When I read this last year I suspected it wouldn’t be long before I’d be seeing something like this in today’s WaPo:
Imagine a world of streets lined with video cameras that alert authorities to any suspicious activity. A world where police officers can read the minds of potential criminals and arrest them before they commit any crimes. A world in which a suspect who lies under questioning gets nabbed immediately because his brain has given him away.
Though that may sound a lot like the plot of the 2002 movie “Minority Report,” starring Tom Cruise and based on a Philip K. Dick novel, I’m not talking about science fiction here; it turns out we’re not so far away from that world. But does it sound like a very safe place, or a very scary one?
It’s a question I think we should be asking as the federal government invests millions of dollars in emerging technology aimed at detecting and decoding brain activity. […]
Will this be enough evidence for an arrest? Can it be used to convict a person of intent to commit a crime? […]
These are just some of the questions we must ask as we balance scientific advances and the promise of enhanced safety against a loss of liberty. And we must do it now, while our voices still matter. In a world where private thoughts are no longer private, what will our protections be? …(more)
That story follows one from yesterday’s WaPo that the Bush admin is set to launch a new domestic spy program, “rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea’s legal authority.”
I don’t think I’ll ever hear Alan Parsons’ Eye in the Sky (YouTube) the same way again.
Filed Under: Health/Science, Homeland Security, Intelligence Gathering, WaPo
No Trackbacks To “Are We Ready For a Minority Report Made Real?“
“over the idea’s legal authority”
He can always get Yoo back to write up a couple of memos saying bush is a God that can do whatever he wants, right?
What country am I living in?
You know, this article be it a potential reality or simply just the writer’s imagination going wild makes me wonder. I’m wondering if this is more of a “testing the waters” type of thing. Maybe its just coincidence that this particular piece follows an article on Bush’s new illegal spy program but then again, maybe its not. Maybe this is what the politicians have in mind and are throwing this out there to see what sort of response they will get.
I’ve been mentioning Minority Report and Enemy of the State since they came out as two movies that are not very good, but very prophetic and make-you-think kind of movies that had a lot of accurate “predictions” (much of it was already in place when the movies came out).
Americans, you want to have as little to do with your government as possible in the future. Everything they have, and have about you, will be used against you if you are not part of the elite.
“Tick, Tick
Fellow citizens, the truth is that our present can only be as stable as our future.
For too long we have hobbled from decade to decade, generation to generation, and millennium to millennium, myopically adhering to superfluous battles that can never be won. Never once as a species forwarding or embracing an all encompassing path towards a certainly better future.
Our excuses have been many, our reasoning mostly incoherent, and our lack of vision as a species, certainly fatal.
For in the meantime, as each tick of the ages has passed, the critical threats posed and ignored by our species discordance have increased exponentially.
Pandemic famine and disease, massively destructive weapons, fatal atmospheric and climate change, super volcanic eruptions, catastrophic space body impacts, Orwellian societies of unparalleled oppression, and many other global catastrophes too numerous to list here, waiting to befall us at any moment.
In fact, one of the most immediate and ominous threats facing America and much of the world today is the utilization of advanced technologies for the implementation of authoritarian control over societies.
My friends, the truth is that if we do not fight for and secure freedom today, the time will very soon come when it will be almost impossible to do so.
In retrospect, when one soberly considers the critical challenges that we must face together to survive as a species, our differences, at times, can become almost imperceptible.“
-anonymous”
Excuse me a moment, I have to run out and buy a large roll of heavy-duty aluminum foil.
Joe O. @ 3:
Joe the new Visa commercials that show people paying with cash as problematic is social conditioning for a cashless society.
Georgette Orwell @ 5:
If this comes to pass, everyone will be wearing a tin foil hat. Literally! lol
“If my thought dreams could be seen
They’d probably put my head in a guillotine…” B. Dylan
Maybe it would be a good thing. Then all Americans will also know when Bush lies and has criminal intents. We would have been forwarned that Gonzales was a liar, that Rumsfeld was crazy. We’d know when Judges planned to break the rules and laws. We would know that Senators take money as bribes . The few honest people left could in fact know that the government lies, cheats and steals from the people it supposedly serves.
