Holography Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...

is often used as a

plot device A plot device or plot mechanism is any technique in a narrative used to move the plot forward. A clichéd plot device may annoy the reader and a contrived or arbitrary device may confuse the reader, causing a loss of the suspension of disbelie ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

, appearing in a wide range of books, films, television series, animation and video games. Probably the first reference is by Isaac Asimov in his ''Foundation'' series staritng in 1951. Holography has been widely referred to in movies, novels, and TV, usually in science fiction, starting in the late 1970s. Science fiction writers absorbed the

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

s surrounding holography that had been spread by overly-enthusiastic scientists and entrepreneurs trying to market the idea. This had the effect of giving the public overly high expectations of the capability of holography, due to the unrealistic depictions of it in most fiction, where they are fully three-dimensional computer projections (more like real-life

volumetric display A volumetric display device is a display device that forms a visual representation of an object in three physical dimensions, as opposed to the planar image of traditional screens that simulate depth through a number of different visual effects. ...

s) that are sometimes tactile through the use of force fields. Examples of this type of depiction include the hologram of Princess Leia in ''Star Wars'',

Arnold Rimmer Arnold Judas Rimmer is a fictional character in the science fiction sitcom '' Red Dwarf'', played by Chris Barrie. Rimmer is characterised as a second-class technician (and de facto leader) of the mining ship Red Dwarf. Portrayed as snobbish, pe ...

from '' Red Dwarf'', who was later converted to "hard light" to make him solid, and the

Holodeck The Holodeck is a fictional device from the television franchise ''Star Trek'' which uses "holograms" (projected light and electromagnetic energy which create the illusion of solid objects) to create a realistic 3D simulation of a real or imag ...

and

Emergency Medical Hologram The Doctor, an Emergency Medical Hologram (or EMH for short), is a fictional character portrayed by actor Robert Picardo on the television series '' Star Trek: Voyager'', which aired on UPN between 1995 and 2001. He is an artificial intelligenc ...

from '' Star Trek''. Holography served as an inspiration for many video games with the science fiction elements. In many titles, fictional holographic technology has been used to reflect real life misrepresentations of potential military use of holograms, such as the "mirage tanks" in '' Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2'' that can disguise themselves as trees. Player characters are able to use holographic decoys in games such as '' Halo: Reach'' and ''

Crysis 2 ''Crysis 2'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by Crytek, published by Electronic Arts and released in North America, Australia and Europe in March 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Officially announced on Jun ...

'' to confuse and distract the enemy. '' Starcraft'' ghost agent Nova has access to "holo decoy" as one of her three primary abilities in ''

Heroes of the Storm ''Heroes of the Storm'' is a crossover multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released for Microsoft Windows and macOS on June 2, 2015. The game features various characters from Bl ...

.'' Fictional depictions of holograms have, however, inspired technological advances in other fields, such as augmented reality, that promise to fulfill the fictional depictions of holograms by other means.

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