After I heard about the terrorist plot to bomb Metrorail, it wasn’t long before I remembered the movie Total Recall. Specifically the scene where Our Hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger, walks through a security x-ray while entering a subway station.

Image from the movie “Total Recall.”

Is this our future? The technology is already more or less here. Would it be a fair price to pay for safety? Too much? Irrational security theater?

Just to be clear, there is no real-life proposal to do this. But it’s not hard to imagine the rush to add security that would likely follow a successful attack. Can you imagine a future with a set of these at Metro Center? Would you still ride if so?