So maybe these high and mighty people might just want to reconsider, or brain wash the people running the new system……
I remember as a child in the 1960’s, in a small western Pennsylvania elementary school, being taught about the evils of totalitarian states, especially about the evils of the Soviet Union and Communism. The Communists we were told opened private mail, eavesdropped on phone calls without warrants, encouraged neighbors to turn in other neighbors. They even had cameras installed high above in all the public squares to keep a watchful eye on its citizenry.
Those were the examples given to me in school to explain why the people of United States were the freest people in the entire world, why our system of government was inferior to none, and why we had nothing to fear.
What happened to us?
liz @ 9:
Such systems are never turned upon those who implement them. In fact, the likely outcome of such a web of surveillance and scanning is to not prevent crime, but to create crimes that never were, and then use those crimes to punish non-conformists and politically inconvenient people. The War on Drugs has operated this way for a long time. It’s only a problem if you happen to be the wrong kind of person.
Rico @ 10:
The Reagan Revolution corrupted our political system completely with an empty-suit jerkoff as the frontman for a wholesale takeover of our democratic apparatus.
slippy hussein toad @ 12:
You are so right!
Oh yes. Government use of intelligence has been sooooo successful…
They’d have to lock every one of us up for what we are thinking about Bush and his henchmen. I know most think like me (I want him in a box and buried) so does everyone I know. They would have to have more police than citizens.
The world of THX-1138 or 1984 is just around the corner. What needs to be done? VOTE and get everyone you know to vote. They’ve stolen your wallet, they are killing and abusing your children and selling YOUR property.
AND who’s to blame? We went along with re-electing bush. We listened to the Swift Boat Liars and America believed them. Rush tells us what to do. Drudge gives us the news we are supposed to hear. The MSM media fills our head full of Britney, Paris, and all wanta be starts on American Idol.
We continue to elect the congressmen and senators who don’t follow the beliefs and the duties we elected them to do. . We rush to make more money, to embrace more sport stars, more celebrities. WE HAVE DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO STOP OUR GOVERNMENT FROM DOING THIS TO US.
The youth of this country are embracing a candidate for president that they know nothing about, except he has a lot of personality and can read a good speech, and reminds them of one of the big rock stars out there. He might be a good candidate, but we don’t know = weres the information about what he has really done and wants to do. The MSM only tells us only that he will give us hope, same thing promised by the other candidates. The MSM twist and turns and manufactures information whether any of it is true or not, that is out there about the other candidates, trying to flame and slur. Wanting to make it a more interesting campaign.
The whole problem in this country STARTED WITH THE TAKE OVER OF NEWSPAPERS, RADIO AND TV. Our sources of information. Being bombarded 24/7 with the news and views the government wants you to know and believe is the whole problem. Until - and by now - it will probably never happen, we get the real news and condition of our country this will continue to evolve into more chaos.
Joe O. @ 7:
Hey. DO NOT wear tinfoil!
MIT study found that foil hats actually amplify brain signals.
http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/
lol
We already have cameras.
What is now in play is that satellites which should be helping our troops in Iraq (to control the border, say), or searching for al Kaida in Afghanistan have a much more dangerous target.
Us.
Spy Satellites new target is us
Joe O. @ 7:
…as required by Law
Many of you here labor under the illusion that this race toward a scientific dictatorship is all Republican driven, like the Democrats in Congress have no idea what is going on and that it is all going to get better when Hillary or Obama take the White House (if they take the White House.)
Congress passed the Homegrown Terrorist Act by a margain of 402 — 6 or thereabouts which makes — as one example — the force of argument a violent act if it opposes the government which in turn would make one a homegrown terrorist. Which means a great many Dems supported that bill.
The entire Washington Gravy Train needs protention from the American public who will rise up soon in outrage as the economy collapses, food and gas prices soar and legions go bankrupt. That is why these systems are being put in place. By enlarge, these people do not serve the American people; they serve the corporate interests that are carving up and destroying America for profit and power. And this is not just going on here.
The Ministry of Defence in Britian outlined how the biggest threat to the UK — highly likely in the report’s opinion — was homegrown dissent that that strategies — like neutron bombing a civilian center to wipe out large scale opposition without damaging infrastructure –are being wargamed.
This is a global phenomenon, not unique to America, which the powers that be seek to implement. Governments, almost all governments, in hand with global corporations seeking to corral and cull the average man. We ain’t seen nothing yet as well, unless people start to wake up to the implications of what is going on in plain sight.
I haven’t left this country, THIS COUNTRY HAS LEFT ME.
So long as the public can use it to ask questions of their leaders…
e.g. So Dick, were you drunk when you shot that guy in the face?
So George, have you taken a drink of alchohol or snorted cocaine since you were made President?
etc…
THOUGHTCRIME!!
Joe O. @ 3:
Um, someone’s imagination going wild? According to the article it’s being voted on and discussed in Congress? Time to wake up to the ‘conspiracy’ theories if you ask me. Police State has arrived already, but how bad will we let it get?
David @ 20:
Are you going to expatriate or stay and fight? I’m trying to decide myself…
Frank Dufek @ 24:
I was going with how a person reading the article may see it. Some, like myself see it as reality or at least a potential reality while others may see it as a person’s imagination gone wild. My main point though, is that the idea is being floated out there and for that, there obviously is a purpose.
What we have here is classic fascism - it’s not coming - it’s already here. The nation-state run by corporate interests, supressing the individual rights of citizens and becoming more militaristic by the day.
We’ve been living under a pretense of “democratic freedom” for more than a century here in the US, while the Powers that Be (PtB) - the international banking cabal (World Bank, Fed, WTO, IMF, and the rest of the alphabet) have been slowly sucking the wealth and resources out of this nation. Apparently, through years of propaganda and manipulation, several useless wars to build up the holdings of the MI complex, and the systematic degradation of our education system and other infrastructure, the PtB have finally decided we’ve been dumbed down to the point that it’s time for the “final solution.”
We accepted two “stolen” elections with barely a whimper, and we were happy to give up many of our civil rights/freedoms after being scared by an obvious false-flag operation on 9/11/01. One more little terror attack (maybe a small nuclear explosion right before the conventions), and lots of folks are going to be spending the summer at camp - FEMA camp. Or, maybe the economic collapse they’ve got in the workls will be enough…..
I’m not sure how we can pull ourselves out of this, but I just keep telling everyone I know what I see as the truth of our situation. Mostly they think I’m nuts, but as Cheney, Chertoff, Bush and their handlers get even more brazen, as evidenced by this WaPo article, perhaps more will see the light. Even so, I’m not certain how we can turn the tide - but sooner would be better than later.
Imagine a world of streets lined with video cameras that alert authorities to any suspicious activity. A world where police officers can read the minds of potential criminals and arrest them before they commit any crimes. A world in which a suspect who lies under questioning gets nabbed immediately because his brain has given him away.
