A host of intriguing technologies make an appearance, including interstellar travel, hypersleep (where humans are preserved in stasis for long space journeys) and terraforming (making other worlds liveable for humans).<\/p>\n
Some of the technologies in the film have already come to pass \u2013 or look likely to soon. But others were missed and some remain firmly in the realms of science fiction.<\/p>\n
In Aliens, the marines travel to a distant moon to investigate the disappearance of over 100 human settlers. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the main protagonist of the first film, goes along to advise.<\/p>\n
On arrival, they run into a six-year-old girl, called Newt, who managed to escape the grisly fate of the other colonists. When the marines encounter the alien hive, chaos and carnage ensue.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aliens-6ca8147f.jpeg\")
The film is set in 2179, 153 years into our future (20th Century Fox)<\/p>\n
The technology<\/a> featured in Aliens appears to be there to support the wonderful storytelling, rather than predict the path of innovation, as a futurologist might.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s take a look at it. The film is set in 2179, 153 years into our future. Journeying 153 years into the past would land us in 1873, when common technologies were horse drawn and steam streetcars and gas lighting. Typewriters with Qwerty keyboards went on sale the following year.<\/p>\n Industrial aesthetic<\/p>\n We\u2019ve moved on considerably, but the future world of Aliens feels less distant in many respects. Company executives use clunky business cards to trigger low-resolution video calls and wave computer printouts during meeting room showdowns.<\/p>\n For modern audiences, however, the lack of personal electronic devices may be jarring. One can only assume that they must have fallen out of favour by 2179.<\/p>\n The gritty, industrial visual style established in the first film was taken further here. Aliens introduces a variety of military vehicles that contain futuristic elements while drawing on real hardware used in the Vietnam war. The movie\u2019s look influenced later films, but it has also been described as \u201ceveryday\u201d and \u201cugly\u201d.<\/p>\n An exception is the tracking technology: the motion detectors, wearable cameras and biosensors embedded into wristbands. These feel broadly \u201ccurrent\u201d. But if we extrapolate from the present day, one might expect engineers in 2179 to make greater use of surveillance cameras and computer vision (a sub-field of AI<\/a> where machines are trained to \u201cunderstand\u201d images and video).<\/p>\n A network of \u201csmart cameras\u201d throughout the moon colony could have tracked both the aliens and humans. Similar networks today monitor crowds and individuals \u2013 and watch for suspicious behaviour \u2013 on city streets and public transport.<\/p>\n Sentry guns and exoskeletons<\/p>\n The robots of Aliens are striking. Some are not so far removed from hardware used today, but with notable differences. In two separate scenes, Ripley straps into a massive mechanical suit known as a \u201cloader\u201d.<\/p>\n They are mainly used to move cargo, but, conveniently, can be appropriated for fighting xenomorphs. The loaders are a type of exoskeleton, real life wearable tech that may enhance human strength or movement.<\/p>\n Exoskeletons aren\u2019t generally used for this kind of task yet. Large autonomous or teleoperated factory robots are the go-to technology for lifting heavy hardware. This is safer than having humans operate in such hazardous environments.<\/p>\n Current exoskeletons are smaller in scale than the loaders. They are helping people walk again after traumatic injury and commercial versions are available to support those with mobility issues to hill walk.<\/p>\n The war in Ukraine, meanwhile, has familiarised us with autonomous combat robots. One or two share a striking resemblance to the film\u2019s automated sentry guns, which guard an entrance passage in the colony. But drone aircraft, in heavy use today, are notable by their absence.<\/p>\n However, one robot in Aliens operates at a level far beyond the rest: the android Bishop, played by Lance Henriksen. Bishop looks like a human on the outside and is referred to in the film as a \u201csynthetic\u201d.<\/p>\n By 2179, synthetics appear to be approaching human levels of cognitive function \u2013 something known as artificial general intelligence (AGI). They even seem to observe the laws of robotics devised by scientist and author Isaac Asimov. In one scene, Bishop tells crew members that he cannot harm a human or allow one to be harmed \u2013 Asimov\u2019s first law.<\/p>\n Synthetics occupy capable and realistic bodies which seem to incorporate soft robotics. In this real research area, scientists create robots with flexible materials instead of hard ones, such as metal. Fluids or pressurised air generate movement rather than conventional electric actuators.<\/p>\n The synthetics probably have soft robotic systems overlaid on a rigid framework, similar to flesh on bone. They are therefore likely to be a mixture of soft and conventional robotics.<\/p>\n Tech conundrum<\/p>\n Some of the tech in Aliens remains well out of reach. We don\u2019t have propulsion systems capable of sending crews to other stars and back within a lifetime. As regards hypersleep, in rare cases, humans have survived extreme hypothermia for over an hour, but this is not recommended. Terraforming, meanwhile, remains resolutely theoretical. But what of the synthetics?<\/p>\n Steve Benford is a Professor of Collaborative Computing at the University of Nottingham.<\/p>\n This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rightly or wrongly, many researchers and companies aspire to create humanoid robots and achieve AGI. We are bombarded with visions of their latest efforts on social media. But some proportion of those working on such ventures are looking to raise money. Many experts would argue that synthetic humans like those in the Alien movies are still far beyond today\u2019s capabilities.<\/p>\n This leads us to a striking conundrum at the heart of Aliens. Why aren\u2019t there more synthetics? Why not send a population of them to terraform worlds or fight aggressive ETs?<\/p>\n Perhaps humans are more expendable: maybe we will end up doing AI\u2019s dirty work because we are the cheaper commodity. But there is a more optimistic answer. Maybe, despite all of our apparent failings and weaknesses, humans are the more capable being.<\/p>\n After all, it is Ripley \u2013 not Bishop \u2013 who, wildly improvising with available technologies and driven by her unstoppable desire to protect Newt, defeats the alien queen. Perhaps there is hope yet for our species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,206],"class_list":["post-824438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"We\u2019ve](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aliens-0ff98437.jpeg\")
We\u2019ve moved on considerably, but the future world of Aliens feels less distant in many respects (20th Century Fox)<\/p>\n![\"Director](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aliens-f89a584b.jpeg\")
Director James Cameron\u2019s acclaimed sci-fi movie Aliens turns 40 in August (20th Century Fox)<\/p>\n