I hate to say I told you so (just kidding- I love the fact that I'm always right), but everyone who's ever made fun of my obsession with Phillip K. Dick can eat a fat one (dick, I mean).
remember gay bombs? apparently, the jokes that 12 year olds make have been replaced by the books that 12 year olds read as the inspiration for the next hot thing in military science.
huh?
meet Project Hostile Intent:
From the Homeland Security Institute website: With 400 million people entering the country every year, authorities are always on the lookout for individuals who may harbor hostile intent toward the United States and its citizens. But while measures such as biometrics—including fingerprints, iris, and facial scans—are in place to detect known terrorists, how do we detect those without a past? What about those with no known ties to terrorist organizations? Or those who do not appear in any government database?
yeah, wait, what about them?
wait... what?
From the Wikipedia Entry on the story The Minority Report: Precrime is a system that has replaced the previous system of discovering a crime and its perpetrator after it had been committed (with punishment given as a penalty for such action), with imprisonment before the crime taking place to prevent it happening.
oh, right, we're talking about a fake thing that doesn't exist.
Creepy Government Think Tank: Through Directorate-sponsored research, capabilities are being sought to identify deception and hostile intent in real time, on the spot, using non-invasive sensors.
oh, cool.
what?
In a sci-fi story from 50 years ago: The system of predicting the future in reports is carried out by three mutants known as precogs because of their precognitive abilities which allow them to see up to two weeks into the future.
right- science fiction, not science fact.
Larry Willis, the program manager for the project: “The early test results have us cautiously optimistic... This technology has the potential to revolutionize the screening and interviewing process supporting access control for borders and critical infrastructure.”
um.
In a made up fantasy world: The precogs sit in a room which is perpetually in half-darkness, constantly talking nonsense to themselves that is incoherent until it is analysed by a computer into predictions of the future.
yes, that does sound a lot like our government (zing / slam / braff.)