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Minority Report BIBLIOTECA TECLA SALA February 18, 2016 Minority Report Philip K. Dick (Sources: Wikipedia + The Guardian) Summary "The Minority Report" is a pen to you at any time.” 1956 science fiction short The story reflects many of story by Philip K. Dick, first Philip K. Dick's personal published in Fantastic Universe. Cold War anxieties, particu- In a future society, three mu- larly questioning the relati- tants foresee all crime before onship between authoritari- it occurs. Plugged into a great anism and individual auto- machine, these "precogs" nomy. Like many stories allow the Precrime division to dealing with knowledge of arrest suspects prior to any future events, "The Minority infliction of public harm. Report" questions the exis- tence of free will. When the head of Precrime John A. Anderton is accused In 2002, the story was adap- of murdering Leopold Kaplan, ted into a film directed by a man whom he has never Steven Spielberg and star- met, Anderton is convinced a ring Tom Cruise, Colin great conspiracy is afoot. His Farrell and Max von Sydow. Contents: new assistant, Ed Witwer, Spielberg's film was followed 1 must have corrupted the sys- by a series of the same na- Summary tem in an attempt to oust him me which debuted on the About Philip K. 2 from the position. On the run FOX Network on Septem- and suspicious of even his ber 21, 2015. Dick wife, Anderton searches for the minority report to clear The World in 3 his name, as only two out of “The Minority the three precogs predicted his guilt. Through a series of Report” betrayals and changing allian- ces, Anderton discovers that Why Minority Re- 4 the three predictions are port was spot on rather a progression of alter- nate realities. In order to maintain the authority of Pre- Notes 6 crime, Anderton consciously decides to kill Kaplan, thereby affirming the validity of the second majority report. An- derton is thus exiled with his wife to life on a frontier colo- ny and replaced by Witwer as head of Precrime. The story ends with Anderton's advice to his successor: “Better keep your eyes open,” he informed young Witwer. “It might hap- Page 2 About Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December produced, including Blade Runner, 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, an American writer, whose pu- Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, blished works mainly belong to Screamers, The Adjustment Bureau the genre of science fiction. Dick and Impostor. In 2005, Time maga- explored philosophical, sociologi- zine named Ubik one of the hun- cal and political themes in novels dred greatest English-language with plots dominated by mono- novels published since 1923. In polistic corporations, authoritari- 2007, Dick became the first sci- an governments, and altered ence fiction writer to be included states of consciousness. In his in The Library of America series. later works, Dick's thematic focus tended to reflect his perso- nal interest in metaphysics and theology. He often drew upon his life ex- periences in addressing the natu- re of drug abuse, paranoia, schi- zophrenia, and transcendental experiences in novels such as A Scanner Darkly and VALIS. Later in life, he wrote non-fiction on philosophy, theology, the nature of reality, and science. This mate- rial was published posthumously as The Exegesis. The novel The Man in the High Castle bridged the genres of al- ternate history and science ficti- on, earning Dick a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1963. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, a novel about a celebrity who awakens one day to find that he is unknown, won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel in 1975. "I want to write about people I love, and put them into a fictional world spun out of my own mind, not the world we actually have, be- cause the world we actually have does not meet my standards," Dick wrote of these stories. "In my writing I even question the universe; I wonder out loud if it is real, and I wonder out loud if all of us are real." In addition to 44 published no- vels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction maga- zines during his lifetime. Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near- poverty, eleven popular films based on his works have been Page 3 The world in “The Minority Report” Police Commissioner John The precogs are kept in rigid A. Anderton regained a sense of superiority position by metal bands, clamps over both his wife and Witwer. and wiring, strapping them into John A. Anderton is the protago- special high-backed chairs. Their nist of “The Minority Report”. At Precrime physical needs are taken care of first, he is highly insecure, suspi- automatically and Anderton cious of those closest to him - Founded thirty years prior to claims that they have no spiritual his wife, his assistant Witwer. He when the story is set, Precrime is needs. Their physical appearance has complete faith in the Precri- a predictive policing system dedi- is distorted from an ordinary me system and its authority over cated to apprehending and detai- human, with enlarged heads and individuals and their freedom of ning people before they have the wasted bodies. Precogs are choice. The poor living condition opportunity to commit a given "deformed" and "retarded" as of the precogs and the imprison- crime. This method has replaced "the talent absorbs everything"; ment of would-be criminals are the traditional system of discove- "the esp-lobe shrivels the balance necessary consequences for the ring a crime and its perpetrator of the frontal area". They do not greater good of a safe society. (s) after the crime has already understand their predictions; When his own autonomy comes been committed, then issuing only through technological and under attack, Anderton retains punishment after the fact. As mechanical aid can their nonsen- this faith and convinces himself Witwer says early on in the se be unravelled. The data pro- that the system has somehow story, "punishment was never duced does not always pertain to been corrupted. At first, when much of a deterrent and could crime or murder, but this infor- his wife suggests, “Perhaps a lot scarcely have afforded comfort mation is then passed on to of people in the camps are like to a victim already dead". Unlike other agencies. you.’ ‘No,’ Anderton insisted. But the film adaptation, the story he was beginning to feel uneasy version of Precrime does not Majority and minority re- about it too. ‘I was in a position deal solely with cases of murder, ports to see the card, to get a look at but all crimes. As Commissioner the report. That’s what did it.’ John A. Anderton (the founder of Each of the three precogs gene- ‘But – ’ Lisa gestured significantly. Precrime) states, "Precrime has rates its own report or predicti- ‘Perhaps all of them would have cut down felonies by 99.8%." on. The reports of all the pre- acted that way. We could have Three mutants, known as cogs are analyzed by a computer told them the truth.’ ‘It would "precogs", have precognitive and, if these reports differ from have been far too great a risk,’ abilities by which they can see up one another, the computer iden- he answered stubbornly” (Ch.7). to two weeks into the future. tifies the two reports with the When later asked, “Which me- The precogs are strapped into greatest overlap and produces a ans more to you – your own machines, nonsensically babbling majority report, taking this as the personal safety or the existence as a computer listens and con- accurate prediction of the future. of the system?’ ‘My safety,’ An- verts this gibberish into predicti- But the existence of majority derton answered, without hesita- ons of the future. This informati- reports implies the existence of a tion. ‘If the system can survive on is then transcribed onto con- minority report. In the story, only by imprisoning innocent ventional punch cards which are Precrime Police Commissioner people, then it deserves to be ejected into various coded slots: John A. Anderton believes that destroyed. My personal safety is when cards are produced, they the prediction that he will com- important because I’m a human appear simultaneously at Precri- mit a murder has been generated being” (Ch.7). Anderton strug- me and the army headquarters, as a majority report. He sets out gles to find an appropriate balan- in order to prevent systemic to find the minority report, ce between Precrime authority corruption. which would give him an alterna- and individual liberty. Ultimately, te future. Anderton decides to kill Leopold Precogs However, as Anderton finds out, Kaplan in order to affirm the sometimes all three reports dif- majority report and thereby Precogs are mutants, identified fer quite significantly, and there preserve the validity of the Pre- talents further developed in a may be no majority report, even crime system. In doing so, he is government-operated training though two reports may have himself liberated from society in school — for example, one pre- had enough in common for the exile and recovers his self- cog was initially diagnosed as "a computer to link them as such. In confidence. Anderton has argua- hydrocephalic idiot" but the pre- the storyline, all of the reports bly lost some of his humanity in cog talent was found under about Anderton differ because becoming a murderer, yet he has layers of damaged brain tissue. they predict events occurring Page 4 Why Minority Report was spot on crew of the Enterprise telepor- sequentially, and thus each is a [Source: The Guardian — ted, carried phasers, communica- minority report.
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