Center for Strategic Communication

Follow Along: It's Back to the Future Day

by | Oct 20, 2015 | Monitor

Great Scott! Today's Back to the Future Day!

It's an important day in American history (or, at least, in American cinematic history):

It's the date to which Marty McFly traveled into the “future” in Back to the Future Part II.

We've come a long way in the 30 years that have passed since the original Back to the Future came out. Now, we're going to talk about where we're going in the next 30. 

All day long, we're hosting a series of conversations with scientists and innovators across the government and the country. You'll be able to ask them questions, watch videos explaining their cutting-edge developments, and share your answer to the question above: What does 2045 look like?

Here's the schedule for the day.

(Remember — we'll be posting all kinds of great stuff over the course of the day, so check back frequently!)

9:30 a.m. ET: A Google+ Hangout Conversation on Time Travel

Featuring: OSTP Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation Tom Kalil, Professor Tim Ralph of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and Mr. Martin Ringbauer, a PhD student at the University of Queensland.
What you can do: Watch live right here!

10:30 a.m. ET: A Twitter Conversation on Autonomous Vehicles

Featuring: Deputy Chief Technology Officer Ed Felten, and Special Assistant to the President for Economic and Technology Policy R. David Edelman.
What you can do: Follow @EdFelten44 and @WhiteHouseOSTP — and weigh in on the conversation on Twitter using #BackToTheFutureDay.

11:30 a.m. ET: A Twitter Q+A on the Future of Women in STEM

Featuring: Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith, NASA Chief Scientist Dr. Ellen Stofan, OSTP Principal Assistant Director for Environment and Energy Tammy Dickinson, and L'Oréal's 2015 U.S. Women in Science fellows.
What you can do: Follow @USCTO and @LOrealUSA on Twitter, and weigh in on what you'd like to see women doing in STEM fields in 2045 using hashtag #WomenInScience.

1:00 p.m. ET: A Google+ Hangout on Understanding the Human Brain

Featuring: OSTP Assistant Director for Neuroscience and Mental Health Monica Basco; OSTP Senior Policy Advisor Knatokie Ford; OSTP Assistant Director for Defense Programs (and neuroscientist) Chris Fall; Karl Deisseroth M.D., Ph.D., the D.H. Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University; Kevin Pearce, Snowboarder and BRAIN initiative activist; and Dr. Julie Brefczynksi-Lewis, Research Assistant Professor at the West Virginia University School of Medicine.
What you can do: Watch live right here.

​Get excited, and remember: Where we're going, we don't need roads.

(Just kidding. We definitely do. And by the way, Congress should fund them.)

Michael J. Fox just sent this message to the White House list. (Didn't get it? Get on the list here.)

 

White House Seal

We’ve come a long way since 1985.

When Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveled 30 years into the future, we could only imagine the innovations we take for granted today — new ideas and technologies that have completely changed the way we live, learn, and work.

Back then, if you’d have told me that I’d go from talking on a cell phone to talking cell biology, I would never have believed you. But today, The Michael J. Fox Foundation is helping to spearhead research collaborations to speed a future in which we can treat, cure, and even prevent brain diseases like Parkinson's.

So what’s possible in another 30 years? Call me an optimist, but I believe that by 2045 we’ll find the cures we seek — especially because of all the smart, passionate people working to make it happen. Doctors and researchers around the world are developing new tools to improve the diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases, to tailor treatments — for all illnesses — through precision medicine, and to make life better for millions of people. This truly is the stuff of the future.

Today, on “Back to the Future Day,” I challenge you to imagine the world you want to live in thirty years from now. The White House is hosting a series of online conversations with innovators across the country all day long. Check it out and add your voice here.

We can't all be brain scientists, but all of us can get involved. One reason Parkinson’s research has come so far in the past 15 years is that people and families living with the disease have stepped up as advocates and innovators themselves, working to build the future we all want.

Together, we’ll make neurological illness a thing of the past.

And if we all eventually get hoverboards, well — that's a bonus.

–Michael J. Fox

the nasa tumblr is highlighting modern technologies they couldn't have dreamed of in 1985: