人类尚未实现的十大预言编辑本段回目录
1. 宇宙制服
By JOSH SANBURN Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010
The Star Trek series and movies, Battlestar Galactica, Logan's Run. A universal, monochromatic jumpsuit seems to constantly rear its ugly head in sci-fi films, as if everyone in the future gets some sort of style memo. But unfortunately, we're still in the old-school, individualist mind-set of wearing different clothes from everyone else. However, in one of Jerry Seinfeld's funnier comedy routines, he predicts that eventually fashion won't even exist. "Anytime I see a movie or a TV show where there are people from the future or another planet, they're all wearing the same outfit. Somehow they all decided, 'All right, that's enough. From now on, this is going to be our outfit: one-piece silver jumpsuit with a V-stripe on the chest and boots. That's it. We're going to start visiting other planets and we want to look like a team.'"星球大战系列电影，太空堡垒-卡拉狄加，未来之旅，统一颜色的制服制服越来越频繁地出现在科幻电影中，好像未来人人都有某种服装流行备忘录一样。可惜的是，我们仍然处于传统时代，每个人都想穿得与众不同来彰显自己的个性。不过在Jerry Seinfeld (美国喜剧演员)在他的一期单口喜剧相声中预言过，时尚终将消失。“任何时候我在电视剧或电影上看到来自未来或另一个星球的人时，他们总是穿着一样的制服。莫名其妙地他们就一致决定，“好吧，真是够了。从现在起，这个将会是我们的制服：胸部和靴子处印有v型条纹的银色连身裤，就是它了。我们即将访问其它星球，我们想看起来像一个团队。
2. Jet Packs
2. 个人飞行器
By FRANCES ROMERO Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010
So there are jet packs out there. They just aren't available to the masses. The idea of gas-filled backpacks came into vogue in 1920s science-fiction magazines like Amazing Stories and later reappeared in popular culture in the James Bond movie Thunderball (pictured) as well as in the comic book (and movie) The Rocketeer. During World War II, Germany experimented with pulse jet tubes by attaching them to the bodies of pilots to fly them over minefields, but the project never got far off the ground. While various attempts have since been made to make jet packs commercially available, the devices have been limited to astronauts, who use them on space stations so as not to float away. This year, however, the New Zealand–based Martin Aircraft Company reportedly signed a $12 million joint-venture deal to begin the manufacture of jet packs that would eventually be available commercially. That news is sure to make one indie band very happy.
其实个人飞行器是存在的，只是没有广泛用于大众而已。个人飞行器这个想法最初是在20年代像Amazing Stories之类的科幻杂志中风靡一时，后来又在詹姆斯邦德电影《雷霆万钧》（如图）和漫画书（和电影）《火箭人》重新流行起来。在第二次世界大战中，德军曾尝试把脉动喷射引擎管安装在飞行员身上，好让他们飞过雷区，但计划最终夭折。此后无数人曾尝试想把个人飞行器商业化，之前这一设备仅限于宇航员使用，可以在空间站里防止他们漂走。今年，新西兰的马丁飞机制造公司（MartinAircraft Company）宣布其签署了一笔价值1千2百万的合资合同，将开始大规模生产个人飞行器。这个新闻绝对会让某个独立品牌非常开心。
3. Meals in Pill Form
3. 药丸型的饭
By MEGAN FRIEDMAN Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010
Food of the future wasn't supposed to be concerned with good carbs or trans fats. Instead, the act of eating was itself supposed to go away, replaced with taking a pill. Characters from George Jetson to Leela on Futurama popped pills with the full taste, and sometimes the indigestion, that comes with a typical meal. Imagine the possibilities — feeling full and getting the right nutrients without ever cooking or worrying about calories.
在未来，食物将不再与复合碳水化合物和反式脂肪联系起来，吃这一动作甚至都将消失，取而代之的是吞下一片药丸。在《飞出个未来》里的角色从George Jetson到Leela都是服用味道十足的药片，偶尔消化不良的人会有特别供餐。想像一下这种可能性-不用烹饪或者担心卡路里，却可以拥有饱腹感并且补充需要的营养。
Unfortunately, the physics just don't work out. The average person needs 2,000 calories each day. If you put all those calories into fat form and placed them into pills, you'd need to swallow a half-pound of pills every day. And that wouldn't even include protein, carbohydrates or essential vitamins. So why constantly swallow pills to get your fat requirement when you can have a slice of pizza?
