Slashdot Mirror
A Law Show Set 25 Years from Now
aaron240 writes "CBS will be airing a pilot of a new show called 'Century City' tonight, Tuesday, March 16th. CNN has the story. The executive producer, Ed Zuckerman, had this to say about the future state of the law in America: 'Our future is a positive future. We assume that things are basically going to get better, progress will continue,' Zuckerman says. 'There will be problems -- new inventions, new technologies will bring with them difficulties -- but it's a bright future.' He also makes it clear that 'This is not a 'Blade Runner''. Is there any chance it will offer a decent treatment of the issues Open Source advocates worry about today? If he's so positive, could he possibly know anything about software patents to say nothing of SCO?"
This might turn out to be a great show. But really, there's already a glut of legal shows on television (The Practice, Judging Amy, JAG, etc.), and using a gimmick like setting it in the future won't attract me to it.
Is there any chance it will offer a decent treatment of the issues Open Source advocates worry about today? If he's so positive, could he possibly know anything about software patents to say nothing of SCO?
Don't expect it to even come close to issues important to us nerds.
There's just something lacking in a show that focuses on such riveting legal issues as "should a player with a super-accurate bionic eye be allowed to play professional baseball?" Really, this is an actual plot line that will be in "Century City."
Microsoft is currently appealing the latest decision orcing them to break apart...details in the next law show set 25 years ahead of this one.
But I think this will be more along the lines of family law, divorces, and criminal defense rather than copyright law, etc.
Not too many people find copyright law and open source law rulings terribly entertaining.
-------------------------------------------------
Does that sound like something that would discuss issues like software licenses? No, it sounds like a legal soap opera. I don't think this will outlast a season.
They'll STILL be waiting for SCO to tell us which code is in violation.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
One of the features of the show will be the premiere of the 256th Law and Order spinoff: "Law And Order: Illegal Cloning Investigation Unit".
It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
here's the pilot info:
A young boy's father wants the right to use the boy's genetic embryo clone to develop a baby who could donate a portion of his liver to save him. The firm also takes on the case of a boy band that is suing its lead singer for not adhering to his contract to keep up his physical appearance.
It doesn't look like they are going to tbe dealing with technology very much/not at all.
moreover, it looks like the 2 issues they picked for their pilot are both things that don't require much foresight to envision, not to mention that the clone thing should happen alot sooner then 25 yrs..
I find the timeline a bit aggressive. Supposedly set in 2030, the issues at hand seem more in line for maybe 2070 or beyond. Not to belittle the advances of the last 25 years (all hail the microwave) but twenty five years ago was not that *radically* different from today.
Perhaps the date was chosen to avoid appearing to be "too much like science fiction", but I must express my doubts that LA will have maglev monorails and all cars will be fuel cell powered by then. The death of paper seems even more unlikely, as does robotic kitchens.
Aw, who am I kidding: 1950's scientific optimism plus the moral dilemmas of progress... I may actually watch this just to see if it is ham fisted or actually well thought out.
Sig under construction since 1998.
This is Wonderland is a new CBC show that is genuinely funny, and a great drama too. It is by far the best new Law show I've seen, and is better than Law and Order SVU, although it covers similar turf with some of it's cases.
One problem with legal shows, is that they are 95% of the time, based in the USA, and so don't have Crown Attourneys, and other Canadian twists.
I'm too young to remember the Street Legal days, but this is one series that I hope lasts as long, and catches on. It is very entertaining.
This article seems pretty well centered around Hector Elizondo, however this show could be pretty interesting. I'll try to catch the first episode this evening, however I really hope this isn't the next Law and Order style courtroom drama. I'm much more apt to waste some time watching a CSI style show anyday.
Seems like cop/courtroom drama is the next reality TV... CBS was definatly all over that (read: Survivor)
-Adam C. Greenfield
Pity Leni Riefenstahl isn't around to consult on such positive outlooks of the future.
Why would someone doing a tv show about law in the future really give a damn about the issues with SCO or anything about Open Source. Please people do you really think anyone out in the world but us (ie the slashdot crowd) gives a rat ass about these things?
The sky was the color of a television tuned to a dead channel.
