer Paul Delaney says we’re closer to using biometric technology in many situations – newer iPhones use fingerprints as pass codes – but we’re not at the point of using it for banking or opening locked doors, yet. There are also no flying robot dog walkers or self-tying shoes.
Delaney is also available to talk about the film’s predictions on flying cars and hover-boards, precise weather reports and robotic gas stations.
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Media Contact:
Sandra McLean, York University Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 22097 / sandramc@yorku.ca
