# Movie "tech" that will NOT become reality **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2012, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924 "2012-04-16T04:56:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/41 "2012-04-17T03:22:39Z")
Star Trek transporters, where you maintain your memories and personality are impossible. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/42 "2012-04-17T03:49:25Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Every day. It’s position on my desk blocks part of my view of my classroom. I’d prefer to be able to see through it so I don’t have to keep craning my neck to see the kids while I’m entering grades. That’s a VERY specific situation. The plausibility of text hovering over live video being a daily use interface just seems silly. Contrast exists, and will, for a reason. Besides, given my example, your students can see everything you are writing from the back of your monitor. You just need a lower profile monitor if things “gon get craazay” on the other side of your LCD. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/43 "2012-04-17T03:53:04Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I had a serious problem with Minority Report’s UI. It may have looked cool, but there’s is no freaking way I want to stand up in front of an eight foot piece of glass all day, making 2-3 foot gestures with my arms to read a goddamn word document or spreadsheet or whatever… I’ve got Photoshop Jockeys salivating over this tech, but one of my students said they’d read that Tom Cruise could only do a few sweeping UI gestures before he had to rest his arms. I just had to say: “Cite?” and “Who here is in better shape than Tom Cruise?” No hands went up. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/44 "2012-04-17T03:54:42Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I had a serious problem with Minority Report’s UI. It may have looked cool, but there’s is no freaking way I want to stand up in front of an eight foot piece of glass all day, making 2-3 foot gestures with my arms to read a goddamn word document or spreadsheet or whatever. I’m quite happy with wiggling a mouse. Not there aren’t better ideas to be found with UI interaction paradigms, but what we saw in that movie was not one, and I was quite :dubious: watching it. Keep looking. I agree. The daily office worker should not have to ( though may very well benefit from) make sweeping gestures for simple tasks. But, if we take gesture controls to their practical extremes, we have Stephen Hawking like blink and wink gestures. Something that subtle could devolve us into something awful. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/45 "2012-04-17T04:18:41Z")
The big problem with gesture-based input systems is lack of haptic feedback. When I press a well-designed physical button I can FEEL that my input was accepted. I don’t need to wait for my visual system to filter the confirmation out of all the other noise in my visual field. The small but real feedback lag inherent in pure gesture systems will always limit their utility in high-performance situations. I’d hate to try to drive a car using gesture inputs, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc8723/32.png) [@Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Levolor_the_Blind)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/46 "2012-04-17T04:36:36Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Real “blasters” will travel at the speed of light. By the time you can even theoretically be aware of the shot, it’s arrived. When I first saw Star Wars I mentally hand-waved this away as the precognitive force moved the light saber to where the shot would be. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/47 "2012-04-17T12:26:07Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I disagree, I think enhance could be a reality – but for the wrong reasons. As higher resolution cameras get easier and easier to make (and computer storage gets better), it will store the information at a finer grain. Since that information is stored, zooming in on an area will show that information. > > Now crazy stuff like “turn around the corner” or “edit out that person to see behind him” will never happen unless we get REALLY creative with 3D security camera technology. Cross some [Lytro](https://www.lytro.com/camera) cameras with a [panorama ball](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th5zlUe6gOE) and presto. It’s not quite to the “look around the corner” level, but damn close already. When I saw the video for the panorama ball, I instantly thought about how cool that would be in a military application. Imagine firing a few miniaturized versions of those from grenade launchers to scout ahead. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/48 "2012-04-17T13:10:10Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I had a serious problem with Minority Report’s UI. It may have looked cool, but there’s is no freaking way I want to stand up in front of an eight foot piece of glass all day, making 2-3 foot gestures with my arms to read a goddamn word document or spreadsheet or whatever. I’m quite happy with wiggling a mouse. Not there aren’t better ideas to be found with UI interaction paradigms, but what we saw in that movie was not one, and I was quite :dubious: watching it. Keep looking. Plus, I would hate to delete several hours of work when it “saw” me taking a drink of coffee or stretching. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/49 "2012-04-17T14:08:50Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Real “blasters” will travel at the speed of light. By the time you can even theoretically be aware of the shot, it’s arrived… It was my understanding that “blasters” are _not_ laser-shooters, but fire a short blast of charged particles. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/50 "2012-04-17T14:15:54Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > not a Star Wars geek but what was the point of light sabers, whether we can make them or not? Wouldn’t guns kill the bad guys faster? Wouldn’t errant bullets be a bad thing in a _spaceship_? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/51 "2012-04-17T14:22:31Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Wouldn’t errant bullets be a bad thing in a _spaceship_? :dubious: I dunno. I saw a lot of Stormtroopers missing their shots but none of them blew a hole through the hull. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/52 "2012-04-17T14:51:16Z")
How about portals? If it was even possible would there be any use for such a thing? The people who predicted flying cars forgot about all the crazy drivers out there. I was under the impression that the main problem with teleportation was the amount of data storage it would take to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/53 "2012-04-17T15:03:46Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I saw a lot of Stormtroopers missing their shots but none of them blew a hole through the hull. That’s how wonderfully bad a stormtrooper’s aim is. He’ll miss the the hull of a spaceship — _even when he’s inside it_. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/54 "2012-04-17T17:17:21Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Yep. And all that waving your hands in the air is going to make your arms tired very quickly. Compare this to the delicate wrist or finger movements you need with a mouse, trackball, stylus, or other handheld pointing device. Back when light-pen interfaces were all the rage, [like on the Fairlight CMI](http://blog.hvidtfeldts.net/media/herbie.jpg), people suffered from [“gorilla arm”](http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/G/gorilla-arm.html). Touch screens only came back in personal devices because they are used at chest level or below. Didn’t Doug Adams has a bit about trying to operate the radio with a wave your arms interface, the user having to remain frozen in place to listen? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/55 "2012-04-17T17:20:47Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > not a Star Wars geek but what was the point of light sabers, whether we can make them or not? Wouldn’t guns kill the bad guys faster? Religious/ritual basically, it marks the user as a force sensitive at the least. Why do people still train in sword fighting when machine guns exist? ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/56 "2012-04-17T17:38:55Z")
Regarding lightsabers (and as pointed out on tvtropes), the audience’s willingness to suspend disbelief is greater if something looks really cool. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/57 "2012-04-17T17:41:51Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Religious/ritual basically, it marks the user as a force sensitive at the least. Why do people still train in sword fighting when machine guns exist? I can see the possible logic of training in sword fighting. The training could teach skills that would be useful in real combat. The real question is why the Jedi actually fight with swords in real combat. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/58 "2012-04-17T17:50:53Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The real question is why the Jedi actually fight with swords in real combat. Religious significance basically, remember that before the clone wars the last full scale war was thousands of years in the past and that war was between jedi and sith both force sensitive. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/59 "2012-04-17T17:59:48Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I disagree, I think enhance could be a reality – but for the wrong reasons. As higher resolution cameras get easier and easier to make (and computer storage gets better), it will store the information at a finer grain. Since that information is stored, zooming in on an area will show that information. Also, if you’re taking video, rather than single still pictures, and add a little jiggle to the camera, then by averaging over a bunch of frames, you can get better resolution than any single frame. Works better with things that aren’t moving, of course. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924/60 "2012-04-17T18:27:35Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > The big problem with gesture-based input systems is lack of haptic feedback. Could be solved with some kind of haptic glove. Could be solved in a really cool way by haptic gloves hooked up to some kind of fancy magnetic field generator that could actually physically resist movement rather than just providing internal feedback. I think flying cars will definitely become more common and practical. You can already see the air travel industry branching out into smaller regional airports, more direct flights with smaller jets, and the democratization of chartered flights. As long as technological progress continues and standards of living rise, aircars will become more and more reasonable. I expect that they’ll become quite popular to rent once they’re self-flying and don’t require a pilot’s license or a pilot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-tech-that-will-not-become-reality/618924.md?page=4)