Kay McFadden is a respected TV show reviewer in the Seattle and had this to say, among other things:
"The stories tend to lean on loopholes -- cases and laws post-dating 2004. By any entertainment standards, the writers do a middling job of courtroom preparation and a really bad one with soap-opera histrionics.
At the end of tonight's episode, the verdict is clear: "Century City" is an argument against the kind of research that leads networks to mindless replication. Just say no to cloning."
If he's so positive, could he possibly know anything about software patents to say nothing of SCO?"
Of course. SCO will not exist 25 years from now. Any reference made will simply be "SC-Who?"
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
should a player with a super-accurate bionic eye be allowed to play professional baseball? Should women with breast implants be allowed to compete in wet T-shirt contests?
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
Can somebody please explain to me what OSS has to do with a futuristic law show? I swear, I expect any day to see a story on something even *more* inane, such as a new color for Pepsi, and somehow, /. is going to relate that to OSS. There really IS more to life than OSS, people! Hell, there's a LOT more to *geek* life than OSS!
As someone who runs a business and technology law institute at Touro Law Center in Huntington, NY, I'm really looking forward to this show. Yes, it'll be soapy, and no, it won't go into the issues discussed on Slashdot, but I am tickled by the thought that someone is projecting out the other kinds of legal questions that may come up for my students, tomorrow's tech-savvy lawyers. But hey -- no law show ever showed licensing or similar lawyers; negotations over ownership provisions ("Work Made for Hire!" "No, Limited License!") or warranties and representations never make for good television. {Professor Jonathan}
Somebody didn't read the "Important Stuff" about posting, namely "Please try to keep posts on topic."
A post a day keeps productivity at bay.
Zoic, the effects house behind Firefly and Battlestar Galactica are doing the effects for this one so it should have some neat visuals... if nothing else
Actually, I think if they made it a sci-fi show rather than a lawyer show it would be fantastic. When I say sci-fi I mean proper cautionary tale sci-fi. It would be a great way to explore future legal ideas and even some current legal issues should they not be overturned [or not implimented in some cases]. It won't be though I bet. It will be the same things that have been covered before and better by other sources. Only now it's in the prime time, and will be dumbed down to make sure nobody gets lost.
While I don't disagree that women should be able to vote anywhere, exactly why do you think that will reduce war? We've had more wars in the US in the past century with women voting than in the century before without.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
This is not a 'Blade Runner'
Well done. Blade Runner is well written, original and high quality. This is network sci fi/law drama, respectively the worst written* and the most overused of TV drama settings
*Some of it may be good, but for every Star Trek or Babylon 5 there are 2 Milleniums or Space:Above and Beyonds
Worried you might not keep your virginity forever? Try new Linux(TM), guaranteed twice as effective as LARPing
This is a must read for anybody worried about patent_laws/copyright_laws/DRM/DMCA/etc. It outlines a future scenario where a student can face imprisonment for sharing/borrowing books/software which she could not afford.
There was a time when one would've considered this scenario farfeteched. With the new draconian laws, unfortunately it doesn't seem so anymore. A *must read* for any concerned Slashdotter AND to these folks trying to paint a BRIGHT picture for the current legislative system.
Quotes:
For Dan Halbert, the road to Tycho began in college--when Lissa Lenz asked to borrow his computer. Hers had broken down, and unless she could borrow another, she would fail her midterm project. There was no one she dared ask, except Dan. This put Dan in a dilemma. He had to help her--but if he lent her his computer, she might read his books. Aside from the fact that you could go to prison for many years for letting someone else read your books, the very idea shocked him at first. Like everyone, he had been taught since elementary school that sharing books was nasty and wrong--something that only pirates would do.
---snip--
Later on, Dan would learn there was a time when anyone could go to the library and read journal articles, and even books, without having to pay. There were independent scholars who read thousands of pages without government library grants. But in the 1990s, both commercial and nonprofit journal publishers had begun charging fees for access. By 2047, libraries offering free public access to scholarly literature were a dim memory.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
Begin Rant
/Rant
Our future is a positive future. We assume that things are basically going to get better, progress will continue,' Zuckerman says. 'There will be problems -- new inventions, new technologies will bring with them difficulties -- but it's a bright future.'
You know one huge improvement in our lives that this show likely won't consider? Erasing every single law on the books every 5-10 years.
Does anyone find it odd that we have to live, for fear of imprisonment, under a set of laws and regulations so conflicting, non-intuitive, and complex, that one needs a 6 year education to begin to understand the law?
Need an example? Look at Martha Stewart, soon to be imprisoned for basically lying to cops about a crime they couldn't prove she did anyway. Over an amount of money that was a fraction of what it probably cost to prosecute her. And she wasn't under oath. I care nothing about Martha Stewart personally, but the scenario stinks to me.
The US Code is hundreds of thousands of pages. Most of it is rot, laws set by legislatures to grant special priveleges to certain constituencies- or a sketchy, contrived delegation of Congress' lawmaking power- The EPA, anyone?- that we could dispense with and make the country a better place. I doubt anyone can go a full year without breaking a good half dozen laws, even with the best intentions.
So many laws and regulations could only come from a body who is deluded into thinking that the cure to any percieved societal ill is even more government. I suppose I can't blame them too much- when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail- but it's far past time to clean house.
Oh yeah, another lawyer show- woo-fucking-hoo. No, I did not read the FA.
Oh yeah, vote for me when I'm old enough to be a Senator, so I can try- likely in vain- to fix it. Thank you.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
I would feel better if the Sci Fi channel were handling this. A lot (not all) Sci Fi deals with social and political questions. The culmination of this, of course, is Dune. Dune deals in many ways with the British occupation of Afghanistan, and it resonates so soundly today it's frightening. Spice is oil.
If I had the CBS writers in a room, I'm not sure what I'd pass out. heinlein, Herbert, Orsan Scott Card, and maybe Necromancer. All required reading even before you get to start the first script. Really good sci-fi, the kind of stuff that clearly understands and reflects history is very rare and very special. I'm going to go out on a limb here, and guess the people who pen the jokes on 'Everybody Loves Raymon' or the plots on 'CSI' are going to be up to the challenge of writing good sci-fi.
Boy, the writters really had to dig deep fot this idea. Then again, this might just be a way for Hollywood to make everyone think that all the laws that they are buying are really good for the average citizen.
I can see the episode already:
*Two lawyers sitting in a cafe*
Lawyer 1 : Well, looks like they finally broke up that piracy ring
Lawyer 2 : Wow, I would have thought that with all of the consumer protection laws that were passed in the early 2000's that people would have given up trying to steal music.
Lawyer 1: Nope, seems that some people never learn that piracy is bad. After all, its the reason the economy crahsed in 2010.
Lawyer 2: Its a good thing that the Digital Rights Act of 2013 was passed. It was only by allowing the record labels the right to raid homes, and confiscate pirates computers that we managed to end that black time.
Lawyer 1: Yes, and the extension of copyrights to 1000 years was just the right thing to do, afterall, the creators should be allowed to gain the benifits of thier work.
Laywer 2: And don't forget about clearing up the whole problem with analog copies, allowing that to continue could have had seroius side effects.
Lawyer 1: Yes, indeed. If only people had realized earlier that they have no right, or valid reason to make any copy, we might have avoided the whole crash of 2010.
*break for commercial*
Or maybe I'm just being cyical today.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Laziness is the father.
So I'd say, probably not. Sounds like more far-fetched, yet hackneyed sci-fi cliches inserted into Law&Order.
-3Suns
~~~~
The Revolution will be Slashdotted
The thing I like about this, more than the premise of the show or its upbeat, Pollyanna tone, is that science fiction is now so mainstream that a lawyer show, at least exploring possibilities of technology and the pros and cons of an imaginary future, can be pitched to a network.
Television and film have really only scratched the surface of the deep field that is science fiction. The future of the genre will be a thing of beauty to behold.
Q: What did the comedian say to the crowd?
A: If I knew, this joke would be funny.
From The Globe and Mail:
Just imagine the pitch some scriptwriter must have delivered for the new series Century City (CBS, 9 p.m.): "Sexy lawyers in the future! And they're practising law!" It must have seemed a good idea at the time.
Certainly, the network would like the show to become a breakaway ratings hit (not likely), but more likely, it's airing it because it's already spent the money.
