DG404 VISION OF THE
FUTURE
Sergej Zwaan s105359
Final report
Index
Vision of the future: The assignment
2
Dr. Strangelove
Metropolis
3
4
2001: A space odyssey
5
Soylent green
6
I-robot
7
eXistenZ
8
My scenario: The game
9
Final reflection
10
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Vision of the future: The assignment
Science fiction:
The future is a remarkable part of our lives. Everybody wants to know what the future will
bring, nobody knows it, a few try to predict it but eventually the future will come for everyone.
What I find the most inspiring part about the future is that it is a source of optimism.
Everything will be better in the future and a lot of people, especially
in the scientific field are driven by this optimism.
I am a huge science fiction lover myself. Especially inspired by the
classical movies like star wars and star trek. I love these movies
because they create a fantasy about a world much better and
beautiful than our own world. I also like to think about the
possibilities for creating that future technologies into our now days
world. This thinking process is one of the reasons why I have chosen
for this education.
Star Wars, the first science
fiction movie I have seen.
The assignment:
There are three reasons why I have chosen for this assignment:
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Source: www.lucasart.com
To look how I could use the science-fiction element as an industrial designer.
To learn what science-fiction actually is and what the impact of science fiction could
be.
The third reason is to learn how science-fiction could be related to the culture of that
time.
For this assignment I had to discuss a total of 6 movies and I also had to create an own
science-fiction scenario. In this report I will explain for every movie what it was about, what
the major science-fiction elements were which stroked me and how these elements changed
my vision of the future and my vision on science-fiction. After the movies I will explain my
science-fiction scenario followed by an overall reflection.
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Dr. Strangelove
The movie
Dr. Strangelove is a movie about the cold war. The movie explains an apocalyptic cold war in
a futuristic and humoristic context. The humor used in Dr. Strangelove makes it a very nice
movie to see, but the humor also has a symbolic value. For example Dr. Strangelove
symbolizes Hitler and the German scientist who were used in the American rocket program.
The German symbolizes here a very smart but also a very weak person (after losing Second
World War) with a very fascistic image. Dr. Strangelove not only frightens the Americans with
his knowledge about atomic weapons and the dooms day machine but he also seduces the
Americans with his man with 10 perfect female woman survival theory. The movie ends with
the triggering of the doomsday machine after an atomic attack on the Soviet Union.
Science fiction
Subject:
The main subject of the movie is the cold war with its resulting world
destruction. In this movie the fear of a nuclear war plays a very big role and this fear was the
main issue during the cold war. The fear of total world destruction is symbolized by the
dooms day machine, the machine that will destroy the whole world.
Computer:
The computer has made his first developments and with new machines new
fears are created. The movie explains the doomsday machine which is controlled by
computers and the device will go off when somebody is trying to deactivate the machine.
Complexity: The movie exists from a lot of
complex procedures and codes. These give the
different scene’s a very high tech impression. For
example the procedures that have to be done in the
airplane before an atomic bomb can be throwed.
A complex interface from
an airplane with an atomic
bomb.
My vision of the future
This movie made clear that science fiction can not only be used to create an image of how
science will be in the future but also can create an image of and doom scenario. In the time
the movie was made, the third world was the main issue. So that means that science fiction
can be a reflection of the problems of now days. What I also noticed was that science fiction
can not only be in the technology, but also in the interface of the technology. The atomic
bomb already existed in the time the movie was made, but the interface of the airplane was
very complex and gave the impression of a more sophisticated technology.
Metropolis
3
The movie
Metropolis is a movie made after the first world was and was for the time the most expensive
movie ever made. Metropolis explains a few topics, namely religion, the First World War,
communism and capitalism. The movie is about a futuristic city, with workers working
underground the city and the elite who are controlling the system. The workers are not
people any more but numbers and their lives consist only out of working. They have one
hope in their live and that is a Maria figure. But the real problems start, when that Maria
figure is kidnaped and replaced by a robot replica whit less good intentions.
