Have you seen schoolchildren with bouquets on the subway? Willy-nilly, flocks of children evoke nostalgia. You remember the years at the desk: some still found the Soviet system, while for others it was just an image from the cinema. Somewhere out there, in the past, there was a rosy Natasha Guseva in the role of the legendary Alisa Selezneva from the series and film based on the stories of Kir Bulychev.
By all accounts, we are halfway to the future, where the Moscow Cosmozoo exists. However, technology is not so simple. It's time to take stock of whether humanity has grown to a "beautiful far away."
Scientist Kir Bulychev is known as the author of "Alisiana". This is a cycle of two dozen novels, stories and collections of stories about Alisa Selezneva, a completely ordinary girl from the 21st century, with whom incredible, even by the standards of the future, adventures occur.
Based on the books, director Roman Kachanov shot the cartoon "The Mystery of the Third Planet" in 1981. In 1984, the mini-series "Guest from the Future" was released, which gained legendary status. Further adaptations were not so successful: the films "Purple Ball" in 1987, "Island of the Rusty General" in 1988 and several cartoons.
We rely primarily on the technologies featured in Guest from the Future and Bulychev's books. Alice's world is a typical hard fiction, with the exception of a couple of moments (the era of fairy tales). So, year 2084, place: planet Earth.
1. Flip
In Alice's World: Spectacular Private Public Transport. Flips are anti-gravity transparent capsules that are controlled from the central control room, but also fly manually.
The series featured "flips" ordered from a closed aircraft factory in Lithuania. Expensive props cost like the dream of a Soviet man, new "Zhiguli", 5000 rubles apiece. At the same time, two flips managed to break immediately when unloading on the set. The remaining capsules were mounted on truck bodies and filmed for a chase scene in the future. Because of the pits and potholes on the Soviet roads of that time, it was not easy!
We have: alas, so far all projects of flying autonomous passenger dronesturn out to be castles in the sand, although they are regularly brought to show off at technology exhibitions. Yandex-Taxi, Citymobil and Moscow car sharing are the closest to flips in Russia. Central control system - check, individual comfortable "capsules" - check. True, there is a driver in them, children are not allowed there alone, and the cars themselves do not fly yet, but stand in Moscow traffic jams. But this is a matter of time, because Yandex has already released the fourth generation of drones on the road.
Maybe it will overtake the project of full autopilot for Tesla.
2. Virtual reality
In the world of Alice: there is definitely virtual reality in Bulychev's books. She appears in the novel A Million Adventures, in the episode Princess Abroad, where Alice finds herself in a medieval city attraction on the planet Penelope. The inhabitants of an illusory place are copies of existing people, and it cannot be separated from reality.
We have:the internet and computer games have become a full-fledged alternative reality with their own culture, currencies, battles and history. Yet humanity is eager to create a world that will not live on a flat screen. Helmets and VR goggles in this iteration are as close as possible to what visionaries Palmer Luckey and John Carmack dreamed of. Lightweight, with large screens and wireless modules, these devices immerse a person in the crazy world of VR chat or the beautiful Half-Life: Alyx (still not the third part). Cons: expensive, little content, plus seasickness. The next run promises to fix all the problems and make virtual reality more accessible and seductive.
3. Space flights
In the world of Alice: from Captain Zeleny and his "Pegasus" to three captains and their mighty starships, "Alisiana" has become the main space opera of Soviet children. In it, flights through the universe existed in everyday life. Alas, space was not shown in the mini-series, because the pioneer Kolya Gerasimov from 1984 did not have time to check in for the lunar flight.
With us: the force of gravity still holds humanity securely on Earth. That does not prevent individual dreamers like Elon Musk from struggling with the limitations of physics and consistently moving humanity towards the stars. SpaceX has mastered satellite launches and reentry rockets, but the ultimate goal is Mars and a colony on the red planet. I want to believe that the people who launched the electric car into space to the Bowie song will achieve their goal.
4. Linguistic pills
In the world of Alice: our main character knows "only" 8 languages, which is not enough for the world of the future. The deficiency is corrected by linguistic pills, which last for a couple of days and give knowledge of the simplest words and expressions, like a phrasebook. A pneumo cassette requires three days of training but provides a good understanding of the language. A hypnopedic machine teaches a language in an hour, but knowledge evaporates quickly. According to Bulychev, “exceptional people” live in the world of the future: polyglots.
We have:in the beautiful present there is no place for linguistic violence against oneself! Sheer wonders of automation: even a video on YouTube can automatically create subtitles and translate them. Algorithms cope with such a complex task as machine translation from Chinese. The quality of speech recognition differs between different programs and gadgets, depending on the cost and manufacturer. English is still the lingua franca, knowledge of which opens most of the doors. You can always learn a couple of other languages. Training has never been so affordable.
5. High-tech bracelet
In Alice's world: an often referred to unnamed gadget that has built-in communications, a holographic projector. Using the bracelet, you can watch programs or make video calls, as well as drive vehicles. Something like a smartphone and a mini-computer on the wrist.
With us: mankind has successfully reached this height. Smart watches, the same Apple Watch, can access the Internet, receive audio calls, monitor health, and also measure the heart rate and can control some smart devices. Similar gadgets from other companies can make video calls. People prefer to rely on miniature computers of unprecedented power, smartphones. “We are already cyborgs,” Musk noted, describing the connection between smartphone owners and their devices. Reality has far outstripped the imaginary world.
6. Robots
In the world of Alice: from the biorobot Werther, the battle androids of space pirates and to the race of robotic creatures from the planet Shelezyak, the world of Alice is fully familiar with cybernetic creatures. By the way, played by the actor Yevgeny Gerasimov, Werther has evolved. The employee of the Institute of Time in the original story was a robot vacuum cleaner, and in the series turned into an android. Lucky!
We have: a robot vacuum cleaner is quite an ordinary household appliance, small, nimble and useful. Robots surround us invisibly, from Telegram bots to devices that produce things and serve customers. Androids are still being made by enthusiasts as art projects, but it is a matter of time and demand until full-fledged Werthers appear on sale. And you can even buy one, customize and upgrade.
7. Myelophone
In Alice's World: A portable mind reader that Alice uses to experiment with animals. The device is kidnapped by space pirates, and then accidentally rescued by a schoolboy from the 20th century. The plot of the TV movie and the story is built around the hunt for a dangerous scientific artifact that could have done trouble in the past.
We have: our "myelofon" is social networks and Google services in computers and smartphones. We trust them with thoughts and desires voluntarily, in exchange for free services. Cunning algorithms eavesdrop and spy on what we want and what we are interested in, and provide relevant ads and links to online stores. Uncomplicated technology? Well, some believe that she helped win the election for US President Donald Trump .
The beautiful is far away already here and is just as everyday for us as for Alisa Selezneva. What technologies from the worlds of Kir Bulychev did we forget to mention? Let's discuss.
