Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"Cyberspace is a metaphor that allows us to grasp this place where since about the time of the second world war we've increasingly done so many of the things that we think of as civilization."
- William Gibson
 |
| Precrime Analytical Wing | ||
| Contains the precognitives and the machinery need to hear and analyze their predictions of future crimes. |
In his disturbing short story The Minority Report, Dick explores a future in which people are routinely arrested for crimes they are planning to commit. How can police know whom to arrest, when the supposed perpetrators have not yet done anything wrong?
| Doors opened and closed, and they were in the analytical wing. Ahead of them rose impressive banks of equipment - the data-receptors, and the computing mechanisms that studied and restructured the incoming material. And beyond the machinery sat the three precogs, almost lost to view in the maze of wiring...
In the gloomy half-darkness the three idiots sat babbling. Every incoherent utterance, every random syllable, was analyzed, compared and reassembled in the form of visual symbols, transcribed on conventional punchcards, and ejected into various coded slots. All day long the idiots babbled, imprisoned in their special high-backed chairs, held in one rigid position by metal bands, and bundles of wiring, clamps... The three gibbering, fumbling creatures, with their enlarged heads and wasted bodies, were contemplating the future. The analytical machinery was recording prophecies, and as the three precog idiots talked, the machinery carefully listened. |
| Technovelgy from The Minority Report,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Fantastic Universe in 1956 Additional resources -
|
In the film version, Steven Spielberg creates a showcase of future technology; see the Science Fiction in the News story Minority Report-style 'Discovery Informatics' At Purdue University for an example. See the recent story of a real-life precrime division at Precrime computer (minus precogs) Predicts Robbery. Also, the tongue-in-cheek Precrime.org website is pretty cool (if it is still up).
The word "precog" (short for "precognitive") was used much earlier - as a verb - by H. Beam Piper in his 1948 story Police Operation: see the entry for precog.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 1 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Minority Report
More Ideas
and Technology by Philip K. Dick
Tech news articles related to The Minority Report
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
Precrime Analytical Wing-related
news articles:
- Precrime Computer (Minus Precogs) Predicts Robbery
- 'Precrime' Database For London Homicide Prevention Unit
- Future Attribute Screening Technologies Precrime Detector
- Precrime CCTV Cameras Now In Britain
- 'Precrime' Parole System In Philadelphia
- And DARPA Shall SMITE The Wicked
- PredPol Predicting Crime As It Happens
- Google Offers Future Prediction In The Cloud
- BrainNet Triple Telepathic Gaming Threat
| Is There A Subterranean Ocean? |
| The Robotic Shopping Cart Of The Future |
| Arctic Resource Jackpot An Old Wish |
| Marie Curie's Papers Still Radioactive |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
I'm hoping that this procedure becomes a normal part of medical practice!
'... nothing was perfected until M. Pantalon announced the completion of his automatic valet.'
'...its streets were of remarkable width, with few or no buildings so high as mosques, churches, State-offices, or palaces in Tellurian cities.'
'...it was all composed of tiny, identical cubes, carefully laid to form a tilelike surface.'
'He carried on his person a triggering mechanism sensitive to his heartbeat.'
'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