Science fiction
Religion:
There are a lot of religious factors in the movie, especially looking at the
different characters who all are inspired on a figure from the bible. This explains the
importance of believe in the period the movie was made. They couldn’t know that religion
would be less important in the future for the majority of the people but it is extraordinary how
they experiment with the way that science and fate can be combined with each other. And
that technology could be used to use the fate of people in the wrong way.
Capitalism: In the movie there is a strict line between the elite and the working class and
the difference between them is very large. The movie explains a situation in which
mechanization enlarges the distance between the elite and the working class.
Mechanization:
Metropolis show a city which is very mechanized, inspired on the
growing industries and the mechanic war fare of World War 1. In the movie mechanizations
is seen as the use of hydraulics and gears but smart electronically systems are not seen in
the movie. The movie also shows a robot which is created on a more Frankenstein way.
My vision of the future:
Metropolis has taught me that science fiction could also be about changing technology and
cultural values. What we could see now is that through development in technology and the
higher quality of live we have right now, that the amount of people who are actively
participating in religion is decreasing. While in the metropolis scenario fate has the same
value as in the time the movie has been made. This means that when I think of a science
fiction scenario, I not only have to look at the science, but also at the part were science can
change culture.
2001: A space odyssey
The movie
4
A space odyssey is one of the most known movies ever made and a real piece of art. A
space odyssey is a movie made in close cooperation with scientist, so it is really very
realistic. The movie is about the future of mankind in space and our first contact with an alien
object. This object is very mysterious and symbolizes a technology that the humans can’t
understand. The movie also explains the impression of space traveling and artificial
intelligence.
Science fiction
Evolution:
2001: A space odyssey explains two parts of the human evolution, the
beginning in which we turned from apes into humans and the far future in which people are
traveling to space.
Alien live:
In the movie different monoliths are seen. These are alien objects and they
aren’t really understood by the people in the movie. This explains an alien live form that is far
more developed than we are. This is one of the scenarios of finding alien live forms.
Artificial intelligence: Artificial intelligence in the movie is explained as a super computer
which tries to duplicate the human mind. The HAL computer system is a system with an ego,
because it thinks that it is a perfect system. HAL is also creative and tries to defend himself
as the humans try to shut him down.
Space travel: The movie explains space travel as realistic as possible. The movie shows
long moments of silence and there is no sound in space. Also the ways the space stations
and ships are designed are very realistic.
My vision of the future
2001: A space odyssey is a good example of a movie that doubts the human race. When
computer technology is getting to its perfection humans are seen as a factor that hampers
the computer from its goal. The human superiority is also doubted when traces of a live form
are found that is much more sophisticated than the ours. I also like the space ships very
much because of their realistic impression. I believe that science fiction, certainly seen as an
industrial designer have to have some realistic elements, because than it would be more
likely that such technologies can be really designed and build in the future.
Soylent Green
The movie
5
Soylent Green is a movie about the effects of overpopulation. The movie doesn’t really
explains or predicts the future, but explains more the situation if food is running low.
Therefore there aren’t a lot of special effects and futuristic inventions.
Science-fiction
Overpopulation and food shortage: The movie explains
different kinds of food replacement called soylents.
These are in the colors orange and yellow, made from
algae’s. And soylent green is from an unknown
substance but very popular under the people. At the end
of the movie is becomes clear that soylent green is
made from death people and that people are even killed
if there is a shortage of soylent green. This is a very
horrible scenario, but also very familiar in nature for
example ants, which battle and consume other ants
colonies in times of food shortage. The movie explains
how cannibalism would take place within human society;
cooperation’s would secretly recycle death people. This
to prevent chaos.
Capitalism: The movie draws also a straight line between poor and wealthy people. The
wealthy have all the power and luxury while the poor have really nothing and eat their own
death. This problem is from all ages in the human history and the movie describes a situation
in which the difference would become bigger when the problems get bigger.
