StarTalk Radio Can We Predict the Future? with Charles Liu
20 snips
Mar 7, 2025 
Astrophysicist Charles Liu, a professor at CUNY Staten Island and host of The Luniverse, joins Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts to explore the unpredictability of the future. They humorously compare sci-fi visions of 2050 with today's advancements, highlighting the contributions of young scientists. The discussion critiques dystopian portrayals in films like 'Blade Runner' and traces technological shifts from 1995 to 2025, urging a reevaluation of cultural influences on progress. Moreover, they tackle the future of space and transportation, including space tourism and climate change implications.
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The Jetsons' Prediction Miss
- Neil deGrasse Tyson mentions the Jetsons, a cartoon portraying a futuristic world with flying cars and robots.
- He points out that the show's creators failed to imagine robots without humanoid forms, like self-driving cars.
Blade Runner's 2019
- The 1982 film Blade Runner, set in 2019, features advanced humanoid replicants and off-world colonies.
- The speakers note that these predictions did not materialize by 2019, highlighting the challenge of predicting the future.
Dystopia and Authoritarianism
- Chuck Nice suggests that dystopian futures in fiction often serve as warnings against authoritarianism.
- He argues that such narratives reflect the potential for authoritarian regimes to lead societies into decline.
