Technologies in Minority Report

File:John Underkoffler, TED 2010.jpg, Minority Report's Science Advisor, John Underkoffler, demos a real life version of the "spatial operating environment" interface.{{cite news|last=Hart|first=Hugh|title=Minority Report Blu-ray Explores Spielberg's Futuristic Vision|url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/04/minority-report-spielberg-futurist/|publisher=wired.com|accessdate=December 10, 2010|date=April 20, 2010}}|alt=A man wearing a gray shirt, brow pants and black gloves stands in front of a screen, where scenes from Minority Report are being projected.]]

After E.T., Spielberg started to consult experts and put more scientific research into his films.{{cite magazine | author=Lisa Kennedy | url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/spielberg.html | title=Spielberg in the Twilight Zone | magazine=Wired | date=June 2002 }} In 1999, he invited fifteen experts convened by the Global Business Network, its chairman Peter Schwartz, and its co-founder Stewart Brand to a hotel in Santa Monica, California for a three-day "think tank". He also invited journalist Joel Garreau to cover the event. He wanted to consult with the group to create a plausible "future reality" for the year 2054 as opposed to a more traditional "science fiction" setting.{{cite news|author=Garreau, Joel|author-link=Joel Garreau|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A20469-2002Jun20 |title=Washington As Seen in Hollywood's Crystal Ball|newspaper=Washington Post|date=June 21, 2002|accessdate=February 21, 2007}} Dubbed the "think tank summit",{{cite news | author=Ian Rothkerch | url=http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/movies/int/2002/07/10/underkoffler_belker/index.html | title=Will the future really look like "Minority Report"? | work=Salon.com | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514220445/http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/movies/int/2002/07/10/underkoffler_belker/index.html | archivedate=May 14, 2011 }} the experts included architect Peter Calthorpe, Douglas Coupland, computer scientist Neil Gershenfeld, biomedical researcher Shaun Jones, computer scientist Jaron Lanier, and former Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) architecture dean William J. Mitchell.{{cite magazine|author=Kennedy, Lisa|url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/spielberg.html |title=Spielberg in the Twilight Zone|magazine=Wired|issue=6|date=June 2002|volume=10 |accessdate=February 12, 2007}}

Production Designer Alex McDowell kept what was nicknamed the "2054 bible", an 80-page guide created in preproduction which listed all the decided upon aspects of the future world: architectural, socio-economical, political, and technological. While the discussions did not change key elements in the film's action sequences, they were influential in the creation of some of the more utopian aspects of the film, though John Underkoffler, the science and technology advisor for the film, described it as "much grayer and more ambiguous" than what was envisioned in 1999.{{cite web|author=Clarke, Darren J.|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2002/underkoffler-0717.html|title=MIT grad directs Spielberg in the science of moviemaking|publisher=mit.edu|date=June 17, 2002|accessdate=February 12, 2007}} John Underkoffler, who designed most of Anderton's interface after Spielberg told him to make it like "conducting an orchestra," said "it would be hard to identify anything [in the movie] that had no grounding in reality." For example, Underkoffler conscientiously treated his cinematic representation of the gestural interface as an actual prototype, “We worked so hard to make the gestural interface in the film real. I really did approach the project as if it were an R&D thing.”{{Cite journal|last=Kirby|first=David|date=February 1, 2010|title=The Future Is Now: Diegetic Prototypes and the Role of Popular Films in Generating Real-World Technological Development|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249721702|journal=Social Studies of Science |volume=40|pages=41–70|doi=10.1177/0306312709338325|s2cid=145514001}} McDowell teamed up with architect Greg Lynn to work on some of the technical aspects of the production design. McDowell said that "[a] lot of those things Alex cooked up for Minority Report, like the 3-D screens, have become real."{{cite web|last=Kabat|first=Jennifer|title=Behind the Scenes|url=http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20060911/behind-the-scenes|publisher=metropolismag.com|accessdate=December 12, 2010|date=September 11, 2006}}

