How Robocop (And Its sequels) Correctly Predicted The Future.
There was an article that showed how the Starship Troopers movies correctly predicted the future. Starship Troopers' writer, Ed Neumeirer, did the same thing a decade earlier. Robocop movies hit the world in 1987 and brought forth several predictions of the future that is now our present.
#6. METH epidemic.
Robocop lives in a world with a narcotic called NUKE. Not only is it a four-letter word for a narcotic like meth, As the Surgeon General's character says, it's the most addictive drug to plague us. The movie shows it as a substance that affects people in a wide range of ways. Also, these little labs spring up to make NUKE everywhere.
METH is a four-letter word that unfortunately affects thousands of people in the U.S. Methamphetamine is a powerful and extremely addictive narcotic that everyday people can manufacture. Unlike something like cocaine, for which you have to grow the leaves and then make it into powder, Which you also have to transport from the likes of Columbia.
With METH, this gives off a high that can match it. But you can also make it at home, unfortunately. With some household medicines and cleaners and a little cooking, you have this horrible substance. As METH hit the national radar, it also showed people with labs in a shed, a bathroom, and even the back of a car. NUKE is experimenting with what makes a better high. The same goes with METH, as one person has this recipe. While the next person has a different one altogether.
Robocop lives in a world with a narcotic called NUKE. Not only is it a four-letter word for a narcotic like meth, As the Surgeon General's character says, it's the most addictive drug to plague us. The movie shows it as a substance that affects people in a wide range of ways. Also, these little labs spring up to make NUKE everywhere.
METH is a four-letter word that unfortunately affects thousands of people in the U.S. Methamphetamine is a powerful and extremely addictive narcotic that everyday people can manufacture. Unlike something like cocaine, for which you have to grow the leaves and then make it into powder, Which you also have to transport from the likes of Columbia.
With METH, this gives off a high that can match it. But you can also make it at home, unfortunately. With some household medicines and cleaners and a little cooking, you have this horrible substance. As METH hit the national radar, it also showed people with labs in a shed, a bathroom, and even the back of a car. NUKE is experimenting with what makes a better high. The same goes with METH, as one person has this recipe. While the next person has a different one altogether.
#5. Bailouts.
A huge part of the Robocop world takes place within a monetary collision between a large corporation and the government. And the split indecision of the population, politicians, media, and civil servants. It comes down to Detroit taking money from Omni Consumer Products. Once Detroit goes broke, they are unable to meet their burden. So, Omni gets in the middle of how the city runs.
First, the movie said Detroit, Michigan, would go broke. The civil services are the first to feel the effects. Crime goes off the charts as the police are unable to contain it. So, in comes drugs and gambling. Which always seems to follow after an area's police get overrun. Also, jobs quickly become harder to come by.
That became a reality on July 18th, 2013, as the city filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. The largest bankruptcy in U.S. history the city went from a thriving 1.8 million population Down to 700,000 people, along with thousands of empty buildings and houses. Crime rates jump off the charts as well.
On a more national level, the movie explores what happens when a company comes in to give a city a bailout. Granted, it was a company bailing out the government. But the same problems came up in real life when the government bailed out the car industry.
Which this prediction impacts us on a more national level. The question comes up: at what price do people really pay? When the government bailed out GM Motors, it cost the taxpayers over $9 billion. U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said even though it lost money, it saved the automotive industry and halted a second great depression. That it saved the big companies from going under.
Detroit's main industry is car manufacturing. However, this bailout didn't help, as they are in bankruptcy. Giving critics of the bailout ammunition to fire with. Plus, critics point out that if these companies had just gone through bankruptcy, they wouldn't have gone under. That's why bankruptcy exists.
The pros and cons of the bailouts were also a hot topic in the media and among the general public.
A huge part of the Robocop world takes place within a monetary collision between a large corporation and the government. And the split indecision of the population, politicians, media, and civil servants. It comes down to Detroit taking money from Omni Consumer Products. Once Detroit goes broke, they are unable to meet their burden. So, Omni gets in the middle of how the city runs.
First, the movie said Detroit, Michigan, would go broke. The civil services are the first to feel the effects. Crime goes off the charts as the police are unable to contain it. So, in comes drugs and gambling. Which always seems to follow after an area's police get overrun. Also, jobs quickly become harder to come by.
That became a reality on July 18th, 2013, as the city filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. The largest bankruptcy in U.S. history the city went from a thriving 1.8 million population Down to 700,000 people, along with thousands of empty buildings and houses. Crime rates jump off the charts as well.
On a more national level, the movie explores what happens when a company comes in to give a city a bailout. Granted, it was a company bailing out the government. But the same problems came up in real life when the government bailed out the car industry.
