For centuries, humans have developed tools to make life easier and more enjoyable. With the advent of technology, our ingenuity has evolved faster than ever before. Technology refuses to stand still as it shapes the world around us. You would be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t imagined the infinite possibilities of technology – both the good and the bad opportunities it presents.
Tron: Legacy Again, this sci-fi thriller sequel isn’t exactly an Oscar winner, but the 1982 original cult classic was one of the first big-screen portrayals of the world inside a computer network or video game ever made. Its influence can be seen in new movies like Ready Player One, and Ralph Breaks the Internet. The more recent Tron follows the son of a virtual world designer who goes looking for his father and ends up trapped inside the digital reality he created.
I, Robot This 2004 science fiction thriller won’t be winning any awards, but the world it imagines is scarily close to reality. In this future, robots are common assistants to humans, which have become increasingly dependent on them. But when a robot is implicated in a murder – a seemingly impossible notion given that they are programmed to never harm a person – the threat that poses to humanity causes chaos.
Iron Man Putting this Marvel superhero movie on the list might surprise some, but it’s hard to understate just how tech-savvy it is. Eccentric playboy billionaire Tony Stark develops the impressively high-tech Iron Man suit to escape captivity, and then returns home to save the world with it. Beyond the suit, the gesture-based computer system, helpful sentient robots, and cool gadgets make this one of the best celebrations of tech culture on the big screen.
The Matrix This late ’90s movie about a dystopian future is cutting it close in the arbitrary timeframe set for this list, but it wouldn’t be complete without it. The Matrix has had a significant impact on pop culture and influenced countless other movies, shows, video games, and novels since its release. It suggests our world is an illusion; a computer simulation meant to keep humanity docile while sentient machines farm our energy to survive.
Minority Report While this futuristic Steven Spielberg thriller may be forgettable as a whole, its premise of cops using people with precognitive abilities to stop crimes before they happen is definitely not. We’re a few years away from that happening, but there’s not a doubt in my mind that there are programmers working on algorithms to make it a reality in a more digital sense.
Ex Machina This 2015 psychological thriller follows a young programmer who is selected to be the human component in a Turing test to determine the capabilities and consciousness of a new artificial intelligence robot. AI isn’t a new concept in cinema, but this recent Oscar-nominated movie has solidified itself as one of the best. It essentially warns of the not-so-distant day when robots become indistinguishable from us and the ethical implications that arise from that.
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