The show is set in a high-end L.A. law firm, circa 2030. The company is managed by a few salty old-schoolers, Hector Elizondo among them, and a few young upstarts, including the necessary young idealist (Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd), best known from several turns as the lead in C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower on A&Eand wildly miscast here.
The first episode veers between two cases customized and contrived to fit the futuristic format: A scientist (David Paymer) is arrested for cloning, although he was doing it only to save his son's life. A septuagenarian rock star (Anthony Zerbe) is sued by his band mates for refusing to undergo procedures to look young.
Sad to report, the future looks pretty much the same as the present does, except with cleaner air and fancier laptops. There are a few advances: Pre-trial hearings are accomplished via holograms. Characters marvel about cherries without pits. But where are the moving sidewalks, the sassy robot maids and other conveniences promised to us by Alvin Toffler and The Jetsons?
Nothing is exceptional about Century City, neither its concept nor its cast, made up largely of vaguely familiar TV faces, which includes a bit player from Suddenly Susan and a woman from Judging Amy. They are actors at a way station -- on the rebound from one show and on their way to the next.
Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.
Hopefully he is not saying this from a lawyer's perspective. Here is hoping 25 years from now, the law will have a LOT more common sense than it does now. here is hoping corporate america won't be able to use the law as means of terrorizing joe america.
Here is hoping no 14 year kid gets sued and branded as a criminal for something as trieft as downloading a song or two. Here is hoping no one company can sue and lay claim on the product of hardwork of millions of developers across the globe.
And finally here is hoping that the law and courts be used to settle much more pressing issues like corruption, and crime and not trivial issues like carving of some 10 commandments in front of the court.
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
I'm sure this show will be doubleplusgood.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Most Obscure Example of Godwin's Law.
Leni Riefenstahl
My amazing wife - Artist, Author, Philosopher - Laurie M
Our future is a positive future. We assume that things are basically going to get better, progress will continue,' Zuckerman says....
So the premise of ther show is that John Ashcroft, Jack Valenti, and RIAA President Cary Sherman are all abducted by aliens before they can repeal the 4th Amendment in favor of the "Copyright is a Boot in the Face Forever Act"?
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
Hell, not even Slashdotters would watch it.
Investigator: OH MY GOD! LINE FIVE IS STOLEN FROM MICRO-FORD-AOL-SOFT-WARNER!
Software Pirate: Oh no. You have found me. I am in trouble.
I mean, honestly, it's difficult to make something like that interesting viewing.
I'm curious why the producers decided on such a short time span to cover. Sure, there will probably be some marvelous advances between now and then that will become publicly accepted and commonplace (and certainly there will be more gee-whiz toys available).
But Do we really expect bionic eyes, cloned organ donors, and super-surgeries that keep you young to all show up in that time period?
They might. It's possible. But I doubt it; For years science fiction has promised us smart highways, hover cars, and cyborg super-soldiers, all just around the corner. And none of those things have materialized yet.
A hundred years from now, I'm sure things will be very different. But my guess is that 25 years from now will seem about as advanced as we would seem now to someone from 1979. There are still cars, there are still telephones, there are still televisions. There are even still computers. Everything's been refined and improved, but it's still recognizable as the same society. You can't say the same thing about the differences between now and 1904.
Don't expect any cool tech references or innovation from this. It seems like a pretty standard law show with just about enough standard sci-fi things to make network PHBs believe that they are innovating. Networks don't go for new concepts right now, they're just combining already proven elements from older shows.
/me waves hand jedi-like
See, the average consumer is already scared about "modern life", it's all sooo comlicated and confusing. People get the feeling that they're lost in everyday life, tech/scientific advancement scares them if it doesn't come disguised as something familiar. The last thing Joe Sixpack wants to see on TV right now is a freaky, complicated show with scary new ideas. Just give them LA Law and Melrose Place all over again, everything will be fine.
Shows that tried to do something different have all failed recently, because they were not suitable for the average consumer. Firefly went down pretty fast - and to stay with the Joss Wedon thing - Angel got cancelled right away when they made their first remotely intelligent season. Those examples may be shows you like or dislike a lot, doesn't matter, just as long as you can acknowledge (for the sake of argument) that they were radically different from the simplified, standardized and sanitized world people have come to expect.
