On November 25 2025, the RDS held its first Movie Night, showing the 1976 film “Futureworld” by Richard T. Heffron. This wasn't just an excuse to watch a movie on a rainy November evening, but is a new event format the RDS is trialing, where we look at visions of a technological future in film, and critically consider how close to reality this is, or we would like it to be. 

Futureworld is set in a futuristic amusement park, where the visitor's every wish is fulfilled, but behind the shiny facade, a corporation is secretly manipulating the experience both within and outside of the park, scraping user data and putting trust in autonomous robots rather than human workers. If we replace the theme park with social media, and the robots for AI, this 1976 film appears to be a scarily accurate prediction of the perils of putting too much blind trust in new technologies without fully understanding what is behind them, and what the cost to users really is. Whether the film's ending will also come to pass is yet to be seen, but it underlines the need for us as responsible digital citizens to play our part in keeping each other and the platforms safe and accountable to civil society.

This was the first in what we hope will be a new series of movie nights. Should you have any suggestions for films, please get in touch with the RDS.