Question

The Simpsons predicted the Apple Vision Pro.

Comments

This claim seems to be misleading since the Simpsons tend to talk about societal trends in their episodes a lot. Since this particular episode came out in 2016, this was the same year that the Oculus vr set came out as well making it most likely that the show was making fun of the idea of the oculus and not predicting the future of the apple vision pro.

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This claim falls under both the misleading, satire, and both misleading/ false I would assert. First based upon my research, it is true that there are parallels between events in Simpsons show in relation to real-life, specifically American life examples. Yet, the article shares how many of the connections are coincidental along with reflecting a pattern of human behavior; rather than specific events. Although the show has clever references, there is not a hidden message here. I think people exaggerate claims. Their motivators could be possibly fear or getting attention. This claim could be framed as a "conspiracy theory", so that could be relative to the intended audience but I don't think there's intended agenda.

https://collider.com/the-simpsons-predictions-explained/
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/126644/why-is-reddit-not-a-reliable-source-of-experts
https://collider.com/predictions-the-simpsons-came-true/

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I like the way you cite multiple sources and use logic to dismantle the claim

Answer 1

This claim is false. This claim comes after a device similar to the Apple Vision Pro appeared in a 2016 episode called "Friends and Family" (Season 28; Episode 2). The Simpsons have appeared to have many other "predictions" such as the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, the monkeypox outbreak, and Donald Trump's presidency. However, the show did not predict the origination of Apple Vision Pros. USA Today reported that in a 2020 Reuters interview, former showrunner Bill Oakley said, "I would say in general when people say, 'The Simpsons' has predicted something, it is just that we were satirizing real-life events from years before, and because history keeps repeating, it just seems like we were predicting things." In fact, the first virtual reality (VR) headshot is called the Sword of Damocles and was created by Ivan Sutherland in 2016, 48 years prior to the episode's release.