The future of "Back to the Future" is almost here!

Looking TOO far into the future has its perils. Consider some of the glimpses of things-to-come bedeviling contributor Conor Knighton:


2014 is going to be an AMAZING year for technology! 

In the next year, we'll have flying cars, gas-pumping robots . . . trust me, I have seen the future. 

"Back to the Future Part II"!

When I was eight years old, I saw "Back to the Future Part II" in the theater.  I couldn't WAIT to grow up, especially if it meant I'd get to live in a world where you could magically re-hydrate a miniature Pizza Hut pizza at home.

But this week, I realized: that movie is set in 2015!  Which means starting now we've only got ONE YEAR to make all of this stuff happen.

Great Scott, Marty!

I guess we've made a little progress. Those TV glasses on the McFlys look a lot like Google's new Glass project. The electronic billboards of Hill Valley look like the flashing ads in Times Square.

I guess it's unlikely in the next year we'll get Hoverboards, or Nikes with Power Laces. 

I'll deal with it. 

But it's harder to deal with the realization that the future that seemed so fanciful and far-off when I was a kid is already here.  How did that happen?

Sure, it's not going to look anything like the movies. I mean, in the '80s they predicted we'd have an actual Robocop by 2015, and the only progress we're going to be making on that front is a "Robocop" remake.  But I guess life never ends up how you imagined it.

If you cling too firmly to an idea of what the future should be like, you're only setting yourself for disappointment. That's worth remembering in these weeks of predictions and resolutions. There's no road map for life. 

Doc said it best: "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads."


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