Product placement was used to depict the predicted lack of privacy and excessive publicity in a future society.{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/?id=2067293|title=The Ad-Friendly World of Minority Report|work=Slate|last=Walker|first=Rob|date=June 24, 2002|accessdate=April 10, 2009}} The advertisements in Minority Report were handled by Jeff Boortz of Concrete Pictures, who said "the whole idea, from a script point of view, was that the advertisements would recognize you -- not only recognize you, but recognize your state of mind. It's the kind of stuff that's going on now with digital set-top boxes and the Internet."{{cite web|last=Parker|first=Pamela|title=Interactive Ads Play Big Role in "Minority Report"|url=http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/1718239/interactive-ads-play-big-role-minority-report|publisher=ClickZ.com|accessdate=December 13, 2010|date=June 21, 2002}} Nokia designed the phones used by the characters, and Lexus paid the producers $5 million for the rights to design the futuristic "Mag-Lev" cars.{{cite web|url=http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jun2002/nf20020617_8135.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020619143655/http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jun2002/nf20020617_8135.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 19, 2002|title=Hollywood Product Placement, Circa 2054|work=Business Week|date=June 17, 2002|first=Ron|last=Grover|accessdate=March 9, 2009}} All told money raised through product placement accounted for $25 million of the film's $102 million production budget.{{cite web|last=Grossberg|first=Josh|title="Minority" Reports Product Placement|url=http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b43478_minority_reports_product_placement.html|publisher=eonline.com|accessdate=December 14, 2010|date=June 21, 2002}}

Spielberg described his ideas for the film's technology to Roger Ebert before the film's release:{{cite news|last=Ebert|first=Roger |title=Spielberg & Cruise & the movies|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/spielberg-and-cruise-and-the-movies/1023|publisher=rogerebert.com|accessdate=June 12, 2024|date=June 16, 2002}}

{{blockquote|I wanted all the toys to come true someday. I want there to be a transportation system that doesn't emit toxins into the atmosphere. And the newspaper that updates itself. ... The Internet is watching us now. If they want to, they can see what sites you visit. In the future, television will be watching us, and customizing itself to what it knows about us. The thrilling thing is, that will make us feel we're part of the medium. The scary thing us, we'll lose our right to privacy. An ad will appear in the air around us, talking directly to us.}}

News sources have noted the future technologies depicted in the film were prescient. The Guardian published a piece titled "Why Minority Report was spot on" in June 2010,{{cite news|last=Charles|first=Arthur|title=Why Minority Report was spot on|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/jun/16/minority-report-technology-comes-true|newspaper=The Guardian|accessdate=December 10, 2010|date=June 16, 2010|location=London}} and the following month Fast Company examined seven crime fighting technologies in the film similar to ones then currently appearing. It summarized that "the police state imagined in the Tom Cruise flick feels a bit more real every day."{{cite magazine|last=Carr|first=Austin|title=7 Ways Real-Life Crime Fighting Mirrors "Minority Report"|url=http://www.fastcompany.com/1675910/minority-report-7-ways-crimefighting-tech|magazine=Fast Company|accessdate=December 10, 2010|date=July 30, 2010}} Other major media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal have published articles dedicated to this phenomenon,{{cite news|last=Karp|first=Jonathan|title='Minority Report' Inspires Technology Aimed at Military|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=April 12, 2005|page=B1}} and National Public Radio (NPR) published an August 2010 podcast which analyzed the film's accuracy in predicting future technologies.{{cite web|last=Harrell|first=Phil|title=The Future According To 'Minority Report' May Be Now|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128914683|publisher=National Public Radio|accessdate=December 12, 2010|date=August 1, 2010}}

{{main|Multi-touch}}

Multi-touch interfaces, similar to Anderton's, have been put out by Microsoft (2007), Obscura Digital (2008), MIT (2009), Intel (2009), and Microsoft again, this time for their Xbox 360 (2010).{{cite web|url=http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/216582/obscura-demonstrates-minority-report-display.html|title=Obscura demonstrates Minority Report display |publisher=PC Pro|date=August 5, 2008|accessdate=February 26, 2009}}{{cite web|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10159601-1.html|title=MIT's 6th Sense device could trump Apple's multitouch |website=CNET|date=February 9, 2009|accessdate=February 26, 2009}}{{cite news|last=Beaumont|first=Claudine|title=The future is within touching distance at CES|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3355901/The-future-is-within-touching-distance-at-CES.html|newspaper=The Telegraph|accessdate=December 9, 2010|date=January 10, 2008|location=London}} A company representative, at the 2007 premiere of the then Microsoft Surface (later renamed to Microsoft PixelSense), promised it "will feel like Minority Report,"{{cite magazine|last=Perenson|first=Melissa J.|url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/132352/microsoft_debuts_minority_reportlike_surface_computer.html|title=Microsoft Debuts 'Minority Report'-Like Surface Computer|magazine=PC World|accessdate=December 10, 2010|date=May 30, 2007}} and when Microsoft released the Kinect motion sensing camera add-on for their Xbox 360 gaming console in 2010, the Kinect's technology allowed several programmers, including students at MIT, to create Minority Report inspired user interfaces.{{cite web | url = https://www.engadget.com/2010/12/09/kinect-finally-fulfills-its-minority-report-destiny-video/ | title = Kinect finally fulfills its Minority Report destiny (video) | first = Vlad | last = Savov | date = December 9, 2010 | accessdate= December 9, 2010 | publisher = Engadget }}

