10 Technologies in Movies We Wish Were Real

It’s pretty common to watch a movie, see a fictional gadget, and say “I want one of those!” Sadly, coming up with something wonderful in fiction is much easier than making it work in real life. Luckily, we have geniuses working on making those movie inspirations reality. What have you seen in movie that you wish were available in real life? While most of those futuristic gizmos are cool and fun, I think the Medbay would be the most useful.

When I saw Elysium last year, this stood out to me as one of the best, most useful, and most desired technologies in movies. The medbays in Elysium essentially heal anything and everything. The common cold? No need to take any Advil. You’ve got a broken arm? Boom. It’s fixed. A life-threatening disease? Yeah, don’t worry – you’re good. Even if they were only offered up to the incredibly affluent and wealthy, like they were in Elysium, just to have the medbays exist in real life would be an astonishing achievement on all its own.

Read about nine other movie technologies we could really use at TVOM.

Newest 5

Newest 5 Comments

I never considered the Medbay as something individuals would own. You'd still have to go to a hospital, or maybe just an office, to use one. And I'm under no illusions that it would be affordable for the masses.

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

The one I want is Larry Niven's "variable sword". A monomolecular thread with a bead on the end, held in a stasis field. Slices through anything cleanly, can be extended up to several meters.

Perfect for tiling, woodwork, brickwork, plumbing...just about everything.

Oh, and can I borrow your medbay (Niven's autodoc) to put fingers back on, please?

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

I would rather the Mr. Fusion ran on water so that the empty beer cans be saved for the beer-can-refilling machine plugged into the Mr. Fusion.

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

Yeah, but would you really need one of those in your house right beside your kitchen constantly? I think I'd put the holodeck beside the kitchen - close to the snacks - and maybe the medical bed in its own room. I think you'd want a little bit of privacy for your healing process.

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

I want a Mr. Fusion to power my car. Imagine how I could put all my empty beer cans to good use.

Get Updates In Your Inbox