By the way, from a geek point of view, the research team for Century City doesn't seem to bright anyway. There is a poll in the website:
Should bionic players be allowed to play professional baseball?
- Yes, they have as much right as anyone
- No, it's not fair to the other players
- It's hard to say
Obvious geek answer: if bionic extensions are superior to natural parts, just tune them down until they match average natural performance. (The example case was a bionic eye, it's really simple with that.) Yeah, so bionics can help you just enough to overcome a disability and it can make you a super athlete. But it doesn't have to be EITHER OR, does it? Can't it just be configured to make you "normal"? (OMG, I'm actually discussing a stupid TV show argument with myself, I must be pretty bored)
So, anyway... don't expect anything ground-breaking from this show. Speak after me: there *are* no new ideas.
-
I'll see your cybernetic estoppel and raise you one affidavit of positronic imbalance.
This is way more fun than the tv show is, I bet. Just sitting around making up future law show stuff.
Your Honor, I object! The precedent set in United Posidyne vs General Subatomics clearly establishes that transmissions by tachyon mail cannot be used as an affirmative defense against a charge of q-spectrum barratry!
Objection sustained. The bailiffbot will mindwipe the jury regarding the last piece of evidence, and counsel will approach the hoverbench.
-- Jeff Paulsen
What if USA PATRIOT, Software Patents, Closed Source, all of our hot button issues, all of it work out ok, and that humanity does get better and life does go on, and that, the chicken littles of today really turn out to be chicken littles?
This is my sig.
"... and MRAM chips."
(with any luck)
+++ATH0
The Star Trek spinoffs already did a lot of this "ponder the ethical ramifications of new technology" type of thing. The genetically enhanced Dr. Bashir of DS9 raised the same issues as the bionic baseball player this show will have. Picard's arbitrations in various alien disputes were essentially legal drama in space. Janeway's constant ethical delimmas come to mind, particularly the way she always tried to follow her principles even when it was not the best thing for the crew -- much as the justice system must uphold legal principles, even when it is not the best outcome for the specific litigants. In Enterprise, the episode where Tripp is cloned to harvest his brain has obvious parallels to the current debates on human cloning, stem cell research, and so forth.
I'd expect something that puts forth these same kinds of delimmas, but with technology much closer to our own, and an emphasis on resolving them through the legal system. No starship battles, Borg, or aliens with funny latex foreheads. Sci-fi often uses futuristic settings to explore hypothetical ethical issues -- consider The 6th Day (what would widespread cloning do to society?), Minority Report (is knowing someone WILL commit a crime, does that justify preemptive punishment?), or Star Wars (if you have a big spacecraft, is it okay to blow up Alderaan?). Just kidding about the last one. This show sounds like it will be sci-fi lite, taking the same approach to exploring the questions new technology brings, but set in a society that is still a lot closer to our own.
In those ~45 pages, he completely examines the implications of all the time paradoxes that other writers just leave alone.
The short story is so much better than the movie.
In short, the information you have now determines the choice you make now which determines your future.
In order to make a different choice than the one you made because of your knowledge of the future, you'd need NEW knowledge of the NEW future that was based upon your decision.
You mean people under 60 actually watch CBS?
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those enhancements already violations?
A better scenario would be.....when fetal manipulation is practiced, does that make the person who was manipulated/enhanced ineligible for sports? Particularly because it was done TO him/her instead of BY him/her.
Would there be a test for such?
Would there be a seperate division for enhanced athletes? Would the "pure" athletes lose viewership because of that? Could they sue?
And that's just chemical/bio enhancement. They're still thinking too small and focusing on individuals.
Not what we are doing. The progress we have made over the past 25 years is more about many things becoming easier to do or in some cases obsolete. I mean all Tivo is just an automated VCR. You hardly ever put disks or anything into your computer. Using internet banking just saves a trip to the bank or the mail box. It's now very simple to send messages to anyone anywhere in the world for almost free.
In 25 years from now it will be much more of the same. Tax preparation may become a thing of the past because computers have it nailed. Gas stations might be completely automated. Typing things into a computer could be fully optional, (But people still will). People will probably live longer. It will cost even more to live in New York. You get the idea.
