Cyclical surges in sci-fi in culture are often connected to how the world is being perceived overall at that time. Sci-fi is an escape, and at times like this when there is a very violent divisive argument in culture, the future and living in the future provides an escape.
“You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you’ll escape one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.”
― John Green, Looking for Alaska
It’s fair to say though that we are merging with what the traditional projections of science-fiction were, and bit by bit, it’s just becoming science-fact. Due in 2019, Lamborghini created the world’s first “self-healing” sports car – namely, Terzo Millennia – which translates as “third millennium” in Italian. So what exactly does self-healing mean, it feels super sci-fi and very James Bond, although I doubt we will see an Italian motor in a Bond film any time soon.
Essentially, the aptly futuristically titled Terzo Millennia has the ability to detect and repair cracks in its body work through sensors, essentially conducting its own health check to detect damages and then subsequently self-repair by filling the crack with nanotubes to prevent it spreading. I mean, it’s groundbreaking, but also, when does a car crack exactly?
The car was created in collaboration with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston and is actually powered by super capacitors as opposed to conventional batteries.
Aside from the self-healing mechanic which I am really keen to see come to life in 2019, each of the car’s wheels includes its own integrated electric engine that glow as you drive. In the meantime, before self-healing cars are on the market, it’s worth checking out www.bestpartstore.co.uk.