可惜的是，这一想法在现实中行不通。普通人每天需要2000大卡的热量。如果把这些卡路里转成脂肪形式再放进药片，那人每天就要吞下半磅重的药片。而且这药片里还不含有蛋白质，碳水化合物，或者是一些基本的维他命。那么当你可以吃下一片匹萨的时候，为什么还要不停地吞下药片来控制脂肪呢？
Though our food-pill dreams may be dashed, we are getting closer to a portable flavor experience. Scientists at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, England, say they're close to coming up with a chewing gum that tastes like a full meal, like the one Violet Beauregarde chomped on in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The full calories won't be there, but the flavors are expected to be released at different times, simulating a three-course meal while chewing. Let's just hope the gum doesn't turn us into blueberries.
虽然药丸型饭的美梦破灭了，但随身携带美味这一想法却有可能实现。英国诺里奇食物研究学院的科学家声称他们正在研究一种口香糖，吃起来的味道像刚吃完一顿全餐，就像《查里与巧克力工厂》里Violet Beauregarde咀嚼的一样。口香糖里并没有包含所需要的卡路里，但是在咀嚼中不同的时期会有不一样的味道产生出来，相当于有三道菜的一顿饭。只是让我们来祈祷这些口香糖不会把我们变成蓝莓，阿弥陀佛。
4. A Worldwide Government
4. 世界政府
By ISHAAN THAROOR Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010
Fans of that particularly epic sci-fi genre of space opera (think fleets of spaceships and big laser cannons) have long been prepared for the day when earth is ruled by one single, benign government. What's the point of our current world order, that inchoate mess of nation-states and petty geopolitical divisions, when we have far bigger fish — or alien planets — to fry? A host of television series, from Star Trek to Babylon 5 to the short-lived Space: Above and Beyond, all ensured that the political exigencies of our little rock in the solar system were managed by just one global entity: call it a federation or an alliance or even the U.N.
史诗般的科幻太空剧迷们（想想那无数只太空舰队和巨大的激光加农炮）一直在等待有一天地球能被一个统一的，宽厚的政府统治。当我们有更大的目标，像外星星球之类的存在时，现在包含着乱七八糟的国家和细小的地域政治分支的世界统治还有何意义？用来煎么？一-从星球大点到巴比伦5号再到昙花一现的太空这一系列的电视剧都在说明：未来在太阳系中我们这颗小小石头的政治危机将由一个全球机构管理：可以把它叫做联邦政府或者联盟，甚至联合国都可以。
Robert Heinlein, author of the cult novel Starship Troopers (made into a film in 1997), gave considerable thought to what a one-world government would look like. The Terran Federation in Starship Troopers emerges after the world's many democracies collapse into disarray in the 21st century, allowing a group of military vigilantes to establish a kind of global Spartan republic. True citizenship is only conferred after military service — and the whole situation eventually carries creepy, fascist undertones. Even if the Terran Federation would be better prepared to face the threat of those bulbous, bug-eyed arachnids, TIME reckons we'd rather take our chances with what we've got.
科幻小说《星河舰队》（在1997年拍成电影）作者Robert Heinlen，仔细考虑过一个世界政府应该是什么样子。星河舰队中的地球联邦是在21世纪许多民主体治崩溃后出现的，一群军事治安会员建成了类似一个全球的斯巴达共和城邦。 所有人只有在服完军役后才可以成为公民----整个局面最终带有令人毛骨悚然的法西斯主义色彩。即使是地球联邦也要全力准备，面对来自那些圆形暴眼的异形虫族的入侵。
5. Flying Cars
5. 会飞的车
By ALEXANDRA SILVER Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010
When we met George Jetson, his boy Elroy, daughter Judy and Jane (his wife), we met them in their flying automobile. Back to the Future II memorably featured flying cars, as did Blade Runner, The Fifth Element and loads of other movies. Indeed, the flying car is a staple of most respectable fictional future worlds. Yet compared with some other futuristic goals (like, say, time travel or teleportation) flying cars really don't seem all that far-fetched. We have cars. We have planes. Why don't we have flying cars? Granted, their mechanics may be tricky. And they would require some complicated infrastructure. And perhaps fuel could be a problem. And sure, some people have a hard enough time getting their driver's licenses ...
当我们见到GeogeJetson, 他的儿子Elroy,女儿Judy和妻子Jane的时候，我们是在他们的飞车里碰面的。《回到未来2》，《银翼杀手》 《第五元素》还有许多其他电影里都有那些令人记忆深刻的飞车。确实，会飞的车是那些经典小说未来世界里很重要的一个标志，虽然与其它未来目标想比（比如说穿越时空或者瞬间转移（又叫心灵传送）），会飞的车并没有那么抓人眼球。我们有车，我们有飞机，为什么我们没有会飞的车？是的，它们的技术有点复杂，需要一些很复杂的设备，可能燃料也可能会是个问题。而且一些人肯定要备受煎熬才能拿到驾照。
But the dream lives! The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Transformer program is aimed at creating four-person "vertical takeoff and landing, road-worthy vehicles." Terrafugia is working on the Transition Roadable Aircraft, and according to the company's website, they're supposed to be out next year and "over 80 aircraft have been reserved." Of course, the website also notes that "the Transition isn't designed to replace anyone's car, but it could replace your airplane." So ... it's not for everyone.
但是梦想依然存在！美国国防高级计划研究局的变革计划目的就是创造出一个四人的“垂直起飞和降落，适合在道路上使用的装备。”Terrafugia也在研究一种陆空转换飞行器，公司网站上说，这种陆空转换车将会在明年推出, “而且有超过80辆已经被预定了”。网站还说“这种转换车设计出来并不是为了替代任何人的车，但是它可以替代你的飞机。”所以。。。这种车并不适用于所有人。（唉，有钱真好啊！）
6. Time Travel
6. 穿越时空
By FRANCES ROMERO Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010
We've been teased mercilessly with the prospect of time travel by literature (The Time Machine, Slaughterhouse-Five), movies (Back to the Future, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure) and even television (Quantum Leap). But so far, the concept has remained limited strictly to fiction. The advantages to being able to travel through time are clear (meeting Napoleon, watching the moon landing), and the disadvantages have been pretty well chronicled too (i.e. really screwing things up). As much as we all would like to see time travel become a reality, some things are probably best left to the imagination.
文学作品（时间机器，第五屠宰场），电影（回到未来，阿比阿弟的冒险）甚至电视剧（量子飞跃）无数次地通过描述穿越时空来挑拨可怜的我们。但是到目前为止，这一概念还是仅止于小说。无可厚非，能够穿越时空有无数的益处（会见拿破，观看阿波罗登月），但是不好的方面也很让人混乱（真的会把事情搞砸）。虽然我们都很渴望穿越时空可以成真，但有些事情最好还是留在想象里比较好。
7. Teleportation
7. 瞬间转移
By JOSH SANBURN Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010
"Beam me up, Scotty!" The show: Star Trek. The Scotty: Montgomery Scott. The beaming: teleportation. It's a staple of many sci-fi plots, this ability to be transported from place to place instantaneously. While nothing even close has yet made its way to the real world, a number of physicists have studied whether we really could hurtle ourselves through a hypothetical wormhole. The U.S. Air Force has undertaken a study on it, and one man has even filed a patent for "a pulsed gravitational wave wormhole generator system that teleports a human being through hyperspace from one location to another."