****************************************************
That’s not “Minority Report” — that’s “1984″, only taken to an even greater and more horrific extreme than even what Orwell thought up. If the government were to combine brain scanning and street video cameras with some variation of the HI-MEMS technology that proposed by the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) which potentially could be used to infiltrate people’s homes without their knowledge, then what you would have would be a citizenry living under complete and absolute surveillance. And how would arresting someone for crimes they potentially could have committed any different from Orwell’s idea of crimethink? Answer — there’s no difference. At least in Orwell’s “1984″, the Ministry of Love’s system of spies and telescreens can only detect thoughtcrime if someone expresses it by word or action — at least one refuge remains to Outer Party members inside their own heads in the privacy of their own thoughts provided that they are able to restrain themselves from expressing them. However, if they were able to create brain scanning technology so sophisticated that it could detect something as simple as a momentary impulse, even that last shred of privacy would be removed — and with it, any possibility of individual dignity or even human sanity. In my honest opinion, most people would find life under those kinds of conditions absolutely unbearable and anyone who thinks that such a system would be a good idea is not taking into account the wide range of potential negative side effects that would predictably manifest as a result of its implementation. Just for starters, I think you would see a significant reduction in life spans and dramatic if not explosive increases in both chemical and behavioral addictions as well as many other forms of mental and lifestyle-related illness. Both science and history have demonstrated time and time again that you simply can’t expose any living creature — never mind a self-aware and self-motivated human being — to constant stress without producing negative consequences for that organism. In my opinion, such a system would not save humanity — it would destroy it.
Rico @ 10:
We were distracted. It began with what I call the “me” generation of the Reagan years. I was overwhelmed with disgust as an older college student - seeing others not even one generation younger than me so obsessed with money and so little concerned with society. Big corporations loved this and fed on it. Those kids from my college years are now having kids, and of course they could care less about the world or even the state of their own country. They hide away with their video games, shamelessly steal music on the internet and brag about their ‘rights’ to do whatever they want, whenever they want. This generation wants to become rich and famous so they spend their creativity making video to post on YouTube - and hey, violence is OK as long as you get your 15 minutes. Its all about how hot you look, what stuff you have and what happened on the latest piece of shit called “reality” TV. Why on earth would any of them actually CARE if they were being watched? Or if our president admits to sanctioning torture? Most of them are so self-centered that when the subject of torture is brought up, they will loudly tell you that the ‘terrorists’ had it coming. They don’t want to listen to any facts about the Geneva Convention - half of them don’t even know where Geneva is let alone anything about The Hague. I got this directly from a colleague who teaches social studies. Scary stuff. This is what happened to us.
This weekend I met a group of young people at a small college and found a ray of hope. They were intelligent, inquisitive, open, honest and not tied to their cell phones. I was impressed to the point of tears. It gives me some hope; hope that there are a lot more out there like them because we’re going to need them very, very soon.
In the movie Minority Report, there is a brief moment in a chase scene where Tom’s character and the Precog girl are hiding behind the balloons at the mall - the advertisement immediately shown behind the chasing cops afterwards says: “see what others don’t see.”
In the scene where Toms character is tubed and put into cryogenic freeze, the number on the pod is 119.
From the same incompetents who allowed 9/11 to occur on their watch…………..
MCMetal @ 32:
you are a fool if you think they are incompetent. They are getting everything they asked for and more.
Rico @ 11:
we turned out to many assholes with university educations???
Don’t forget Priest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ8mO5hY0b0
The local city gov’t here in Lansing Michigan recently approved putting cameras up on street corners deemed unsafe by the city at a cost of over $300,000. Many in the city have argued against this. A crime could still occur and it would take help the same amount of time to get there if the person monitoring the video happens to catch the act going down. This seems more about catching more criminals and getting more convictions than reducing crime.
Many locals asked the city council about hiring more officers and they were immediately rejected due to salary costs, pensions and health care. In other words, because of George W. Bush’s war, our cities cannot afford to hire the police officers they need to protect our citizenry. And I would imagine that the people that will be hired to monitor these cameras will be hired in at minimum wage, no benefits, and I predict they will not be police officers or law enforcement trained individuals. They will be the product of outsourced/privatized gov’t.
Thanks George
Frank Dufek @ 26:
I’m having a tough time deciding myself.
Folks, America is already deeply into “1984″ territory. It’s not coming, it’s already here. Doublespeak. Cameras watching us everywhere. Computers tracking our every purchase, every library visit, everything we do.
In the novel, Orwell has the government rewriting history so that the country was always at war with Eurasia, or Eastasia–whichever one is the current enemy is written in as the only enemy. We went from fighting “communism” to fighting “terrorism”–a new -ism, but