So today in class, my kids are watching Minority Report, a movie circa 2002 with Tom Cruise running around in a futuristic society that has a system to predict murders before they happen. Tom Cruise plays a "detective" responsible for arresting these future "criminals," but he just happens to get predicted as a murderer himself. The movie is entertaining, and the kids really loved all the imaginary technology (really advanced stuff) shown in the movie. (A little like how I imagined teenagers reacted to the first Star Wars movies.)
However, the arrests for future crimes really got me thinking. I had the kids write a journal/reaction to the end of the film, and I specifically asked them to reflect on whether people have free will or whether they are always controlled by fate. Interestingly, that word, fate, is typically mentioned in conjunction with deities, gods, mythological figures, spirits, and other entities of belief systems. With Minority Report though, the "fate" is determined by technology: genetic mutations, evolving brain functions, predicting algorithms, and high powered computers running automated technology. It brings to mind the war of the machines of Terminator fame.
I love technology, but this movie got me thinking. How much do we as people depend on it to be smarter than us? Like the ancients depended on "gods" to determine their fates? Like Christians even today depend on God/Jesus to be the overarching meaning-maker of their lives? I guess this belief makes it easier to place blame somewhere when things go wrong, rather than take responsibility for the "free choices" being potentially bad choices.
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