In case of a /.-ing
by
LePrince
·
· Score: 0, Redundant
Science faction By Fiona Williams July 5 2003
Imagine a gun that uses fingerprint scanning to prevent you firing a shot, brain implants that let you tap into people's memories and a newspaper that updates itself when a big story breaks. It's not science fiction, it's science fact, as technologists catch up with - and surpass - the benchmarks set by sci-fi writers and filmmakers.
Set in the not-too-distant future, sci-fi films offer insights into what the world might be like and what impact evolving technologies might have on daily life, says Dean Economou, chief technologist of the CSIRO's Centre for Networking Technologies for the Information Economy (CENTIE ). Economou says the fact that cloning, virtual reality and biometrics are commonplace concepts today is partly due to representations of the technologies in film and science-fiction literature and that scientists have taken many cues from what they've seen take place on screen.
"Artists are generally very good at reflecting human nature in the tenor of their times and sometimes that leads to very valuable insights," Economou says. "If you're not constrained by knowledge of things you can't do or think you can't do, I think you can come up with some really nice insights.
"[The films] mean people have a vocabulary about the future and you find a lot of the young researchers were very inspired by 2001, Star Trek, Blade Runner or The Matrix. In a very real way, the technologists are inspired by the sci-fi people and the sci-fi people are similarly inspired by the technologists."
More than merely being inspired by technologists, filmmakers are actively seeking out scientists for advice and input. Whereas early science-fiction filmmakers could take a liberal dose of artistic licence when grappling with scientific concepts, modern science has taken away this luxury for today's filmmakers and called for accuracy in science-fiction filmmaking like never before.
Upon its release last year, Steven Spielberg's Minority Report, set in the not-too-distant future, featured a wealth of hi-tech gadgetry. The film sees Tom Cruise head up a futuristic pre-crime division that prevents murder by arresting would-be perpetrators before they act, based on the psychic evidence of three "pre-cognitive" siblings. The film is highly regarded for its accuracy in projecting what life will be like in 2054 as all objects and gadgets featured in the film have very real foundations in existing technologies.
John Underkoffler is a graduate of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with more than a decade of experience in the organisation's Media Lab. As Minority Report's science and technological adviser, he played a key role in ensuring the gadgets and technology featured in the film had firm foundations in scientific studies.
"Steven insisted early on that this not be 'science fiction' per se in the way it is usually understood," Underkoffler says. "But rather what he called 'future reality'; it should be a recognisable extrapolation of what we have today with the technologies that are just emerging. What would be trends in a future that is just distant enough [to be] really interesting to look at and is engaging, but at the same time is recognisably bridgeable to now and then."
Underkoffler became involved in Minority Report when the film's production designer Alex McDowell and prop master Jerry Moss led a delegation to MIT to discuss future technology. Spielberg then convened a much-vaunted two-day roundtable think tank with Underkoffler and futurist colleagues, such as Generation X author Douglas Coupland, where he says they "ate Spielberg's bagels and drank his coffee and came up with a giant waldorf salad of notions". Many of the original ideas to stem from that meeting were retained in the final cut of the film, such as the weaponry - vomit-inducing "sick sticks" and acoustic concussion guns.
Much has been made of the "gestural recognition interface" operated by Cruise's character in t
Slashdot Mirror
Science faction
By Fiona Williams
July 5 2003
Imagine a gun that uses fingerprint scanning to prevent you firing a shot, brain implants that let you tap into people's memories and a newspaper that updates itself when a big story breaks. It's not science fiction, it's science fact, as technologists catch up with - and surpass - the benchmarks set by sci-fi writers and filmmakers.
Set in the not-too-distant future, sci-fi films offer insights into what the world might be like and what impact evolving technologies might have on daily life, says Dean Economou, chief technologist of the CSIRO's Centre for Networking Technologies for the Information Economy (CENTIE ). Economou says the fact that cloning, virtual reality and biometrics are commonplace concepts today is partly due to representations of the technologies in film and science-fiction literature and that scientists have taken many cues from what they've seen take place on screen.
"Artists are generally very good at reflecting human nature in the tenor of their times and sometimes that leads to very valuable insights," Economou says. "If you're not constrained by knowledge of things you can't do or think you can't do, I think you can come up with some really nice insights.
"[The films] mean people have a vocabulary about the future and you find a lot of the young researchers were very inspired by 2001, Star Trek, Blade Runner or The Matrix. In a very real way, the technologists are inspired by the sci-fi people and the sci-fi people are similarly inspired by the technologists."
More than merely being inspired by technologists, filmmakers are actively seeking out scientists for advice and input. Whereas early science-fiction filmmakers could take a liberal dose of artistic licence when grappling with scientific concepts, modern science has taken away this luxury for today's filmmakers and called for accuracy in science-fiction filmmaking like never before.
Upon its release last year, Steven Spielberg's Minority Report, set in the not-too-distant future, featured a wealth of hi-tech gadgetry. The film sees Tom Cruise head up a futuristic pre-crime division that prevents murder by arresting would-be perpetrators before they act, based on the psychic evidence of three "pre-cognitive" siblings. The film is highly regarded for its accuracy in projecting what life will be like in 2054 as all objects and gadgets featured in the film have very real foundations in existing technologies.
John Underkoffler is a graduate of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with more than a decade of experience in the organisation's Media Lab. As Minority Report's science and technological adviser, he played a key role in ensuring the gadgets and technology featured in the film had firm foundations in scientific studies.
"Steven insisted early on that this not be 'science fiction' per se in the way it is usually understood," Underkoffler says. "But rather what he called 'future reality'; it should be a recognisable extrapolation of what we have today with the technologies that are just emerging. What would be trends in a future that is just distant enough [to be] really interesting to look at and is engaging, but at the same time is recognisably bridgeable to now and then."
Underkoffler became involved in Minority Report when the film's production designer Alex McDowell and prop master Jerry Moss led a delegation to MIT to discuss future technology. Spielberg then convened a much-vaunted two-day roundtable think tank with Underkoffler and futurist colleagues, such as Generation X author Douglas Coupland, where he says they "ate Spielberg's bagels and drank his coffee and came up with a giant waldorf salad of notions". Many of the original ideas to stem from that meeting were retained in the final cut of the film, such as the weaponry - vomit-inducing "sick sticks" and acoustic concussion guns.
Much has been made of the "gestural recognition interface" operated by Cruise's character in t