“[Deep Impact is] almost a lesson,” said NASA astronaut Tom Jones. “To find a movie that was accurate to asteroid physics was a nice surprise.” Hey, if a real-life Space Cowboy says it’s on par, it’s getting put on the list.

It gets the nod here for a few other reasons, too. First, the whole ‘amateur astronomer discovers the doomsday comet’ thing is believable, as non-pros contribute quite a bit to the astronomical community. Next, the government’s plan to divert the comet with a nuclear missle is probably exactly what we would have come up with back in 1998. Or 2016. Whatever. Double next, the catastrophic super-tsunami that occurs after fragments of the comet splash down in the Atlantic is considered highly accurate by one particularly well-known authority on science, Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Lastly, Deep Impact accurately predicted our first black President. I see you, Morgan Freeman.

Japanese scientists and renowned criminologists have recently announced that they are very, very close to perfecting the PreCrime technology – PreCogs and all – seen in Minority Report.

Totally kidding, but you should still click the link.

Steven Spielberg’s 2002 futuristic crime drama displayed some pretty advanced technology – it was, after all, based in the year 2054. Spielberg consulted with a variety of scientists and tech experts over the course of production, creating what many consider to be the most realistic and plausible environments in sci-fi history.

Some of his predicted technologies have already been realized, like gesture-based computer interfaces, and retinal scanners, while others are still in the early stages, like the facial recognition-driven advertising software.

Fun Fact Round 2: Philip K. Dick wrote the book that inspired this movie, as well! The man was a genius!

Probably not one you expected to see here, eh? Believe it or not, Spike Jonze’s 2013 RomCom / Sci-Fi mashup is based around (and rooted in) entirely plausible speculative science. A fully self-aware and sentient AI is no new plot device, but Jonze’s vision and story introduces quite a bit of technology that is (surprisingly) only a few years away.

Since the film is based in a not-so-distant future, there’s not a ton of science or fiction to speak of. However, the science that it does rely on has garnered praise from authorities like Ray Kurzweil, renowned computer scientist, inventor, and futurist. (Futurists are scientists that try to systematically create and explore predictions and possibilities about the future. Thanks, Interwebs!)

Kurzweil had this to say about the film:

“[Her] compellingly presents the core idea that a software program (an AI) can – will – be believably human and lovable. This is a breakthrough concept in cinematic futurism in the way that The Matrix presented a realistic vision that virtual reality will ultimately be as real as, well, real reality.”

Putting his mystical futurist powers on full display, Kurzweil suggested that we would see certain tech from the film (like that trash-talking videogame character and the itty-bitty face cameras) as early as 2020. Sadly, he doesn’t think we’ll see AI as advanced as Samantha until 2029.

Guess that means I’ll remain single for another decade or so…