{{main|Iris recognition}}

Iris scanners, a form of biometrics, already existed by the time the film appeared in theaters. Media outlets described the systems manufactured by a Manhattan company named Global Rainmakers Incorporated (GRI) (2010) as similar to that in the movie. GRI disputed the notion that its technology could be the threat to privacy it is in the film. "Minority Report is one possible outcome," a corporate official told Fast Company. "I don't think that's our company's aim, but I think what we're going to see is an environment well beyond what you see in that movie--minus the precogs, of course."{{cite magazine|last=Carr|first=August|title=Iris Scanners Create the Most Secure City in the World. Welcome, Big Brother|url=http://www.fastcompany.com/1683302/iris-scanners-create-the-most-secure-city-in-the-world-welcomes-big-brother|magazine=Fast Company|accessdate=December 10, 2010|date=August 18, 2010}} The company is installing hundreds of the scanners in Bank of America locations in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has a contract to install them on several United States Air Force bases.,{{cite magazine|last=Steiner|first=Christopher|title=The Identity-Thief Killer|url=https://www.forbes.com/global/2010/0412/entrepreneurs-hector-hoyos-iris-scanners-identity-we-see-you.html|accessdate=December 10, 2010|magazine=Forbes|date=April 2, 2010}} though the technology does not work in the way depicted in the film.

Companies like Hewlett-Packard (HP) have announced they were motivated to do research by the film, in HP's case to develop cloud computing.{{cite web|last=Bauley|first=Ethan|title=HP Labs fast-forwards to "Minority Report" and "The Matrix" to secure the mission-critical cloud|url=http://h30507.www3.hp.com/t5/Data-Central/HP-Labs-fast-forwards-to-quot-Minority-Report-quot-and-quot-The/ba-p/83385|publisher=hp.com|accessdate=December 13, 2010}}

{{See also|Autonomous car|Hybrid navigation|History of autonomous cars}}

In the film, Anderton uses vehicles which can be both driven manually and autonomously; in one scene the police remotely override the vehicle in order to bring him into custody. Spielberg commissioned Lexus to design a car specifically for Minority Report, resulting in the Lexus 2054, a fuel-cell powered autonomous vehicle which is seen being built in an automated factory in the film. Autonomous, or self-driving cars have been in development since 1984.{{cite book|last1=Wallace|first1=Richard|last2=Stentz|first2=Anthony|last3=Thorpe|first3=Charles|last4=Moravec|first4=Hans|last5=Whittaker|first5=William|last6=Kanade|first6=Takeo|title=First Results in Robot Road Following|date=1985|publisher=Carnegie-Mellon University}} As Artificial Intelligence and ground-sensing technologies like LIDAR began to improve in the 2000s, major automotive manufacturers such as Ford, Nissan and General Motors began developing self-driving prototypes. Google began developing a self-driving vehicle prototype, named Waymo in 2009{{cite web|title=Journey – Waymo|url=https://www.waymo.com/journey/|website=Waymo|language=en}} while Tesla Motors rolled out the autopilot feature on their Model S vehicle in 2015.{{cite web|title=Tesla beams down 'autopilot' mode to Model S|url=http://www.autonews.com/article/20151014/OEM06/151019938/tesla-beams-down-autopilot-mode-to-model-s|website=Automotive News|date=October 14, 2015}} In 2011, the State of Nevada became the first jurisdiction in the world to formally legalise autonomous vehicles on public roads.{{cite web|last1=Media|first1=BioAge|title=Green Car Congress: Nevada enacts law authorizing autonomous (driverless) vehicles|url=http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/06/ab511-20110625.html|website=www.greencarcongress.com}} Countries such as the United Kingdom (2013){{cite web|title=UK to road test driverless cars|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23330681|website=BBC News|date=July 16, 2013}} France (2014), Switzerland (2015){{cite web|title=Swisscom reveals the first driverless car on Swiss roads {{!}} Swisscom|url=https://www.swisscom.ch/en/about/medien/press-releases/2015/05/20150512-MM-selbstfahrendes-Auto.html|website=www.swisscom.ch|language=en|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928062253/https://www.swisscom.ch/en/about/medien/press-releases/2015/05/20150512-MM-selbstfahrendes-Auto.html|archivedate=September 28, 2015}} and Singapore (2016){{cite web|last1=Maierbrugger|first1=Arno|title=Singapore to launch self-driving taxis next year {{!}} Investvine|url=http://investvine.com/singapore-launch-self-driving-taxis-next-year/|website=Investvine|date=August 1, 2016}} passed laws which allowed the testing of autonomous vehicles on public roads, with a view to further changes in legislation as the technologies improves.