I hope that we will have one or maybe even two OMG technologies. (Anti Gravity, Warp Drive, Sentient AI, you get the idea.) But these things tend to only come around once every hundred years. (Fire, Farming, The Wheel, The Gun, The Car, The Light Bulb, The Computer) so it might be asking for a bit much.
Is there any doubt that EVERY episode will be about cases involving patent law(suits)?
-- jimmycarter
Divorce: Kitt from Knight Rider divorces life partner Michael for alimony and a monthly oil change. But who gets the fuzzy dice and the beaded seat cover?
Product Liability: Customer sues when a vegetable becomes mixed into his Soylent Green.
IP: RIAA sues ancient space faring race for IP infringement (Their eons-old anthem bears a striking resembelance to theme of 'Growing Pains'). Aliens carpet bomb Earth.
Technowhiz: Geek invents a lawbot the size of a hearing aid that translates between legalese and english. The firm goes bankrupt -the lawyers into the wilderness for the spin-off "Lawyers in the deadzone"
Murder: Peta activists genetically engineers sentient dog. Dog tells PETA to F-off and insists on his right to eat meat. Activists then kill animal under the defence of 'its just an animal'
Libel: Snake Pliskin hires firm to sue the guy that publicizes his death.
"First you get the Linux, then you get the power, THEN you get the women"
My favorite sci-fi/fantasy series about a law firm is 'Angel'. But it's about an eeeevilllll law firm (is that redundant, or what) called 'Wolfram & Hart'. Apart from that, I'm tired of television's endless stream of doctor / lawyer / cop / reality shows. Probably why I don't watch much TV anymore.
[Insert pithy quote here]
The future is NOT going to be positive. We have two choices; we can live in the world of either the Jetsons or Blade Runner. We'll either have cool Japanese robot servants or we'll be watching our back for Replicants programmed to act as supersoldier police in a facist military state.
Look at the trends in American (and world) politics, and tell me we're going to have a shiny happy planet where everyone lives in peace and the law isn't paid for by Microsoft, the Republican party, and the NRA.
World tension, possibly caused by the Pentagon's supposedly dead (but not really) Operation Northwoods (google it if you care); terrorism and hatred -- and because of this, division, not unity ("you're either for me or against me", says the great Uniter); widening gap between super-rich (our rulers) and super-poor (we the servants); environmental degradation (I didn't care about the environment until I caught a fish with two heads and open sores all over its body -- REALLY. Do you eat Tuna? what's in that can anyway?); the universal use of lying, deceit, and the growing apathy and lack of morals EVERYWHERE; immorality of all kinds, and the violent angry response to it; the growth of propaganda and the belief that the truth does not matter, only winning over an enemy; a US government who CHOOSES to have a second cold war and is positioning things to ensure we will be at war forever; loss of privacy; loss of basic Constitutional rights and freedoms; [insert your own corrupt government story here]
And don't get me started on reality tv.
And DEFINITELY don't get me started on KDE versus Gnome, or vi versus emacs.
If you think about it, the probability is extremely high that we aren't going to have a happy future. Looking at the world around you, the facts are undeniable -- unless you have your head in the sand, or don't give a good goddamn about anything but yourself (in which case you're part of the problem; see above). Can you REALLY look at everything that's going on and think the future is really that bright?
And before you answer "Yes", you DO know marijuana's illegal, right? You shouldn't smoke and Slashdot at the same time.
One last thought: the media is NOT an informational tool, but a calming time-wasting distraction to keep you from spending your time researching the real issues that are going to kill you someday. Discuss among yourselves while I fill out my daily Homeland Security reports.
I'm not normally an irrational zealous dickhead, but I figure "When in Rome..."
"(like how can his eyes still be authorized to the top secret area when he is most wanted)"
This is one of those things that may be hard to believe but is very realistic. The key to it is understanding that the top secret area was not connected to any of the rest of the systems and was essentially hard coded. The reason for this was to keep it from being compromised (compromising the exterior systems does not help compromise the interior systems).
