Where we're going we don't need...roads.

Not to ruin your day but as of tomorrow, Back to the Future takes place entirely in the past. So, now that we are about to enter a post-Future world, let’s take a look back on the things that Back to the Future II predicted correctly and incorrectly.

Our Information

We’re knocking this one out of the park, though market penetration of Google Glass hasn’t yet made it into the homes of the average Marty.

Our Bosses

In 1985, the dominant face of western capitalism was largely white, male and native English-speaking. Back to the Future II makes a statement in this scene with Marty greeting his boss Mr Ito Fujitsu in Japanese, “Fujitsu-san! Konichi-wa!” and Ito berating his employee Marty in a strong Japanese accent. Back to the Future predicted a rise of Asia’s leadership role, though one could argue that the rise of Japan has come and gone and been replaced by China’s ascendance.

Our Communications - Video Calls

In Back to the Future II, Marty takes a call from his boss via video call from his lounge room. Spot on. We do this all the time, on Skype, Facetime, Google Hangouts with everyone from our boss, to a potential employer to our family and friends, for free, wearing anything from our PJ’s to workwear as we see fit.

Our Fashion

Speaking of fit, active wear has a strong presence in the fashions of “tomorrow’s” cool kids in Back to the Future II. I think we can say that they nailed that one, particularly in Australia.

Our Infrastructure

Where we’re going we don’t need…roads. Or do we?

In his book Battlelines, Tony Abbott (remember that weird 2 year fog we were in when he was PM?) infamously and bless him, condescendingly wrote, even the “humblest person is king in his own car”. From my view, every word in that sentence (apart from “is” and “in”) smacks of laughably outdated 20th century thinking. In 8 words he managed to bring classist, sexist, monarchist, proprietary, polluting words to the ear of a listening Australia.

The April before taking power in September 2013, Abbott stated that should the Coalition win power, it will "stick to its knitting" when it comes to infrastructure. "And the Commonwealth's knitting when it comes to funding infrastructure is roads," Abbott clarified, just in case we didn’t get it.

Happily, in the 21st century which many of us inhabit, public transport usage in Australia’s major cities has increased by 65% over the past decade, compared to a minimal rise in car usage.

My hope is that with a change in PM, with a clear agenda in innovation and who doesn’t mind a trip on public transport in exchange for a good photo op, we will see "public transport infrastructure" removed from the bad words jar and reinstated as good common sense.

Our leaders - Biff Tannen

In 1985 we see Biff Tannen transformed into a mogul of ill-gotten wealth, gorging on power, misogyny, guns and gambling, presenting a highly confronting comment on the danger of profit and power in the wrong hands. In Back to the Future II we don’t see what Mogul Biff would have transformed into by 2015, but running for freaking President of the United States of America seems well within character. Spot on, Zemeckis. 

 Will our post-Future world be all that we hoped, hoverboards and all? That's really up to us to make it happen. And in many regards, we've made an amazing amount happen since good ol' 1985.

Thanks for reading.

Andrea

PS. Thankfully the shark still looks fake :)