Based on a short story by the late Philip K. Dick, Minority Report is a science-fiction thriller directed by Steven Spielberg which primarily deals with the theme of pre-determination vs. free will, privacy, pervasiveness of technology. Specifically, I'm here to talk about the technology.
Now one interesting point about Minority Report is the nature of the technology portrayed int he film. Particulary, the way they were conceptualized. In an effort to create a reality-based future rather than pure science-fiction, Steven Spielberg created a "Think Tank". A "Think Tank" can essentially be defined as a group of experts getting together to solve certain dilemmas. In this case, Mr. Spielberg got together 15 experts to "think" about the future, the future of technology in 2054.
Oddly enough, we are already seeing many of their proposed future technologies today! And the last time I checked, its only 2011.
Spatial reality manipulated by hand gestures?
Meet the Microsoft Kinect:
Essentially, the Kinect registers your entire body as the controller for the Xbox 360. Now all we need is proper spatial interface (holograms maybe?) to interact with as most video displays are still flat as a wall.
Mag-lev car?
Well, we already have Maglev trains:
Now we just to miniaturize the technology into a car.
Many more technological marvels are also in the works, such as electronic newspaper, interactive billboards and so on.
Minority Report is a fantastic movie, not only in the fact that it told many underlying themes but the fact that 15 experts got together and created a technological utopia and realized it into film. As time goes on, technology will get more and more pervasive, and as more of our own information and our own identity gets digitized we stand to gain much more in terms of communicating with one another but losing our own sense of privacy.
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