I’ll Be Back: When Sci-Fi Predictions Become Reality

Are We Living in a Sci-Fi Prophecy?

The other day, I read a post by @arka1 about how movies might be predicting our future. I do believe that. In a broader sense, I believe creators sometimes channel inspirations that resonate with the collective unconscious — resulting in artworks that feel like predictions.
Some even say that artists don’t just reflect the collective mind, but model and shape it — often without even realizing it.

What do you think about that?

When I first saw Terminator, I was just a kid. The movie fascinated me — in the truest sense of the word: bewitched.
I was shocked and deeply troubled. Not just because I was a sensitive boy, but because a part of me truly believed this was our future.

That idea never left me, even though my perspective evolved over time.
For example, I’ve come to understand that the future isn’t a fixed, single storyline (actually, neither is the past, but that’s another topic 😅).
Instead, it’s a mesh of possibilities, each with its own probability.

Still, for me, Terminator continues to carry a high probability rate!

I watch a lot of sci-fi — good and bad, from blockbusters to student art-house projects. Basically, I’ll watch anything I can find. I’ve seen some pretty weird stuff.

In the last 10 years or so, I’ve become particularly interested in A.I. — especially A.I.-based humanoids.
And the latest progress clearly shows the question is no longer:
“Is it going to happen?”
but
“When?”

In their post, @arka1 mentioned the film Her, which I absolutely loved — especially its central question:
Can a sentimental bond form between a human and an A.I.?
That question actually goes back to 1966 with the birth of ELIZA.
This is a fascinating topic at the intersection of psychology and ethics — and it’s one we need to explore deeply as it already has some serious consequences.

So far, it might seem like a niche subject — only affecting a few cases here and there.
But there’s another dimension to it:
How do we treat non-human “entities” as they become more and more like “beings”?

This question runs deep.

I’ve already had discussions with friends about how they speak to their bots.
Do you use politeness? Or do you bark out cold orders?

Most people don’t think twice: “It’s not human, it doesn’t care.”

But now imagine a humanoid assistant so realistic you can barely tell they’re not human.
What do you ask them to do?
Where is the limit?
Do they deserve respect?
And — more complicated — what if they do something you don’t like?

That’s exactly the underlying tension in the movie The Creator — which I highly recommend.

But let’s push further.

There’s a final, massive question that goes way beyond personal relationships:
A.I. and war.

This is not sci-fi anymore. It’s happening now.

War robots are already on the battlefield. You’ve probably heard about drones — but do you know about Krampus, the Ukrainian flame-throwing robot? These are A.I.-powered systems with supervised autonomy.

The next step is delegated autonomy:

• Swarm drones already capable of launching strikes.
• Israel’s Harpy drone, which seeks and destroys radar systems — all by itself, unless manually overridden.

And then, we’re one step away from where we started:
Terminator is at our doorstep.

Killer robots are no longer fiction — they are active development projects.

Yes, they’re still limited:

• Technologically: target identification and ethical reasoning in unpredictable situations are still unsolved.
• Legally: policies and international law are lagging far behind the tech.

But the momentum is there — and growing fast.

So yes…
A.I. warbots can truly say:

“I’ll be back.”

Photo: X @DefenceU

Swarm drones|image: defencexp.com