Which this prediction impacts us on a more national level. The question comes up: at what price do people really pay? When the government bailed out GM Motors, it cost the taxpayers over $9 billion. U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said even though it lost money, it saved the automotive industry and halted a second great depression. That it saved the big companies from going under.
Detroit's main industry is car manufacturing. However, this bailout didn't help, as they are in bankruptcy. Giving critics of the bailout ammunition to fire with. Plus, critics point out that if these companies had just gone through bankruptcy, they wouldn't have gone under. That's why bankruptcy exists.
The pros and cons of the bailouts were also a hot topic in the media and among the general public.
#4. Crappy gas mileage.
As a joke for the TV news programs in the movie, a car commercial is made for the 6000 SUX (sucks... get it?). Which is the best car to have? A status symbol that everyone wants. The car doesn't even try to hide that it gets crappy gas mileage. In fact, it's celebrated and called out.
Like in the hostage scene at City Council. The hostage taker tells the cops he wants a car with
(S word)y gas mileage. The negotiator asks about the new 6000 SUX, and the capture goes 'OK'. Having cars with bad gas mileage was part of Ed Neumeier's joke about consumerism. Little did he know he got what was to come perfectly.
In recent years, people have driven gas-guzzling vehicles because it's the norm. And we don't really care. For years, people had sensible cars. Hummers, SUVs, Escalades, and military jeeps in recent years have become a large section of the auto industry. However, they don't get the great gas mileage a Honda 4-door gets, for example. But people buy these bigger vehicles and pay more for gas.
When they really don't need something that big. Like when you are out driving and an old lady who can barely drive is in this giant truck. When she only goes to the store and back. We, as a culture, know all of these cars drag more gas money from your wallets.
Just in 2016, the New York Times ran a piece saying how American drivers are hungry for gas guzzlers.
As a joke for the TV news programs in the movie, a car commercial is made for the 6000 SUX (sucks... get it?). Which is the best car to have? A status symbol that everyone wants. The car doesn't even try to hide that it gets crappy gas mileage. In fact, it's celebrated and called out.
Like in the hostage scene at City Council. The hostage taker tells the cops he wants a car with
(S word)y gas mileage. The negotiator asks about the new 6000 SUX, and the capture goes 'OK'. Having cars with bad gas mileage was part of Ed Neumeier's joke about consumerism. Little did he know he got what was to come perfectly.
In recent years, people have driven gas-guzzling vehicles because it's the norm. And we don't really care. For years, people had sensible cars. Hummers, SUVs, Escalades, and military jeeps in recent years have become a large section of the auto industry. However, they don't get the great gas mileage a Honda 4-door gets, for example. But people buy these bigger vehicles and pay more for gas.
When they really don't need something that big. Like when you are out driving and an old lady who can barely drive is in this giant truck. When she only goes to the store and back. We, as a culture, know all of these cars drag more gas money from your wallets.
Just in 2016, the New York Times ran a piece saying how American drivers are hungry for gas guzzlers.
#3. USB.
In 1987, the big computer technology was the floppy disk. If you had that, you were on top of the world. In the movie Robocop, he has this piece that extends from his knuckles. With it, he can interface with any computer system. Saving and moving data from his memory banks to the police computer, and vice versa. As a joke, it was made to look like he was flipping someone the bird.
But Ed Neumeier was right on the money. As the 1990s and 2000s rolled around, we became more reliant on transferring data from device to device. Having one thing that can interface with every system Because the days of carrying a case of blank floppy disks are so 1991.
For the most part, people have iPods or other devices that they can load with songs or videos. Then you can plug it into any other computer or smart TVs. And boom, in a couple ounces of metal or plastic, there are hours of content. Flash drives and external hard drives serve a more professional purpose. But it's still being able to carry around a single item and then trade data with every other device.
In 1987, the big computer technology was the floppy disk. If you had that, you were on top of the world. In the movie Robocop, he has this piece that extends from his knuckles. With it, he can interface with any computer system. Saving and moving data from his memory banks to the police computer, and vice versa. As a joke, it was made to look like he was flipping someone the bird.
But Ed Neumeier was right on the money. As the 1990s and 2000s rolled around, we became more reliant on transferring data from device to device. Having one thing that can interface with every system Because the days of carrying a case of blank floppy disks are so 1991.
For the most part, people have iPods or other devices that they can load with songs or videos. Then you can plug it into any other computer or smart TVs. And boom, in a couple ounces of metal or plastic, there are hours of content. Flash drives and external hard drives serve a more professional purpose. But it's still being able to carry around a single item and then trade data with every other device.
#2. Desensitization.
Robocop lives in a world so used to violence and horrible news that it doesn't care any more. With the speed at which news travels and the number of outlets for it. Things don't strike people as they did in previous generations.
