A small detail I found interesting while watching Minority Report recently: among all the futuristic innovations displayed and mentioned in this article, when it began to rain, people still opened up traditional black umbrellas.
Some inventions can't be improved?
The surprising accuracy of Minority Report 10 years later
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Re: The surprising accuracy of Minority Report 10 years later
#12Was anyone else seriously pissed that the Spielberg version missed the entire point of the Dick story?
Re: The surprising accuracy of Minority Report 10 years later
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some inventions can't be improved?
senz http://www.senzumbrellas.com/shop/home.php
As a Senz owner, was the grandparent a comment on company innovation or user adoption?
As great as the Senz is, it lacks one of a regular umbrella's most compelling features; its handle is inconvenient to use, and, combined with the lack of a pointy end, you can't use it as a walking stick of sorts. This also makes umbrellas feel less cumbersome, because they still serve a purpose, when it is not raining.
(And it also makes it more difficult to hum Singing in the Rain to yourself and pretend you're Gene Kelly.)
Re: The surprising accuracy of Minority Report 10 years later
#14Hm, interesting. I only saw the movie about a month ago (and didn't even like it much) but it never occurred to me that the movie predicted anything correctly. I suppose because I took it out of context (in 2011, I took the things mentioned the article mostly for granted). Actually, the future predicted by the movie is pretty scary, in particular: - Automated cars that can be remotely controlled by the government - E…
> Automated cars that can be remotely controlled by the government
Google automated cars + OnStar-Law Enforcement partnership.
> - Eye-based identification everywhere
Google already uses it in their datacenters. It's hard to say if it will catch on, but it's not unreasonable to expect its widespread use in, say, 2030/2040.
Re: The surprising accuracy of Minority Report 10 years later
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some inventions can't be improved?
http://www.nubrella.com/
An honest attempt to improve the umbrella, perhaps, but it looks both ridiculous and claustrophobic. (edit: Why do we describe small spaces as claustrophobic rather than claustrophobia-inducing? We don't describe spiders as arachnophobic or wide open spaces as agoraphobic, do we?)
There must be a better solution to umbrellas getting inverted. Why do they even have to bend that way?
Re: The surprising accuracy of Minority Report 10 years later
#16A small detail I found interesting while watching Minority Report recently: among all the futuristic innovations displayed and mentioned in this article, when it began to rain, people still opened up traditional black umbrellas.
Umbrellas have been in use for thousands of years. Until we get head-mounted lasers that vapourise every incoming raindrop (probably not a great idea in itself) we're pretty much stuck with 'em.
Re: The surprising accuracy of Minority Report 10 years later
#17Wasn't the movie set in 2050 or so? IIRC Hal Finney reviewed it at the time as plausible for the next few decades but ridiculously conservative for 50 years. I thought that was about right. (I didn't expect to see self-driving cars quite so soon.)
Re: The surprising accuracy of Minority Report 10 years later
#18Looking at the difference between the Microsoft Kinnect and the Apple iPad demos, the marvel is how Microsoft manages to make something really amazing both boring and uncool, while Apple spends 15 seconds and inspires. Fortunately, the Kinnect is a great enough device people seem to have discovered it in spite of their marketing.
Don't miss the "What's around the corner" video.
Re: The surprising accuracy of Minority Report 10 years later
#19I think the article has it backwards. The movie used technology that was being developed and took it to a logical conclusion.
Re: The surprising accuracy of Minority Report 10 years later
#20Was anyone else seriously pissed that the Spielberg version missed the entire point of the Dick story?
What was the point of the Dick story?
Movie adaptations of science fiction short stories often have a way of missing the point. Sometimes it's an improvement, sometimes it isn't.
The bit about Minority Report that I didn't like (and I think this point was made by somebody else at the time but I can't remember who it was) is as follows: the movie starts off by saying "Let's suppose that there's some psychic system that allows us to predict crimes before they occur!" "Gee okay movie" I say, "that sounds pretty implausible but I'll go along with it". "And then" says the movie "the big twist at the end is.... sometimes it doesn't work!"
It feels like a cheap sort of ending because, well, I never would have thought it could work until the logic of the story demanded it. It feels like the movie is trying to make some kind of point about free will, but it's not only keeping its thumb on the scale, it's also keeping its other thumb on the other side of the scale, making the discussion pointless. Free will is nonexistent, it says, because of this hypothetical device which could never exist in the real world. Except, oh wait, the device doesn't work because there's free will. The end.