Future of the Week: Phoenix Wright

Source: This Future of the Week comes from the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trilogy of point-and-click adventure games, usually for the DS.

Premise: In the year 2016, a place that seems an awful lot like Japan but is actually Los Angeles will be populated by a couple dozen people: a few lawyers, two judges, an idiot named Butz, a crazy old lady, a detective, some mystics, and a bunch of criminals. Whenever possible, these people will involve themselves directly or indirectly in a murder. When a person is accused of a crime, his or her lawyer must prove not only reasonable doubt, but the guilt of another person, all in about three days.

Utopia or Dystopia: In 2016, the dead will be summoned, bodies and minds, by the living, essentially creating immortality. Utopia.

Prescience: Seven years is simply not long enough to create an ancient religion, especially not one capable of summoning the dead. Additionally, I have serious doubts about such a radical streamlining of the justice system, barring the rise of totalitarianism.