Minority Report: Philip K. Dick

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sigh* You're probably right. I'm often a terrible person who dislikes books. But you see, I feel like good SF should have more than a sci-fi-y setting or situation. I feel like it should be a little more than that, and have meaning. Wow, this was surprisingly bad. The movie was pretty terrible, so I assumed that the short story had to at least be somewhat better... I was horribly wrong. there can be no valid knowledge of the future. As soon as precognitive information is obtained, it cancels itself out. The assertion that this man will commit a future crime is paradoxical. The very act of possessing this data renders it spurious. And the easiest way to prevent a murder from happening is to not go to the building where the guy lives at the date and time you're supposed to kill him.

The chief commissioner of the Precrime division, John Anderton, boasts that since he implemented this new procedure, he has practically eradicated violent crime, murder in particular. What mr. Anderton doesn’t realize yet is that his celebrated trio of mutants have released a new report which accuses him of killing a person he doesn’t even know. But not the shadows of today. The three gibbering, fumbling creatures, with their enlarged heads and wasted bodies, were contemplating the future. The analytical machinery was recording prophecies, and as the three precog idiots talked, the machine carefully listened. So, at this point, you're probably asking yourself just what my problem is. Sounds like a good book, full of paradoxes and intriguing questions about the nature of inevitability and free will... I must be a terrible person for not loving it! The reports of all the precogs are analyzed by a computer and, if these reports differ from one another, the computer identifies the two reports with the greatest overlap and produces a "majority report", taking this as the accurate prediction of the future. But the existence of majority reports implies the existence of a "minority report". In the story, Precrime Police Commissioner John A. Anderton believes that the prediction that he will commit a murder has been generated as a majority report. He sets out to find the minority report, which would give him an alternate future.If the system can survive only by imprisoning innocent people, then it deserves to be destroyed. My personal safety is important because I’m a human being.’” There was no examination of the morality or ethics of imprisoning people for things they haven't done. The short story ends with Anderton and Lisa exiled to a space colony after Kaplan's murder. The movie finishes with John and Lara reunited after the conspiracy's resolution, expecting a second child. [5] [6] [7] In the film, a major plot point was that there was no minority report. The story ends with Anderton describing how the minority report was based on his knowledge of the other two reports.

The novella is rather short, a bit rushed and confused in the second half, but the core ideas of future predictions and practical applications in law enforcement are argued clearly and persuasively. Landrith, James (April 12, 2004). "The Minority Report: In Print and On Screen" . Retrieved 2007-03-25. John Anderton becomes a fugitive, desperately trying to prove his innocence while suspecting every person that surrounds him. This is definitely a anti-uptopian book (from Wikipedia: As in George Orwell's 1984, a dystopia does not pretend to be utopian, while an anti-utopia appears to be utopian or was intended to be so, but a fatal flaw or other factor has destroyed or twisted the intended utopian world or concept). No one comes right out and says the government and the Army is controlling the minds of the citizens, but at the end we see how everyone readily accepts whatever Kaplan says. I think Anderton's wife is the only one that brings up the subject of free will although she doesn't actually say free will. Anderton is the commissioner and founder of Precrime, the police force that arrests criminals before they have a chance to commit crime. Computers manipulate “gibberish” from three “precogs,” each one seeing into a possible future, and Anderton determines whether a crime will be committed. When two or more “precogs” agree on an outcome, the resulting agreement is a majority report and the police can act on it. The system has been working fine until one day a majority report indicates Anderton will murder a retired general.You have to be taken in--if Precrime is to survive. You’re thinking of your own safety. But think, for a moment, about the system.’ Leaning over, Lisa stubbed out her cigarette and fumbled in her purse for another. ‘Which means more to you---your own personal safety or the existence of the system?’ John Anderton is the founder and head of Precrime, which stops future crimes from occurring by gathering data from three precogs—humans gifted with precognition, now reduced to caged idiot savants as their babble is recorded and collated. The day that a new assistant, Ed Witwer, joins, Anderton receives a report that he will commit a murder of an army general he does not know, Leopold Kaplan. Anderton confronts Kaplan, who harbors doubts about Precrime, and goes on the run with Kaplan’s help. Anderton is chased by Precrime agents and tries to escape with Lisa, also an agent.

The moral issue is whether you can punish him. Orwell was against punishing thoughtcrime, though it seems to have become a crime in most countries these days. PKD goes a step further and asks whether a person who hasn't yet even thought of crime can be punished. Personally I think not, because almost all of us are potentional murderers. In September 2023, it was announced that David Haig was adapting the story for the stage, to premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith the following spring. [4]There never is any reason for Anderton to kill his intended target. Nor is there ever any reason for him to meet this man at the date and time, other than the protagonist's own morbid curiosity. He goes to meet him out of a choice that seems preposterous, finds a whole bunch of reasons to kill the man, and still doesn't. When he refuses to kill the man, the man essentially kills himself, and the whole precognition aspect of the story seems incredibly contrived. For some reason, every time Anderton's wife, Lisa, shows up, her slimness always has to be brought up. It was weird and annoying.