Holographic politicians could soon become a normal thing in the US

Holographic politicians could soon become a normal thing in the US

Josh Lowensohn

The Verge 

Earlier this year, India's prime minister Narendra Modi was campaigning for reelection and used a rather unusual method for being in many different places at once: he became a hologram. Not biologically, but with the help of a company called NChant3D that broadcast his nearly hour-long speech in 53 different locations. Now a US company called HologramUSA has the rights to use that technology in the US, and has just hired a lobbyist in Washington, DC to push the Democrats and Republicans into using holograms in the upcoming 2016 presidential election, reports Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Here come America's Founding Fathers as holograms

The result could be long-dead politicians from America's Founding Fathers, to more recent and beloved party figureheads like Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy. Politicians might also use it to do the same thing as Modi, and be in two places (or more) at once, stretching "in person" appearances on the campaign trail.
HologramUSA's technology is effectively a modern version of an old stage illusion called Pepper's Ghost, which projects images onto a transparent sheet. In this case, it's a lightweight foil instead of plastic film. The company licensed it from Uwe Maass, whose work has led to projections at museums, plays, and concerts. More recently that's been at Coachella, where long-deceased rapper Tupac Shakur performed on stage, as well as a Mariah Carey performance at five different European venues, both of which were done by UK-based projection company Musion.