The Precogs' Dehumanization In Minority Report and "The Minority Report” How we define human, subhuman and superhuman is complex, with many intricacies and unknowns. The relationship between them, regarding the Precogs in The Minority Report short story as well as the film, is complex between these two forms of dehumanization and humanization. For those unfamiliar with the works, the three Precogs are collectively, literally, the human engine which enables Precrime to exist. In both works, their superhuman ability to see the future has been harnessed giving, those who have access to the technology in which they are embedded, knowledge of future crimes. In this, their predominant overall treatment is as subhuman, and they are disconnected from normal human life. Though they are momentarily re-framed to the audience as superhuman (for this ability) in both works, they are predominantly dehumanized. The two stark differences in its film adaptation, which was created in 2002, are: The deification of the Precogs, stemming from this superhuman portrayal; wherein the movie offers a different perspective, whilst maintaining their subhuman status. And in the content of Precogs' life narrative. Though important axioms in their biographies are still similar to the story''s, this leads to the film's deviation in conclusion, as only in the final, epilogue scene, the precogs are released from the world of Precrime into a human life. Still, this ending's contrast sheds light on the subhuman state they existed in for the duration of the Precrime system's existence. In both works they are disconnected from living in the present, their superhuman abilities traded for their basic human functions, leaving them in a subhuman state. They are stuck in the future and stuck in the past. From 1958, Phillip K. Dick writes,"Their minds were dull, confused, lost in shadows. But not the shadows of today...were contemplating the future. The analytical machinery was recording
