The History of Invisibility Cloaks

This short documentary film from the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network gives us a brief history of the invisibility cloak, as told by people of the future. You can be in the public without being bothered by the public. Sneak into work late! Steal a cookie from your kitchen. But the abuse of invisibility cloaks led to them eventually being banned in the United States.

Rebecca Rosen of The Atlantic also used the video to postulate on the ethics issues that frequently occur in science fiction writing. As MIT researcher Sophia Brueckner states, “These authors do more than merely prophesy modern technologies — they also consider the consequences of their fictional inventions in great detail.”