*I have received compensation for this post, however, all thoughts are my own.



I recently saw a tweet that said “2020 sounded like the most futuristic year and now we’re all like ‘I traded my neighbor a handkerchief for some carrots.’” and isn’t that incredibly accurate? It’s funny to look back and think of all the things that we perceived the 2000s would be. Just think back to all the movies over the years. Back to the Future. Blade Runner. The Jetsons. There are always lots of flying cars, food that is created from a small tablet or powder, intergalactic living spaces, time travel. But we do actually have a lot of the things seen in “futuristic” films, or something similar at least. All-electric cars, tvs and phones we can talk to, biometrics, and the thing that always gets me laughing when watching an older movie about the future is video chats. I was recently rewatching the second Back to the Future, and thought it was so funny how those video chats seemed so wild. And now so many of us are actually completing our jobs via video chats. We can facetime with folks via our mini handheld computers (phones). While the future isn’t quite as wild as it was perceived to be by this point, we have certainly made a ton of progress. We are living in the future.

And these thoughts got me thinking about all the progress we’ve made, the pieces of what we thought would be the future are those things we actually live with in our daily lives, with no thought that it’s actually so impressive, and kind of scary at times, the things that make our lives easier, though twenty years ago were just a dream.




Video Calls

I mentioned video calls above, but just because it’s something that was in almost every “futuristic” movie I can think of. It truly seemed unrealistic that people could livestream video and chat face-to-face through video, and now it’s technology that is literally in the palm of our hands. I use it almost everyday for work. At this point, I’m using video calls so often I am burnt out on it! And to think, it’s something that was pretty much unthinkable within my lifetime.



Wearable Technology

Remember Buzz Lightyear’s space suit that he would talk into to reach Command? (Even though his suit was not real, there was no Command, and he just wouldn’t believe it!) That’s the kind of thing I think of when I think of wearable technology. And though it may be a little different for us everyday folks, we still have wearable technology like smart watches, smart rings, and even smart sunglasses.



Biometrics

The realization that biometrics are something we have and use on a regular basis is wild. It was sci-fi movies that would show folks scanning fingerprints, retinas, and voice controls as security measures. And our phones unlock by reading our faces, and we can set up our Bluetooths to respond to our particular voice. Biometrics still seem so sci-fi to me, but it’s just another thing we carry around in our pockets.



Holograms

Okay, holograms are something that I haven’t yet seen in person, but they exist. Hologram concerts are a thing, and I know there was even a George Floyd hologram campaign recently across the country.



Virtual Reality

I am not a VR person. I mean, I can hardly watch a 3D film without getting a headache and some motion sickness. But virtual reality is something that’s readily available to those who want it. I mean, we’re not quite at the Ready Player One stage, but I can definitely see us moving towards there in the next 20 years. We’re already in the virtual school phase, let’s go ahead and bring some avatars into the mix, right?



Smart Home Technology

Remember the movie Smart House? It was a favorite of mine on the Disney channel growing up, and it was the very first thing we watched when it got Disney+. Yes, it’s corney, and no it’s not totally realistic. Our houses are popping whatever food we want out of the counter, and our smart tech isn’t coming to life as a physical being (at least not yet). But we do have smart thermostats and lights, smart tvs, robot vacuums. It’s basically Smart House, without the creepy wannabe mother figure forming from the house itself.



Drones

Who would have suspected that we could have flying robots delivering things to us and making videos and photos for us? But that’s a thing that is real-life, and I love seeing people’s drone videos and photos - they are always so creative and beautiful. For some drones, the cameras are covered with little dome bubbles to protect the camera (like a CCTV camera). Those domes are often made using a process called injection molding which provides the highest optical quality.




Self-driving Cars

While self-driving cars aren’t available for public purchase yet, they do exist. LiDAR technology is one of the things that make self-driving cars possible, and Criterion Technology, Inc. creates LiDAR enclosures that help make that technology work smoother within its environment.


Photo: Criterion Technology, Inc.