Precogs Symbol Analysis

In “The Minority Report,” the precogs—three mutants that can predict the future, thus helping police stop crime before it happens—symbolize the dehumanization that can occur within a highly controlled, technological society that values safety over liberty. At the beginning of the story, Anderton gives his new assistant, Witwer, a tour of the Precrime facility. Dick describes the precogs as “almost lost to view in the maze of wiring” that connects them to the computer system. Imprisoned by wiring and clamps, the three precogs lack free will and autonomy, passively relaying precognitive information without understanding it. The precogs' enslavement highlights the dehumanized condition of citizens in Anderton’s society. Would-be-criminals are physically detained in detention camps a week before they’ve even committed a crime, without so much as a warning or a trial, while every citizen’s future is scanned for possible criminal activity. While this system has virtually eradicated crime—there’s only been one murder in the last five years—it also strips citizens of a trial by jury and other personal liberties. Even though these citizens are technically innocent, locked up before they’ve even committed a crime, they’re treated more like monsters rather than human beings.

The precogs also symbolize the average citizen’s mental state, as citizens are kept in the dark regarding the inner workings of the government and police. Dick describes the precogs as “Vegetable-like,” with minds that “[are] dull, confused, lost in shadows.” In regards to the precognitive data they generate, Anderton comments, “They don’t understand any of it, but we do.” This also holds true for the members society, who do not fully understand the technological apparatus that has a potentially absolute power over their fate—only the higher-ups at Precrime and in the army have a keen understanding of how the precogs work. Citizens thus do not grasp the significance of the minority report—a kind of majority rule when two out of the three precogs deem someone guilty of a future crime, thus marking a person eligible to be sent to a detention camp. While Kaplan, a retired army general, seeks to exploit this widespread ignorance in order to destroy Precrime and gain more power for the army, Anderton does everything in his power to make sure that Precrime stays credible in the public consciousness. Given the ease with which the two powerful men are able to manipulate public perceptions of Precrime and the precogs, the reader is left to wonder if the public in this story has not become somewhat like the unaware precogs: playthings in the hands of unaccountable authority figures.