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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136313
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| Posted: 02 June 2026 at 6:12pm | IP Logged | 1
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Not a new idea, but the thread I started about Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains” being set in a Future that we’ve caught up to, without the catastrophic events of the story, got me thinking about the number of times I have encountered this phenomenon. One that springs immediately to mind is STAR TREK’s “eugenics wars”, predicted for circa 1996. Kubrick’s 2001 was overly optimistic by several decades. We’re still a long way from that moonbase and space station. A few years earlier, tho, FORBIDDEN PLANET has taken the position that we would not reach the Moon until the end of the 21st Century. At the gloomy end of the spectrum several movies predicted World War III as happening around 1964. ON THE BEACH is one such. There’s a delightfully whacky movie from the Thirties, JUST IMAGINE! that sees us adopting names like Bob 209 by the Seventies.
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Brian Hughes
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 15 June 2015
Location: United States
Posts: 426
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| Posted: 02 June 2026 at 7:26pm | IP Logged | 2
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August 29th 1997 was supposed to be Judgement day per Terminator 2. For me, it was the day that my divorce from my first wife was finalized. A day of judgemernt indeed, without the nukes.
So was Bob 209 the inspiration for ED in Robocop?
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Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2567
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| Posted: 02 June 2026 at 9:26pm | IP Logged | 3
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People make jokes like "It's 2026--where are jetpacks and flying cars?!" But then I like to point out that we HAVE jetpacks and flying cars! (Yes, James Bond's jetpack in 1965's THUNDERBALL was an actual working jetpack! William Suitor wore it again for the opening of the 1984 Summer Olympics!)
And we have dancing robots, we've taken pictures of Pluto, a supercomputer in everyone's pocket, and now A.I.! My wife has a Dick Tracy phone watch on her wrist right now.
Is it just perception? Or does it only count if some company can make it profitable? We're a little behind here, a little ahead there--maybe we're right on track.
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Peter Hicks
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 30 April 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 2128
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| Posted: 02 June 2026 at 10:14pm | IP Logged | 4
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Reminds me of the commercial Avery Brooks did for IBM 26 years ago, “It’s the year 2000, and there are no flying cars! I was promised flying cars!!”
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Brian ONeill
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 04 July 2024
Posts: 131
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| Posted: 03 June 2026 at 6:53am | IP Logged | 5
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DC COMICS PRESENTS had a 1983 issue teaming Superman and the Atomic Knights, proclaiming 'The Great Atomic War of 1986!' Obviously, nothing dramatic happened to Superman that year.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 136313
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| Posted: 03 June 2026 at 8:27am | IP Logged | 6
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So was Bob 209 the inspiration for ED in Robocop?••• More like the other way around. It’s a number I picked at random.
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Edward Aycock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 July 2024
Location: United States
Posts: 205
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| Posted: 03 June 2026 at 1:14pm | IP Logged | 7
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Stephen King's "The Stand" changed the year from 1985 to 1990 when the deluxe version was released in 1990. It has been stuck there since, as far as I know.
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Barry Weinberger
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 03 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 153
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| Posted: 03 June 2026 at 2:03pm | IP Logged | 8
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The term I heard/like for such things - “predundant”.
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Harri Jokinen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 11 May 2014
Location: Finland
Posts: 52
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| Posted: 13 June 2026 at 8:47pm | IP Logged | 9
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This is the year Arishem the Judge decides whether the earth lives or dies. I wonder if he's pleased with our progress these last few years?
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Doug Centers
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 February 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 5795
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| Posted: 13 June 2026 at 10:24pm | IP Logged | 10
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THE POSTMAN movie's "apocalypse" was said to have happened in 1998 (15 years earlier than the movie's setting), from a combination of severe weather, civil war and economic collapse.
Not sure if the book had it the same way.
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Bill Collins
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 May 2005
Location: England
Posts: 11602
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| Posted: 14 June 2026 at 6:35am | IP Logged | 11
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There are certain aspects of Orwell's 1984 that we are
experiencing now,he was just 40 years out.
The Star Trek franchise got a few things right, or maybe
inspired them? Automatic doors, touchscreens, needle-less
syringes. Smart phones are like Tricorders and
Communicators combined!
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