FC: More on "Minority Report" photos and Philip K. Dick novella

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Fri Jul 13 2001 - 08:25:26 PDT

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    Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 11:56:21 +0100
    To: declanat_private
    From: "Charles Arthur, The Independent" <carthurat_private>
    Subject: Re: FC:  *next* Spielberg movie
    
    Hi ...
    
    At 10:26 pm -0700 on 12/7/2001, you wrote:
    
     >Wayne Madsen, a Politech irregular and muckraking reporter, recently
     >slipped into the set of the *next* Spielberg movie, which is being filmed
     >in Washington, DC. It's called Minority Report and involves the U.S.
     >Department of Precrime, which prosecutes suspects (in this case Tom
     >Cruise's character) for crimes they plan to commit. Photos from the set:
     >   http://www.mccullagh.org/theme/minority-report-filming-june01.html
    
    
    Let me be the 4,009,008th Philip K Dick fan to get in touch and point out
    that this is based on a PKD short story/novella, also called Minority
    Report. It's confusing as hell but a very interesting analysis of what
    might happen if indeed our criminal acts (particularly murders) could be
    prevented by telepaths reading the future.
    
    It's sort of like the question of "If you have a time machine and go back
    and kill your father, will you exist?" - except turned the other way
    around: if your father said he was going to come and kill you and he got
    locked up because of it, are you alive or dead? (OK, it's all very
    Schrodinger's Cat. Either the plot will have to be watered down for the
    feeble brains of moviegoers, or they will have one of the best confusing
    endings since The Usual Suspects.)
    
    The reason it's called "Minority Report" is because there are three precogs
    who make the prediction. If two say you're going to do it then (even if the
    third says you won't) then you're guilty.
    
    Probably rather timely, given the growing arrival of face-recognition
    software and even CCTV software that can predict whether you're about to
    break into a car in a car park. (It analyses your motion: car owners go
    directly to their cars. Thieves are circuitous.)
    
    
    Reports are at http://www.philipkdick.com/hollywood/minority/minority.htm
    (mainly about the film). and a good, concise description of why his stuff
    is like it is at http://www.stud.hum.ku.dk/rydahl/pkd/pkdindex.htm .
    
    
             best
             Charles
    
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