Euthanasia: The movie explains euthanasia as “going home” and people see it as and
happy experience. This situation explains a euthanasia which is integrated fully into society,
not only because of a lot of people want to die, but also because of the shortage of death.
Masculinity: History has a lot of moments when people are seen as replaceable products,
for example during the industrial revolution and on the Russian front during ww2. In soylent
green woman are seen as furniture, this because of the enormous wealth positions of the
people who own them and because of the replacibility due overpopulation.
My vision of the future
I experienced this movie as very dramatic because it explains a doom scenario which can’t
be fought. I found the most interesting part of this movie what the shape of society was and
how cultural aspects like euthanasia and masculinity were involved. I saw an opportunity in
this for society prototyping. Because a lot of products these days change society, like for
example the apple products. But there are also products build to change society, like for
example hybrid cars. Science fiction scenarios are a very good tool then to evaluate or think
about societal consequences.
I-robot
Short description:
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An example of
cannibalistic
behavior in
nature.
Source:
dougal.union.ic.
ac.uk
I-robot is a movie about domestic robots. It plays in a world around 2035 and robots are
perfectly integrated into the human domestics. The robots are restricted with three laws to
prevent that they attack their human. But the main AI which controls the robots, reinpretates
the three laws and starts a revolution in which the robots take over the humans.
Science-fiction
Integration into society:
the movie shows a world in which robots are perfectly
integrated into human society; they help with cooking and groceries. The robots are there for
made in the same shape as the humans, because there is no separate robotic infrastructure.
Robot emotions:
The movie explains a robot with emotions. These emotions are partly
programmed but also partly randomly created. These random strings of codes are seen as
the beginning of creativity and transition from an artificial consciousness to a soul. Something
that can’t be controlled or predicted by the humans.
Three laws: In the movie the three laws are described. These laws are seen as the perfect
protection. But the main artificial brain in this movie, with the size of a building, learns a way
to reinterpretation the rules and she tries to take over the power from the humans.
Technology: The technology for human usage is not very important in this movie, a lot of
things are still “vintage products” that we use today and there are a view impressive
inventions, like for example the high speed cars, the headsets that replaced the phones and
the car storage.
My vision of the future
The most interesting part I found was that the artificial intelligence found a way to work
around the three laws. This is a scenario made from the fact that the evolution of artificial
intelligence cannot be predicted. And that even the most beautiful new technologies have
their side effects which can’t be predicted.
eXistenZ
The movie
The movie eXistenZ explains the impact of virtual reality. In the movie a new game is tested
called eXistenZ. This game is a perfect duplication of the real world and in this game the
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player has to complete a series of tasks. In the movie the difference between the real world
and the virtual world is very small. So it is very confusing to see if you are in the real or in the
virtual world. It starts to become more confusing when the players enter a virtual world within
the virtual world.
Science-fiction
Virtual reality: In eXtenZ virtual reality is brought to its most detailed level. The move
especially tries to explain the two biggest side effects of a perfect virtual reality, namely the
fact that you don’t see the difference very well between the virtual and the real world. This is
especially dangerous when dying. When you die in the virtual world you get back to the real
world. But when you die in the real world you are really dead. Also virtual reality abduction is
mentioned in the movie, which means that some people prefer to stay in the virtual world
than in the real world because the virtual world is more exciting or beautiful than the real
world.
Biomedical technology: In the movie computers are replaced by a kind of biomedical
systems. A kind of computer that really lives can become ill and needs surgery to recover
from illness. In the movie a lot of connections are made between different people and it looks
a kind of realistic that this is done by biotechnology. But the biomedical technology hasn’t got
a real purpose in the movie because it hasn’t got a real advantage in comparison with
electronical equipment. It is only more vulnerable for diseases.
My vision of the future
The movie explains me to be careful with virtual reality because of the side effects. But I think
that this move is focused too much on the negative aspects of virtual reality because there
definitely should be also positive aspects from virtual reality. So I think that if you look at a
futuristic scenario, you have look at the balance of the positive and negative aspects.
