It wasn't long ago that holograms were considered a thing of the future, on par with jet packs and flying cars.
Either I'm getting old or the future has arrived because, recently, a group of South Koreans used holograms to stage a protest in Seoul after being banned from physically marching the streets.
The Daily Dot reports the march, organized by Amnesty International, was held to address the government's limitations on free speech and, ironically, its attempted ban on protests and free assembly.
When the Metropolitan Police refused to grant the group permission to march, saying it would cause “issues with traffic,” Amnesty International decided to go the futuristic route.
The organization created a 30-minute recording of the protest and projected it onto blue screens, creating holograms of 120 protesters. Paired with audio recordings, the effect was akin to a live protest — minus the so-called “traffic issues” the police were worried about.
Unsurprisingly, the police were pissed that the group had found a way to continue with the protest and warned pedestrians against “joining” the demonstration. In a press conference, Chief Lee Sang-won announced,
We will restrain anyone who chants along to the hologram or expresses a collective will. That in and of itself is a demonstration.
Yeah.
Watch a video of the protest below.
Citations: South Koreans Banned From Gathering Protest With Holograms Instead (Complex), Holographic protestors marched in Seoul, Korea (Daily Dot)
