Many writers now use Minority Report as shorthand to describe what appears to be happening today with "predictive analytics" and "smart policing". (Indeed, some of the technology in that film has actually been shown to work, including the famous "spatial swiping"). Following the mantra – and who could possibly disagree? – that prevention is better and cheaper than cure, police forces around the world are investing more money trying to predict crimes and stop them before they occur. It’s not precog intuition or strange telepathic gifts, but big data and algorithms. Software that can pick out a person’s pulse or unusual gait, or analysing where certain crimes take place using data records, and putting more resources there, and who knows what else.