What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First? - io9 Comments

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Chronos — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:42:38 PST

Orwellian omni-surveillance society with mind control. Mind control seems to be the problem here, or is it? Take a tour of your state mental hospital sometime, and talk to the staff about the processing of patients who have court ordered treatment. Forced injections of drugs that result in a calm submissive state are certainly not unknown. While somewhat crude, and not as flashy as sci-fi… forcing someone to change their behavior by altering the chemical make up of their brain sure sounds like mind control to me.

Of course, this raises the whole issue of where the line between suppression of dissidents ends and treatment of the mentally ill begins. That I suppose goes more toward the Orwellian part, which I will leave for others to comment on.
(BTW I am not saying that the all the folks who work in mental institutions are bad or evil. Indeed I believe many if not most really do desire the best outcome for the people under their care.)

Chronos

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

gdcol1969 — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:01:32 PST

@Garrison Dean: Have read both Zombie Survival Guide and WWZ! Loved them both and believe me, I'm always on the lookout for the safest building and nearest armory...just in case ;).. Heard that they're making WWZ into a movie..if done right that could be one hell of a flick! Especially the "Battle of Yonkers".

gdcol1969

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Dybbuk — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:39:22 PST

@sneggleblech: a baby doesn't just jump up an run a marathon.

One word: Raelian

Dybbuk

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

IHateWhatYouHaveOn — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:11:55 PST

But what about the singularity?

IHateWhatYouHaveOn

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

engtech — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:37:08 PST

@Dybbuk:

You just made me have a little geek orgasm.

Details on what JMS is up to: [imdb.com]

engtech

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

masser — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:12:46 PST

Still no personal jetpacks...*sigh*

masser

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Defendant — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:11:30 PST

@Dybbuk: And? That's a cloned organ, like I said.

Defendant

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Seth L — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:48:11 PST

Clones of Sean Bean? I'm in.

Seth L

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Jeff-Minor — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:18:05 PST

I vote for clone farms. Baby is gonna need a new something some day! New Brain please. And as for Orwellian mind control: I think Dinsey's got that covered. And a little mind control isn't so bad. A lot of people take little pills every day to feel a little better. And we give them to our kids too. And our pets too. So if the Feds want to give me some free feel-good pills, maybe I'll see if I like 'em. I mean, what if it's like the best buzz ever?

Jeff-Minor

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Thieu — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:33:05 PST

It'll start with clones that become susceptible to a super plague and turn into monsters. The survivors will live in an omni surveillance society which will develop dome cities on Mars thus inciting an attack by alien death machines.

Thieu

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Dybbuk — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:30:14 PST

@sneggleblech: keep telling your self that im sure it helps you sleep at night. ;)

The University of Minnesota researchers have cloned a beating heart in the laboratory.

[www.cloningresources.com]

Dybbuk

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

NefariousNewt — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:29:40 PST

Sentient computers and killer robots... the Army is already testing the latter, how soon till the former becomes reality? Somewhere Skynet sleeps... dreaming of the Matrix...

NefariousNewt

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Imipolex_G-Unit — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:24:27 PST

I think we're like two minutes away from putting a Dick Tracy wrist strap on a phone-and-camer-enabled video nano. Then the future will have arrived.

Imipolex_G-Unit

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

SunZhiQian — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:10:21 PST

LOL@OLDANDINTHEWAY

SunZhiQian

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

CMG — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:04:16 PST

I would have voted for the surveillance, but that's already happening. Go cloning!

CMG

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

jlwalker97 — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:07:27 PST

A V reference!!! Excellent! I vote for lizard overlords!

jlwalker97

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

socleelum6 — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:09:20 PST

We have been watched for a long while. Mind control is not quite there but close. Do you watch the Super Bowl? Any TV?
I'd love to have a clone, can I do differant? Better? Best of all would be orbiting stations to live on.

socleelum6

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Defendant — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:22:21 PST

As for the other stuff, never!

Defendant

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Defendant — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:21:39 PST

I don't believe there will ever be any actual clones, but cloned organs, yes! That's my vote. Followed by dome cities on other planets.

Defendant

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

foolish-rain — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:56:05 PST

You left of my favorite--total world domination by sentient computer à la Colossus in the The Forbin Project. Of course, if Mitt gets elected, we're well on our way...

foolish-rain

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

brilliantmistake — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:46:29 PST

I have to choose a movie scenario not on the list: Idiocracy.

brilliantmistake

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Supernintendo — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:28:05 PST

Is that...Boromir?!

Supernintendo

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

LeMadChef — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:57:58 PST

I'm voting for dome cities on the moon. That's the one I WANT to happen.