{{See also|Micro air vehicle|:Category:Robotic spiders}}

Insect robots similar to the film's spider robots are being developed by the United States Military. These insects will be capable of reconnaissance missions in dangerous areas not fit for soldiers, such as "occupied houses". They serve the same purpose in the film. According to the developer, BAE Systems, the "goal is to develop technologies that will give our soldiers another set of eyes and ears for use in urban environments and complex terrain; places where they cannot go or where it would be too dangerous."

{{See also|Gesture recognition|Finger tracking}}

Multiple gesture recognition technologies currently in existence or under development have been compared to the one in the film.{{cite web|last1=Robertson|first1=Adi|title=Will Minority Report cybergloves ever make sense?|url=https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/27/14089120/senso-vr-minority-report-hand-tracking-gloves|website=The Verge|accessdate=January 5, 2017|date=December 27, 2016}}{{cite news|title=Tom Cruise's 'Minority Report' Tech Arrives a Few Years Early|newspaper=Bloomberg.com|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-20/tom-cruise-s-minority-report-tech-arrives-a-few-years-early|publisher=Bloomberg|accessdate=January 5, 2017|date=May 20, 2016}}{{cite magazine|title="Minority Report" Tech Meets the Operating Room|url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/minority-report-tech-meets-the-operating-room|magazine=IEEE Spectrum|access-date=January 5, 2017}}{{cite news|title=Minority Report science advisor builds the most awesome conference room|url=https://venturebeat.com/2016/11/27/minority-report-science-advisor-builds-the-most-awesome-conference-room/|work=VentureBeat|accessdate=January 5, 2017}}{{cite news|last1=Arthur|first1=Charles|title=Whatever happened to Minority Report's technology predictions?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/18/minority-reports-technology-gestural-control-leap-motion|newspaper=The Guardian|accessdate=January 5, 2017|date=September 18, 2015}}

{{See also|Gladvertising|Targeted advertising|Personalized marketing}}

{{blockquote|Good afternoon, Mr. Yakamoto. How did you like that three-pack of tank tops you bought last time you were in?|Talking computerized billboard in Minority Report}}

Most of the advertising to consumers in Minority Report occurs when they are out of their homes. The advertisements interact in various ways; an Aquafina splashes water on its customers, Guinness recommends its products to the downtrodden to recover from "a hard day at work", a cereal box from which Anderton eats has a video advertisement, and when Anderton is fleeing the PreCrime force, an American Express advertisement observes, "It looks like you need an escape, and Blue can take you there," and a Lexus ad says, "A road diverges in the desert. Lexus. The road you're on, John Anderton, is the one less traveled." The advertisements in Minority Report were handled by Jeff Boortz of Concrete Pictures, who said "the whole idea, from a script point of view, was that the advertisements would recognize you—not only recognize you, but recognize your state of mind. It's the kind of stuff that's going on now with digital set-top boxes and the Internet."

Although the advertising-oriented website ClickZ called the film's interactive advertisements "a bit farfetched" in 2002, billboards capable of facial recognition are being developed by the Japanese company NEC. These billboards will theoretically be able to recognize passers-by via facial recognition, call them by name, and deliver customer specific advertisements. Thus far, the billboards can recognize age and gender and deliver demographically appropriate advertisements, but cannot discern individuals. According to The Daily Telegraph, the billboards will "behave like those in...Minority Report," uniquely identifying and communicating to those in their vicinities.{{cite news|last=Gray|first=Richard|title=Minority Report-style advertising billboards to target consumers|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/7920057/Minority-Report-style-advertising-billboards-to-target-consumers.html|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=December 10, 2010|date=August 2, 2010|location=London}} IBM is developing similar billboards, with plans to deliver customized advertisements to individuals who carry identity tags. Like NEC, the company feels they will not be obtrusive as their billboards will only advertise products in which a customer is interested. Advertisers are embracing these billboards as they attempt to reduce costs by wasting fewer advertisements on uninterested consumers.

