Elias Hubbard Final

Elias Hubbard

5-16-14

Period 4

Blog Post #1

In the movie Minority Report John Anderson (Tom Cruise) uses the technology of his time to catch potential murderers. The most important of these technologies are the Pre-Cogs, three humans who have the ability to see murders before they happen. The Pre-Crime unit stops murders, using the visions the Pre-Cogs produce. To facilitate visions the Pre-Cogs must be kept in a very secure environment. They live in a small pool of conducive liquid. They are feed and cleaned daily, they even have their teeth brushed. They are not fully conscious and can't form their own thoughts. Although they are taken care of, the Pre-Cog's can't even really be considered "alive" in this situation. They don't have the freedom that is promised to all americans, and it is inhuman to keep them in this environment. The three Pre-Cogs have an incredible ability, but realistically it is impossible for anyone to fully see the future. Strong intuition may resemble fortune telling, but is is actually just the subconscious, connecting past experiences.

Blog Post #2

A Totally Protective Government: 

1.  The American Government in Minority Report keeps it's citizens very safe. The Pre-Crime program has effectively stopped all murders in Washington D.C., and is being spread to the rest of the nation. 
2.  Partially, the all governments should protects their citizens, but the extremes that the US government goes to in Minority Report are just too far. It is far too easy to start only protecting one group, instead of the whole.
3.  If the government was more protective we the Boston Bombings might not have happened, as the NSA or FBI would have stopped the bombers. 

Blog Posting #3

 My favorite scene from the movie Minority Report is when John Anderson is jumping from car to car on the vertical highway to escape the police. The angles and camera work make the scene suspenseful and the animation looks fantastic. The tension rises as Anderson jumps from car to car until he reaches a balcony and smashes through a window. The technology to make cars that can drive themselves and drive vertically already exists, but it is not yet practical for use. The Bullet Train in japan uses magnetic rails to hover over its tracks and can move at incredible speeds. Cars like that are cool and could reduce congestion significantly, along with stopping almost all car accidents, but I think the future of transportation is public transportation. It reduces carbon emissions and is often faster that personal transport.