With the sad passing of Carrie Fisher, there is an undercurrent of articles which suggest she will be some sort of what I am calling an “eternal princess.” Much of the press focuses on two things. First, she had already finished filming for the next Star Wars movie due out in 2017, so we will definitely see her again.
However, the deeper undercurrent is the marriage of CGI, voice synthesis, and computer graphics which hint that enough footage (and sound bites) of Princess Leia survive that she could be recombined infinitely to create an infinite series of cameos in future movies.
What does this do for science fiction become science fact, one of our blog themes at scifanfiction.com? What generally comes to Hollywood will eventually find itself at either the Apple Store, Walmart, or Target.
Theoretically, with the Carrie Fisher/Princess Leia technology, we could all start filming ourselves in 3d with high resolution video, store said video, then wait for the emergent technology to marry our video, voice files, and recombine them.
Amazon.com and Microsoft will provide the hosting services, and once hologram emitters are common, the next step is to program your eternal self so you can be a permanent fixture after passing.
Laws and lawyers will also have a field day, a renaissance of sort to catch up to the Carrie Fisher technology. Here is another science fiction prediction I am making. Imagine a multi-millionaire who sets aside $10, 000, 000 to maintain his house of residence forever. Then with the new hologram technology and endless recombinations of video/speech, the hologram person can “live” in their house forever. The hologram can call 911 or any emergency repair service when needed; the law firm maintains the bank account and general maintenance like yard work, etc.
So in a way, each and every one of us might be the Eternal Prince or Eternal Princess. When you see Princess Leia in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, make sure to come back and upvote this blog post!
Happy early New Year too from scifanfiction!
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