In the opening scene, a faux newscast tells of a nuclear bomb being used by a city as its last line of defense. Then it's on to cops being shot up into hamburger meat. The newscasters report this as quite cold. In another news report, the newscaster says a large area of forest was burned down. Environmentalists call it a disaster. The other newscaster responds, 'But don't they always? All of this bad news is just part of everyday life.
This has become true for us today. We are so bombarded with internet news, TV news, and social media that things people use to have a reaction to doesn't resonated.
It's like how someone gets addicted to porn. Soon, Cinamax late-night movies won't be enough. It's on to xxx boy-girl scenes. Then it's on to two girls and one cup. Before you know it, you are downloading porn filmed on 8-mm film from Russia. It takes more and more to give you that resonating feeling. Or the term 'aroused and entertained, as the porn industry prefers to uses.
Robocop also lives in a world with trashy reality-based TV. This was 1987, when there was no Jerry Springer. But people in Robocop's world are just so used to watching half-naked girls fight on TV. Throwing cake at each other. Ed Neumeirer wrote in this running TV show that trash TV-type things would take place. With the host repeating, I'd buy that for a dollar.
Thanks to the aforementioned Jerry Springer and other shows, we allow things on free TV that, before 1987, we couldn't dream of. So, Ed was a couple years ahead of the game. As we allow this kind of stuff on TV all the time.
Robocop lives in a world so used to violence and horrible news that it doesn't care any more. With the speed at which news travels and the number of outlets for it. Things don't strike people as they did in previous generations.
In the opening scene, a faux newscast tells of a nuclear bomb being used by a city as its last line of defense. Then it's on to cops being shot up into hamburger meat. The newscasters report this as quite cold. In another news report, the newscaster says a large area of forest was burned down. Environmentalists call it a disaster. The other newscaster responds, 'But don't they always? All of this bad news is just part of everyday life.
This has become true for us today. We are so bombarded with internet news, TV news, and social media that things people use to have a reaction to doesn't resonated.
It's like how someone gets addicted to porn. Soon, Cinamax late-night movies won't be enough. It's on to xxx boy-girl scenes. Then it's on to two girls and one cup. Before you know it, you are downloading porn filmed on 8-mm film from Russia. It takes more and more to give you that resonating feeling. Or the term 'aroused and entertained, as the porn industry prefers to uses.
Robocop also lives in a world with trashy reality-based TV. This was 1987, when there was no Jerry Springer. But people in Robocop's world are just so used to watching half-naked girls fight on TV. Throwing cake at each other. Ed Neumeirer wrote in this running TV show that trash TV-type things would take place. With the host repeating, I'd buy that for a dollar.
Thanks to the aforementioned Jerry Springer and other shows, we allow things on free TV that, before 1987, we couldn't dream of. So, Ed was a couple years ahead of the game. As we allow this kind of stuff on TV all the time.
#1. Robotic law.
The whole purpose of Robocop was to move away from humans being the central focus of law enforcement. As they get killed which isn't cost effect. With crime overriding the police, and the threat of a strike, Omni Consumer Products is looking for the perfect robot cop. First the Ed-209 robot is given a shot. Which he malfunctions and kills a poor guy. Then Robocop is created and it's on to the streets.
But more importantly Omni brings in military grade weapons and technology into Detroit's police. As quite frankly it's the only firepower than can match what criminals have. In the years since robots have become more and more involved with police. Such as robots that are used in bomb department. Officially called Explosive Ordnance Disposal or EOD robots. In today's world if your police don't have one of these then they are behind the times.
In the years since robots have been used to go in and combat stand offs. One of the more high-profile cases is Micah Xavier Johnson. Who shoot several cops in Dallas, Texas at a standoff at his home. Which he had military grade weapons, armor, and bombs. So a EOD was sent in and detonated a bomb of his. Which killed him and stopped the event.
The whole purpose of Robocop was to move away from humans being the central focus of law enforcement. As they get killed which isn't cost effect. With crime overriding the police, and the threat of a strike, Omni Consumer Products is looking for the perfect robot cop. First the Ed-209 robot is given a shot. Which he malfunctions and kills a poor guy. Then Robocop is created and it's on to the streets.
But more importantly Omni brings in military grade weapons and technology into Detroit's police. As quite frankly it's the only firepower than can match what criminals have. In the years since robots have become more and more involved with police. Such as robots that are used in bomb department. Officially called Explosive Ordnance Disposal or EOD robots. In today's world if your police don't have one of these then they are behind the times.
In the years since robots have been used to go in and combat stand offs. One of the more high-profile cases is Micah Xavier Johnson. Who shoot several cops in Dallas, Texas at a standoff at his home. Which he had military grade weapons, armor, and bombs. So a EOD was sent in and detonated a bomb of his. Which killed him and stopped the event.