LeMadChef

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

strider_mt2k — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:44:30 PST

ABORTIONS FOR SOME...

TINY AMERICAN FLAGS FOR OTHERS!

strider_mt2k

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

scfaulkner — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:39:16 PST

There's no mind control. The whole idea is ridiculous. I'll read the rest of the responses after I take my Zoloft.

scfaulkner

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

cjk — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:23:43 PST

ALIEN OVERLORDS FOR EVERYONE!

cjk

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

cde — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:31:42 PST

What about aliens attack via disease vectors?

cde

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

oldandintheway — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:00:54 PST

Send in the clones....don't bother...they're here.

oldandintheway

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

napthia9 — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:56:24 PST

@Garrison Dean: Oh, after the Zombie Survival Guide, I had to read World War Z. Luckily, it didn't have the effect I thought it would- being able to read about the resolution of a Zombie War calmed me down like whoa.

@Shrike: I have no zombie plan. If/When the infection starts, I'm totally screwed. Plagues + College Campuses = Bad. I can't count how many nights I've laid awake, worrying about my roommate turning in the middle of the night and devouring me alive.

napthia9

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

taybay — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:55:18 PST

@napthia9: That book had me convinced for weeks that zombies actually existed..

taybay

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Horselover Fat — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:41:59 PST

I don't know about mind control but the Orwellian omni-surveillance society is already here.

Horselover Fat

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

omik — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:39:44 PST

I voted clonefarms, just because I realy, realy, realy hope the survilance state won't happen to a bigger extent it's already happening.

omik

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Shrike — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:38:02 PST

Oh, definitely a plague.

I heard on the radio last week that scientists have "built" a germ by copying an existing one's DNA one piece at a time and are getting ready to "activate" it (whatever that means). How long before they accidentally but the wrong sequence together?

- What's your zombie plan?

Shrike

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Emmanuel Goldstein — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:24:47 PST

William Gibson said, "The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed."

It's strikes me that #2 & #3 (depending on how painfully you want to stretch the metaphors) are already here.

I give us a 25% percent chance of ending up being ruled by "benevolent" robot overlords...all the other options make that look like a walk in the park.

Emmanuel Goldstein

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Ryan H — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:21:26 PST

If you think about (if you can!) the mind control option is kind of self-defeating. After all, once they have working mind control, the fist thing they will do with it is prevent people from thinking and talking about mind control.

Ryan H

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Dybbuk — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:04:21 PST

J. Michael Straczynski is currently writing the script for a World War Z movie.

Dybbuk

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Fishbulb — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:54:39 PST

@92BuickLeSabre: Agreed.

Fishbulb

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Tommmcatt — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:46:47 PST

Yah, definitely clones.

Tommmcatt

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

AwesomeSausage — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:45:32 PST

I've been betting on the cloned liver thing since 1983

AwesomeSausage

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

MercuryPDX — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:30:51 PST

It's as a very tough call between Clones and Surveillance, but because the latter is half way here I voted Big Brother.

MercuryPDX

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

elizabethm — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:20:09 PST

Hmm...interesting that the mind control option is so popular. Really? I guess a nation of sheep paranoia still runs strong although I do agree with the surveillance aspect. I think there are already clone and organ farms (there's my paranoia!).

I kind would like the invasion by alien death machines but only after I've already passed on. Selfish!

elizabethm

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Garrison Dean, King Awesome — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:17:05 PST

@napthia9: You swayed my vote and reminded me of how dearly I want to live out World War Z. A book I hope you've read if you enjoyed the Survival Guide.

Garrison Dean, King Awesome

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

napthia9 — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:59:24 PST

I had to vote for the plague. After reading the Zombie Survival Guide, I was so freaked out. I couldn't sleep after watching Dawn of the Dead; I kept worrying that my roommate would turn in the middle of the night and eat me. Agh. That whole scenario just really tweaks me.

napthia9

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Slothrop — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:50:37 PST

I sure hope the cloned livers will be sold in the beer cooler, as I like to economize my shopping trips.

Slothrop

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

Dybbuk — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:48:36 PST

while i voted for the Orwellian omni-surveillance society because its here now. My heart is really hoping for a Plague that kills most people and turns the survivors into monsters.

Dybbuk

What Scifi Cliche Will Come True First?

92BuickLeSabre — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:42:54 PST

It saddens me that...

...wait, sorry Fox News just came on...

*start transmission...must...hear...fair and balanced...reporting...
must hear fair and balanced...reporting...end transmission*

...Okay, what was I saying again? Oh yeah, it saddens me that you had to add "with mind control" to keep the second one from already being true.

92BuickLeSabre