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"What television does is rent us friends and relatives who are quite satisfactory. This is quite something, to rent artificial friends and relatives right inside the house."
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
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| Police Sketch Artist Software | ||
| A tablet-style computer with sketch pad software to help identify suspects. |
At this point in the story, one of the officers has seen the bad guy. She describes him to a police "sketch artist."
(Software sketch artist from the film Runaway)
| "He had different eyes."
"Is that him?" "Face was narrower... and his eyes were squintier..." "More like that?" |
| From Runaway,
by Michael Crichton. Published by Tri-Star Pictures in 1985 Additional resources -
|
The sketch artist software operator would work with the controls and alter the picture based on the description of the witness.
(Police sketch artist pad detail)
Best of all, the resulting "sketch" could be animated; a moving picture of someone is a much better means of identification.
As far as I know, the earliest police sketch artist software to actually be used came out in 1995. Suspect ID by Imageware would allow an officer with no artistic background to create an image good enough to be used on the street.
This same company now offers an enhanced version of the same software, as well as face-recognition software to take images and search for suspects in databases.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Runaway
More Ideas
and Technology by Michael Crichton
Tech news articles related to Runaway
Tech news articles related to works by Michael Crichton
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'THE red tennis robot scooted desperately across the court...'
'The Consul remembered his first glimpse of the kilometer-long treeship...'
'Do you know what window washing used to cost by the hour?'
'Once the target is confirmed, it uses an IR laser to send a coded signal back to the parent, clearing it to attack.'
'I filled your bullet hole with flesh putty and the lattice.'
'... it will be easy to form an alphabet which shall enable us to converse with the inhabitants of the moon.'
'From the tower's huge octagonal base radiate wide silvery strips...'
'It was about five feet long... a black bullet head and red camera eyes.'
'The Law Society has strict rules on the use of pseudo-intelligent software...'
