Can sci-fi and games predict our future?

Опубликовано 6 апреля 2018, 5:00

Can sci-fi predict our future? Julia Hardy meets the cast of Steven Spielberg’s new movie Ready Player One, as well as the director himself, to find out if the massive online virtual reality world the film is set in, The OASIS, is something they can imagine happening in the near future.

Julia also speaks to games journalists Tamoor Hussain and Alice Bell, and discovers how games developers have mined the rich resource of a sci-fi future for inspiration. Will androids walk among us, blending into the crowds of any modern metropolis? Will schools use VR for time-travelling history lessons? Will we all be wearing full-body exoskeletons to mimic 'real life' touch sensations when we play games?

After all, gamers already play online for millions of hours per year – what’s really stopping us from spending even more time interacting in a digital space, rather than a physical one? Is it all doom and gloom? Or will the next technological age enrich humankind, and the human condition? As Julia quickly realises: there’s a lot more to virtual reality and advanced A.I. than simple fun and games.

If you're in the UK, you can watch the full 17-minute documentary on BBC iPlayer bbc.co.uk/programmes/p062d8cl