{{further|Criminal Reduction Utilising Statistical History}}

Crime prediction software was developed by a professor from the University of Pennsylvania (2010). As in the film, the program was announced for a trial run in Washington D.C., which, if successful, would have led to a national rollout.{{cite news|title='Minority Report' moves from reel into real life |url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/Minority-Report-moves-from-reel-into-real-life/articleshow/6445936.cms |accessdate=December 12, 2010 |newspaper=The Economic Times |date=August 27, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100831021434/http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/Minority-Report-moves-from-reel-into-real-life/articleshow/6445936.cms |archivedate=August 31, 2010 }} According to Fast Company, "IBM's new Blue Crime Reduction Utilizing Statistical History (CRUSH) program feels almost directly inspired by Minority Report. Similar to the 'precogs', IBM's new system uses 'predictive analytics', mining years and years of incident reports and law enforcement data to 'forecast criminal "hot spots{{" '}}. Police in Memphis have already had great success with the $11-billion 'precrime' predicting tool: Since installing Blue CRUSH, the city has seen a 31% drop in serious crime."

University of Chicago researchers published work on an approach to predicting crime up to a week in advance, but based on the geographic location rather than by the perpetuator, a privacy shortcoming of the CRUSH system.{{cite news | url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-30/new-algorithm-can-predict-crime-in-us-cities-a-week-before-it-happens | title = New Algorithm Can Predict Crime in US Cities a Week Before It Happens | first = Carrington | last= York | date = June 30, 2022 | accessdate = July 3, 2022 | work = Bloomberg News }}{{cite journal | title = Event-level prediction of urban crime reveals a signature of enforcement bias in US cities | first1 = Victor | last1= Rotaru | first2= Yi | last2= Huang | first3= Timmy | last3= Li | first4 = James | last4= Evans | first5 = Ishanu | last5 = Chattopadhyay | journal = Nature Human Behaviour | volume = 91 | date = 2022 | issue = 8 | pages = 1056–1068 | doi = 10.1038/s41562-022-01372-0 | pmid = 35773401 | s2cid = 250175189 }}

{{main|Electronic paper}}

Xerox has been trying to develop something similar to e-paper since before the film was released in theaters. Electronic paper has been announced as being developed by MIT (2005), Germany (2006), media conglomerate Hearst Corporation (2008), and the South Korean electronics manufacturer LG (2010). In 2005, when the Washington Post asked the chief executive of MIT's spin-off handling their research when "the Minority Report newspaper" would be released, he predicted "around 2015."{{cite news|last=Ahrens|first=Frank|title=Newspapers: The Future|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2005/10/11/DI2005101101387.html|accessdate=December 13, 2010|newspaper=Washington Post|date=October 12, 2005}} Tech Watch's 2008 article "‘Minority Report’ e-newspaper on the way" noted that Hearst was "pushing large amounts of cash into" the technology.{{cite web|last=Harten|first=Alan|title='Minority Report' e-newspaper on the way|url=http://www.techwatch.co.uk/2008/04/09/%E2%80%98minority-report%E2%80%99-e-newspaper-on-the-way/|publisher=techwatch.co.uk|accessdate=December 13, 2010|date=April 9, 2008}}

Spielberg decided to add the jetpacks worn by the policemen as a tribute to old science-fiction serials such as Commando Cody, even though the scientists considered them unrealistic."Deconstructing Minority Report", Minority Report Special Edition DVD, Disc 2 The jet packs are the only future technology depicted in the film which originated in science fiction.{{cite news|last=McIntosh|first=Neil|title=Tom's Toys|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/jul/22/features.neilmcintosh|accessdate=December 13, 2010|newspaper=The Guardian|date=July 22, 2002|author2=Josh Schofeld|location=London}} They already exist and perhaps their most famous flights occurred in the pregame ceremonies before Super Bowl I in 1967 and in Los Angeles in the 1984 Summer Olympics during that event's ceremonies.{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/11/robot-butlers-and-jet-packs-how-close-are-we-really-1.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908005020/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/11/robot-butlers-and-jet-packs-how-close-are-we-really-1.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 8, 2012|title=Robot Butlers and Jet Packs: How Close Are We Really?|last=O'Brien|first=Miles|date=November 15, 2010|publisher=pbs.org|accessdate=March 5, 2011}} They have been held back as there is currently no way to mitigate their dangers to the operator and have extremely limited range.

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{{The Minority Report}}

Category:2002 science fiction films

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