Ghost Protest in Seoul Uses Holograms Not People

"The world is evolving at such a rapid pace," we hear this a lot from politicians, presenters TED talks, etc. But today I woke up, checked my news feed, and *BAM.

Right in my face. Sometimes life is funny like that. I see a story about "self-parking chairs" (for business conference tables) that automatically "drive" themselves back under the table when the "sitter" is done and gets up (jeeze I find that ridiculous)

Then I see a story about hologram protests in South Korea.

These protests were organized by Amnesty International in Korea, and were in response to their government apparently overstepping its role by limiting/restricting protests and other elements of free speech.

THIS is cool:

On the eve of South Korean President Park Geun-hye's third anniversary in office, protesters gathered in Seoul on Wednesday to condemn the administration's increasing crackdown on free speech. These protesters were unlike any others Seoul has seen. They were holograms.

The life-size hologram "ghosts" marched across a transparent screen facing an old palace gate at Gwanghwamun Square, a historic center in Seoul.

"Promise us democracy! Promise us freedom of assembly!" the holographic figures chanted for 30 minutes, as a real crowd of more than 100 — mostly journalists and organizers — watched.

The "ghost protest," organized by Amnesty International in Korea, followed the world's first-ever hologram demonstrations in Spain. Last April, thousands of virtual demonstrators marched in Madrid to protest the controversial Citizen Safety Law, which set extreme fines for demonstrators convening outside government buildings.

In South Korea, concerns have been raised over the government's attempts to ban protests and its use of a Cold War-era national security law to make certain kinds of speech illegal...

...Amnesty Korea's initial request to hold a rally — a live, human one — was rejected by the Seoul Metropolitan Police earlier this month, on the grounds that the rally would disrupt traffic. The refusal prompted Amnesty to organize the virtual gathering, filming 120 volunteers on a blue screen and encouraging citizens to upload their voices to the Amnesty website.

www.npr.org...

More sources:

dailyfreepress.com...

www.upi.com...

This also made me think of the recent videos and stories about DARPA's impressive ATLAS robot. What about robot protests? Perhaps the pro-robotics crowd will begin programming Protester Robots to go and protest against the Anti-Robot protesters (this is beginning to sound like an episode of Futurama, the funny thing is I could see it happening)

If you were curious about the "self-parking chairs":

www.ibnlive.com...

a reply to: FamCore Nice find on the Ghost protest. I'm glad they found a way to protest without getting into any trouble. It is a very good use of technology, protesting a crackdown on free speech.
The video of the holograms made me feel a little sad being it was ghosts of a real in person protest.

somewhat creepy but interesting way of protesting. The approach seems more symbolic than "real-life, physical" protest

a reply to: farmville

I agree, it is more of a way for them to say "we disagree with you, big ole' government", but without being so in-your-face about it that the government doesn't have to even respond

I think this is more a tool to raise awareness among other civilians, as opposed to a protest that will cause the government to take any real action

It is becoming the only option for protest in some "democracies".

They did it in Madrid, Spain last year in response to the governments "gag law".

New Yorker: Madrid hologram protest

a reply to: Jonjonj

You're so right! I forgot they had this in Spain before as well - I had thought this was the first of its kind until you reminded me. Thanks!

a reply to: FamCore

No problem. The sad thing is that there is an actual need for it. I get where governments want to curb protests close to fundamental areas such as hospitals and suchlike, just for safety's sake, but the gradual erosion of the right to protest is a serious and much underreported phenomenon.

a reply to: Jonjonj

"Free Speech Zones"

and not to mention times when members of intelligence/other policing organizations show up to act like protesters, but are actually there to incite riots and start the violence

So sad.. what are we to do about it???