What were you doing while the President spoke?

Have you seen the Gigapixel panorama shot by David Bergman?
To try it for yourself, go here.




Amazingly, with the correct viewer, you can zoom in to view a closeup of everyone in the shot.
So while we see the president speaking, we can zoom into the thousands of others. We can also see YoYo Ma taking a picture...
And the cameramen on the tower opposite the president... distant crowds listening intently... and the band sitting below the president [in detail almost clear enough to read the music].

To read about the technology required to create the shot, read here.

But the implications of the picture are very disquieting. Have we reached the technology that our spy cameras can actually pick out individuals? What might a conspiracy minded individual do surveying the crowd, looking for plots? How might we use it? How many thousands of historians will pour over this photograph making connections that we can't even imagine right now? Historians have tried to show that Booth was near Lincoln when he gave one of his inaugural addresses. What happens when we can clearly see everything from Arthea's hat to the people in standing on the buildings with weapons apparently in hand to the young woman in the white hat and black coat walking toward the stairs by section 12?

It's a whole novel waiting to be written, all documented by Mr. Bergman.


The thought sends chills of a future I'm just imaging up my back.