It would have been very difficult to change that system to keep him from getting in, as it would have involved changing the hard coding. To make it worse, the person who would naturally have been in charge of seeing that that was done was him. Further, his replacement did *not* have authority to go into that area, much less change it.
This was actually very realistic. Separating the exterior and interior systems is the correct thing to do, but it also means that if one of the limited number of people authorized to change that system (the movie implies three people had access, including him; the precogs do not count, as they wouldn't have access to open the door) is compromised, one must make changes to that system as well as the exterior system. Easy to overlook.
The part of Minority Report that bothered me was the idea that if they couldn't send the people to jail, the system would fall apart. Who cares if they go to jail if they don't murder anyone? Particularly with the crimes of passion, like the guy with the scissors. The issue was subtly different in the short story, which I remember as being more realistic.
They also don't explain how they were going to expand the system with only three precogs with limited range.
Something along the lines of the robots from Futurama trying to hold legal proceedings. Imagine a tense courtroom full of judgebots, jury bots, shady criminal defense bots, idealistic district attroney bots, a comical oafish bailiff bot. Robot Judge: Before us stands the accused Bender. You stand on trial for five counts of stealing gin from orphans, 3 counts of vehicular petty larceny involving heavy construction equipment and 1 count of jay walking. How do you plea? Bender: Bite my shiny metal a$$ Robot Judge: I sentence you to 100 years gas mining on the sun. Bender: aww crap
I'm from the future. Century City was cancelled after 3 episodes, resurrected in 2005 after a fan email campaign, then cancelled again after the campaign proved to be the work of a lone haxx04 named dl3374, whose brain as of 2047 was still serving a 200,000-hour sentence as the CPU of the Volograd sewage treatment facility.
Television ceased to be a commercial medium after the Copyright Wars of 2019, when the Distributed Fiction Experiment proved that all copyrighted material could be randomly generated.
That's future DRM of course. Everything is reference-counted.
To protect intellectual property, no data file can be copied without the original being deleted in the same step. Each digital file is bound to a small bit of plastic which serves both as your license to possess that file, and the transport medium to move it around (with a handy 2cm preview of the file's contents)
It might seem inconvenient to maintain the sneakernet in the face of so much tech, but it keeps officeworkers performing a minimum amount of exercise...
Alien McBeal
Actually this will probably be the only show to deal with today's most important legal issues.
The 'future' setting in television shows is always just a plot device to handle controversial modern issues without getting shot down by the network censors (the 'standards and practices' department).
Television in the USA is always a fine line between pissing off the commercial sponsers and attracting viewers. The material must be 'hot' enough to attact viewers from cable and internet but not to 'hot' to invoke the possiblility that the commercial sponsor will flip out.
However today since the media corporations own so much of the rest of the economy (or, more precisely, the media corporations are owned by giant conglamerates who own large chucks of the economy), it is more important not to piss off anyone in the government.
Television is stupid because there are very few types of progamming that meet those exact requirements, and all the possible plots and scenarios were already developed and aired twenty years ago.
Television would probably have to go off the air anyway by December 2006 without government decree. They simply have run out of things to show.
. . .biplanes with laser guns. . .
Sharks. Sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads would be nice.
KFG
Yeah, sure. What a schmuck this Zuckerman fellow must be.
What kind of low-grade moron doesn't know that the SCO lawsuit and an overly liberal regime of granting software patents is the direct pathway to a horrifying, Blade-Runner-style future where gangs of midgets tear the fittings off your police aircar given half a chance?
I think it's very, very important for any show like this to offer detailed depictions of OSS-type issues. These issues should arise every other show at the very least, and possibly feature verbatim quotes of essays by Eric Raymond and Richard Stallman. A major character might take time out from the courtroom scenes, sex and scandal and face the camera and talk for about 10 minutes about the difference between 'free as in speech' and 'free as in beer'.
The last war in the US we had was around 1863. What war are you talking about?
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
Interesting idea with lots of potential but poorly executed. The show tried to do way too much. Instead of just doing the basic clone-importing case which they could have made good, they need to throw in a long series of surprises, plans to harvest organs, that the boy is already a clone and so on. It was too much to put in one show, especially with two cases to do.
Can't say I cared much for the overacting or dramatics either.
Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation