| Score | Description | As seen in... | I Predict | Current situation |
| 10 | Flying car or Practical electric car | Back to the Future 2 | 2010 | Available (maybe) but expensive! |
| 10 | Commercial Space Travel | 2001 A Space Odyssey | 2010 | Current est. cost (2011) £250,000 |
| 10 | Mind Control over Machinery | ? | 2009 | Available NOW! |
| 8 | Fusion Power or Zero Point Energy | Back to the Future 2 | 2015 | Fusion reactors being built |
| 8 | Artificial Intelligence (Turing Test) | 2001 (HAL) | 2020 | "Watson" on Jeopardy TV quiz |
| 7 | Organ / Limb regeneration | X-Men / Heroes | 2020 | Liver, skin, brain cell growth in lab |
| 7 | Invisibility or Cloaking device | Predator / Hollow Man | 2020 | Some interesting developments |
| 6 | Immortality / Longevity / Anti-Ageing | Highlander | 2015 | Average UK lifespan=80 in 2007 |
| 5 | Anti-Gravity / Gravity control / Levitation | Star Trek | 2015 | Some small-scale demonstrations made |
| 5 | Non-lethal incapacitation weapon | Star Trek (of course) | 2015 | "Phasers on Stun" would save lives |
| 4 | Earthquake prediction | ? | 2020 | Short term predictions possible |
| 3 | Alien Contact / Signals discovered (SETI) | Contact | 2050 | Still no sign of E.T. |
| 3 | Teleportation / Matter Transmission | Star Trek | 2050 | TP of atoms achieved June 2004 |
| 3 | Instant Education Device / IQ booster | The Matrix / Forbidden Planet | 2015 | At last (2011) I have a link to something! |
| 3 | Moon/Mars habitation | 2001 / Total Recall | 2060 | Theoretically possible but risky |
| 3 | Dream or Thought Recorder | Strange Days / 6th Day | 2020 | Tentative first steps made in this area |
| 2 | Force Field / Invisible armour | Star Trek | 2050 | Tentative first steps made |
| 2 | Interstellar Travel | Star Trek | 2060 | Initial experiments suggested |
| 1 | Weather Control | ? | 2030 | Impossible at present |
| 1 | Time Travel | The Time Machine | 2100 | Probably impossible |
| 0 | Talking to the Dead | Ghost / The Sixth Sense | Never | Don't be silly! |
Ratings:
| 10 | Product available / Target achieved |
| 9 | Product in testing stage / Target in sight |
| 8 | Advanced prototypes constructed |
| 7 | Initial prototypes developed |
| 6 | Advanced experimentation achieved |
| 5 | Initial experiments made |
| 4 | Advanced research in progress |
| 3 | Continuing research underway |
| 2 | Initial research started |
| 1 | May be possible - theories devised |
| 0 | Apparently impossible (at present) |
Scores (out of possible 200) (links go to archive copies of this page)
| Jun 2004 | 69 | |
| Jun 2005 | 70 | |
| Jun 2006 | 71 | |
| Jun 2007 | 72 | |
| Jun 2008 | 85 | New items added in 2008 - limb regeneration, Moon habitation, non-lethal weapon. Also two items have been combined - Fusion power and Zero point energy. Otherwise score would be 75 |
| Jun 2009 | 87 | |
| Jun 2010 | 87 | No overall change. Anti-Ageing and Moon colonisation go from 2 to 3 but I've knocked Invisibility down 2 places. |
| Nov 2010 | 92 | Invisibility, fusion power & anti-ageing all up 1, organ regeneration up 2 |
| Feb 2011 | 95 | Brain booster research now underway, and Watson the supercomputer plays Jeopardy |
| Jun 2011 | 96 | Liver, skin & Brain cells grown in lab, and education machine gets a boost |
| Jul 2011 | 97 | Invisibility goes up one place - lots of interesting news stories on this topic |
| Sep 2011 | 98 | Thought recorder in development |
| Aug 2012 | 99 | Research into anti-ageing accelerating |
| Sep 2012 | 100 | Interesting new take on warp drive brings my score board to 100 for the first time. |
| Apr 2013 | 101 | I've put Longevity up 1 point in light of recent developments. |
It would appear that we are advancing slowly but surely - despite all the current anti-Science rhetoric from religious extremists.
Note that some of these ideas are linked; e.g.
A successful anti-gravity machine would be a great help in achieving cheap space flight
Harnessing zero-point energy would give us the possibility of interstellar travel
And an IQ booster or instant learning device could help us achieve everything on this list.
If anybody has any information or updates concerning these ideas
or if you disagree with my scoring then email me (elwoodherring (at) blueyonder.co.uk)
However, I reserve the right to remain on the side of the ardent sceptic.
Elwood Herring's home page