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Daily List suggested by PossibleMisnomer.
10) Rocket Boots
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9) The Universal Translator
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8) Power Lace Nikes
The Back to the Future movies cursed us with the knowledge of many awesome pieces of hypothetical future technology that might never be born into existence the way we want them to. Although still a stretch, the sweet automatically lacing Nikes from Back to the Future Part II seem to have the most potential of ever actually happening. That and you could actually see normal people wearing them since they're the great grandchildren of those oh-so-awesome Pumps that clearly helped us all get into the NBA. Nike made a limited edition pair of sneakers posing as these things in 2008, and even though they'd still cost you somewhere between 6 to 10 times what a normal pair of Nike basketball shoes normally would, they don't power lace. How un-awesome.
7) The Neuralyzer
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6) The Transporter
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5) Headjack Learning Technology
Imagine where we'd be as a society if we could bypass years of education simply by inserting a metal device through a port into the backs of our heads? Outside of being incredibly strange, we'd undoubtedly be hyper-advanced and get jobs doing technically complicated things as babies. It's probably a good thing that The Matrix didn't spend too much time on this topic when Neo learned Kung-Fu or when Trinity mastered flight of a helicopter both in a matter of minutes, as a "Matrix Babies" spin-off just doesn't hold the same appeal for us.
4) The What-If Machine
Okay, a machine that tells us exactly what will transpire in any "what-if" scenario we dream up has to crack the list, and as a piece of Futurama lore invented by the singular Professor Farnsworth we'd deserve a beating not to include it, even if he "finely tuned" his invention with a hammer. It's also activated in ever changing ways, including by use of a pull string, which is pretty spectacular in its own right.
3) The Holodeck
Okay, the long overdue Holodeck is clearly being held back for our own good, mostly because we don't have the same self control as a society that the crew from Star Trek: TNG had to ever stop using it. Think about it for a minute -- while Picard and company only turned to the Holodeck in moderation or to fulfill some training/mission objective, there's probably a large percentage of us that would never actually leave these things, except to get real food and more money to power the Holodeck. Guys would clearly live out the rest of their natural lives in a Gotham City simulation as Batman and gals would never leave the overcast forest of the Twilight movies, holding on tightly to their perfectly pale Edward's back as they become his virtual spider monkey eternal. The Holodeck would obviously be worse than cocaine or heroin for nerds, as we're already commonly delusional with addictive personalities anyway.
2) Robot Pals
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1) The Hoverboard
How many urban legends did we hear about hoverboards becoming a reality when the Back to the Future movies were at the height of their popularity in the late '80s and early '90s? "Yeah they're making them, I'm getting one for Christmas!" Yeah right, universally relatable childhood friend named Tommy who had more toys than any kid on the street. Time has proven you to be a liar! Anyway, all issues regarding our youth aside, the answer is a lot -- and although there have been plenty valiant attempts at achieving hoverboardfection since, none have come close to duplicating the coolness of the boards from the BTTF flicks. Unless hovering around on what just looks like a miniature version of an evergladian tourist airboat is cool now that is, which it probably isn't. Considering it's been over a 20 year wait, we'd even settle for the pink Mattel board Marty stole from that little girl -- at least we could claim it to be "future-retro chic" as we boarded to and from class.
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