Star Wars Inspires Spy Tech Research
"Help us, Intelligence Research Community! You're our only hope."
It's one of the most memorable scenes in science fiction: a 3-D, holographic Princess Leia, begging for Obi-Wan's help. America's spy services have just plunked down $58 million to make it real. And if you think the gadget-makers behind this "Synthetic Holographic Observation" effort weren't inspired by Star Wars, well, take a look at the presentation from one of the companies that bid for the 3-D holographic displays. On page four, there's Leia, telling Kenobi that he's her only hope.
The military and intelligence communities have been working with holographic and 3-D displays for years. Air Force analysts, for instance, use stereoscopic glasses to pick out which targets to bomb. But the tools have been of limited utility. Some required specialty eyewear; others only displayed a few colors, or could only been seen from a few angles.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?