“传送我吧，Scotty!” 电影：星球大战。The Scotty: Montgomery Scotte （第一代星球大战里的角色）。传送：瞬间转移。这时许多科幻小说情节里的场景，把人从一个地方瞬间转移到另一个地方。但是在现实世界里这个想法根本无从开始，许多物理学家研究过我们是否真的能通过假设性“虫洞（天体物理学术语）”来跳跃空间。美国空军曾做过研究，一个人甚至还因为“通过脉冲引力波虫洞制造系统把人通过多维度空间从一个地方传送到另一个地方”获得专利。
8. Underwater Cities
8. 水下城市
By ISHAAN THAROOR Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010
Who needs space when there remain the unfathomable depths of our own oceans? James Cameron's Abyss conjured a world of deep-sea sentient aliens, but they end up being all ethereal tendrils and no fun. Filmmakers of an earlier era had a better idea: underwater cities! A glut of B movies from War Gods of the Deep to Captain Nemo and the Underwater City dump their protagonists in latter day Atlantises and surround them with amphibian humanoids and curmudgeonly mad scientists. And why not? With water levels rising, we may as well start thinking about oceanic living. A few super-high-end luxury hotels in places like Dubai and the Maldives offer "underwater" accommodation and dining, replete with stunning views of marine life. But where are the trident-wielding frog men?
当我们有深不可测的海洋时，谁还需要空间？James Cameron的《深渊》描绘了一个具感知能力的异形人的深海世界，但是他们最后都化为一缕轻烟，毫无趣味。早期的电影制作人有过更好的点子：水底之城！很多的B级电影（指的是制作成本低，拍摄时间短的电影，一般道具比较简陋粗糙）诸如水底世界，尼摩船长和水底之城都把他们的主角扔在后来的亚特兰蒂斯岛（大西洋中一传说岛屿），围绕着他们的是一群两栖的类人生物和小气吝啬的疯狂科学家。为什么不么？随着水位线越来越高，或许我们也应该开始考虑在海洋中居住。在迪拜和马尔代夫等地的一些超高级奢华旅馆就会提供“水下”住宿和用餐，充满着无比优美的海底生物景观。但是双手挥舞着三叉戟的蛙人在哪呢？
9. Cyborg Abilities
9. 电子人
By ALEXANDRA SILVER Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010
Thanks to television series The Six Million Dollar Man, bionic beings were all the rage in the '70s. Protagonist Steve Austin was "Better. Stronger. Faster." Today, some people could be considered cyborgs — think Kevin Warwick, the scientist who implanted a radio-frequency ID chip in his body, or Jesse Sullivan, who after he lost his arms was given bionic ones — but most of us aren't artificially better, stronger or faster ... not like the Terminator or RoboCop. At least, not yet. Perhaps it's for the best. There's no guarantee all will use superhuman abilities for good. Also, if you're someone who still struggles with or is confounded by technology, maybe incorporating it directly into your body isn't the best idea.
谢天谢地，由于电视剧《无敌金刚》，电子人在七十年风靡一时。主人公Steve Austin “优秀，强壮，动作迅速。”现在，有些人可以称之为电子人---想想KevinWarwick, 一个把无线电频率的ID芯片植入自己身体的科学家，或者Jesse Sullivan, 在失去自己的胳膊后安装了一对电子胳膊---但是我们大部人并不能像终结者或者机器战警一样人为地变地更好，更强，速度更快。至少，还没有，但是或许这样是最好的。因为并不能保证人人都会把超能力用于好的方面。如果你还在挣扎或者困惑于科技，那么最好还是不要把它植入体内。
10. A Postapocalyptic Landscape
10. 末日景象
By GILBERT CRUZ Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010
The Mad Max films, Planet of the Apes, The Road, The Terminator, War of the Worlds, WALL-E — pop-culture visions of the future have oft shown us depressing depictions of what it would be like to survive a nuclear war or a war against robots or a war against pollution. Lots of war. On second thought ... this should probably be No. 1 on our next list: Top 10 Predictions for the Future That, Thankfully, Did Not Come True.
《冲锋飞车队系列》，《人猿星球》，《末日危途》，《终结者》，《世界之战》，《机器人瓦力》————这些电影向我们展示了未来经历过核战，或者与机器人或世界污染大战后世界的压抑悲惨景象。无数的战争，转念一想。。。。这个或许应该位于我们下个榜单之首：十大谢天谢地尚未实现地预言。
PS: 好像那种陆空转换车已经投入生产了，估计一辆售价在20-25万美元