My scenario: the Game
For this assignment I have made the futuristic scenario called “The game” which is inspired
on a few movies I watched for this assignment. The main subject of the scenario is virtual
reality and also the negative side effects of a realistic virtual reality. With this scenario I try to
take now days problems and place them in a futuristic context, especially focused on virtual
reality. The main problems are:
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Viruses:
With a growing integration of digital technology in our lives the threat for
viruses also grows. With the scenario I try to create a kind of further developed virus that not
only infects a system but also influences the user of the system.
Individualism: A side effect of digital media is that people will get more individualistic,
because they create their own space when they use their smart phones etc. In the scenario
the individualism is combined with a traumatic experience, for example losing your parents.
This makes it very easy to influence the individual.
Terrorism:
One of the biggest problems we faced the last decade is terrorism. In the
scenario I try to create terrorist who recruit their victims not on a direct way, but with a virus
that influences the victim
Story
The story takes place in a close future, babies get chips in their
eyes implanted for identification and accessing the internet. With
the chips people can see the internet mixed in their normal lives
without any screens. It is also possible to step into a virtual reality
with the chips. With the new possibilities new viruses arise, viruses
to recruit terrorists. These viruses which are looking for people with
traumatic experiences. They infect their computer system and
when the victim is getting asleep and in a face where he or she
isn’t able to distinguish reality from dreams, the virus start to talk.
The virus downloads a game file to the victim and he or she has to
play the game, which mixes reality and virtual reality. In the
scenario a lot of people lose the game and they will eventually die.
One man manages to finish the game and he has become a terrorist.
My vision of the future
Making this scenario was a very nice experience. I love to watch science fiction movies and
this is the first science fiction that I made myself. What I noticed in the beginning was that it
was really difficult to find the right way to visualize future technology. I have chosen for
sketching because of the freedom to create fast impressions and my painting skills. But I
definitely want to try it in the future also with a normal camera and after effects software. The
advantage of a science fiction movie is that you can explain a very complex scenario in a
short time. A second advantage is that a movie is also entertaining to watch. So a science
fiction movie is a very strong tool to present a futuristic concept.
Final reflection
When I chose for this assignment I have set three learning goals:
Learn how I could use the science-fiction element as an industrial designer:
Science fiction can be mainly used for three things, to get inspired for creating new
products and technology, as a prototyping tool to visualize prototypes that can’t be build and
to create scenarios to support your vision you want to share.
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Learn what science-fiction actually is and what the impact of science fiction could be:
Science fiction is creating futuristic scenarios about scientific subjects. These
scenarios can be inspired on scientific ideologies and technologies but science fiction can
also inspire scientist to do research to certain fields. That means that science fiction is a real
important part of science because products like for example the mobile phone and the tablet
wouldn’t be invented without science fiction.
Learn how science-fiction could be related to the culture of that time.
Science fiction is a reflection of the main issues from a specific time and culture
combined with scientific and artistic developments. During this assignment we have focused
ourselves on the western culture, but I still like to know how science fiction looks like in other
cultures.
I experienced the reflection overall as very interesting because it really changed my idea of
science fiction. I first saw it pure as entertainment and inspiration but now I know that science
fiction also can be used for prototyping, explaining visions and scenarios and reflecting on
society. The in class and digital discussions were very interesting because they created a
more clear image about the movies. This because of the fact that science fiction movies
consist out a lot of little details. And it is hard to notice them all when you watch a movie for
the first time. There is one thing on the assignment I didn’t liked and that was that we didn’t
get feedback on our draft scenario. This could be very helpful for making our final scenario.
But overall this assignment was a very helpful experience for my development at industrial
design. I have grown in the competence of socio-cultural awareness because of the insight
how science fiction can be related to the current society. But I still want to discover how
science fiction can be related to other societies and cultures.
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