Slashdot Mirror
Sci-Fi Writers Dream Up Ideas For US Government
cheezitmike writes "This week in Washington, DC, a group of Sci-Fi writers is helping the US Department of Homeland Security envision the future at the 2009 Homeland Security Science & Technology Stakeholders Conference. The agency is hoping the interaction between writers and bureaucrats helps the government 'break old habits of thought' and 'help managers think more broadly about projects and their potential reactions and unintended consequences.' And, it's at minimal expense to taxpayers, since the writers are consulting pro bono."
Seems like now that they've gone and made 1984 a reality, they need new material to work off of.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
You're just giving them ideas! You don't want them to know how a dystopian future tyranny might maintain control!
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
roll on the nuclear bomb powered space ships
... a little of the group of sci-fi writers "visiting" NORAD in Niven & Pournelle's "Footfall"
There is a war going on for your mind.
...welcome our soon to be skynet ran big brother government with laser beams on their heads.
Who would have thought that the authors of the main recreational reading material of scientists and geeks (outside of p0rn) would have any good ideas about good ideas...
In legislative circles, do they ever run simulations? Test new laws by deploying them in MMOs first?
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
It seems like they might have been better off using writers for a show like 24 or CSI where they have to be at-least realistic enough to seem "plausible" to the audience. On one of the comentaries for 24, they get their ideas from real life, but make things like repositioning satellites or breaking crypto go much quicker than it can in real life. They'd be better off getting those writers with engineers to say "what would it take to sdo x,y,z like we did in Season 4, Episode 2" to set more realistic short-term goals.
Sci-Fi doesn't have to overcome the "realism barrier", and being so advanced that it is at present seemingly impossible (warp travel, light sabers, etc.) is part of the appeal. The problem is that it will take so long to "get there" (think computers in 50's-60's SciFi), that technology could go in a completely different direction.
However, we're getting to the point with special effects we no longer have to do sci-fi in a way that is "easy" to produce (e.g. a computer with a futuristic GUI like Minority report is producable on screen where in the past computers always talked because it was physically easier to do). The good thing is that since Sci-Fi can produce almost anything on screen or print that it can think up, it will follow more linearly with reality rather than being as limited as to what can be generated.
Forgive my spelling from time to time. I'm often posting during short breaks.
Regan had a team of science fiction advisers including Larry Niven back in the 80's to help him. In his Novel Footfall he has a good fictional account of meetings between them and the government with during a crises.
I'd say more, but my guild is raiding.
* Stop torturing people. It's good at terrorizing, but doesn't actually help catch bad people.
* Stop locking people into iron cages because they ate a particular kind of plant.
Here's a freebie:
* Stop making laws based on dictates of an invisible guy in the sky who burns people for eternity because they stuck their jimmy in the wrong hole. It's just a little kooky when you think about it.
Seriously, consulting sci-fi authors? How about consulting superheros like Captain Common Sense?
Kobayashi Maru. Lets see Homeland plan(/shoot) their way out of -that- one.
Ideas, created with pure thought and imagination, that are offered to the government sounds like a much better process than those offered by politicians and lobbyists. Generational ideas are what can improve our place in life, not those created from greed of power.
Truth is a matter of perspective. Wear the other guy's shoes before you dismiss him.
Huh. So this explains the lack of decent, original movies lately: all the good writers are working on real life!
Anybody want my mod points?
We just have to get the bureaucrats to do the same and we're all set.
From the blurb: "the writers are consulting pro bono." Are you sure that by "pro bono" they don't mean "pro Sonny Bono", or "in favor of another copyright term extension"?
The consulting is free, the "solutions" won't be.
It sounds like a real waste of time. The government calling on a group of science fiction writers to come up with ideas for the future? Are they out of their own ideas or something? What are they doing working in the government then? This just seems like a way to generate a fluff media piece listing cool fantasy technologies to make everyone hopeful and temporarily forget about economic problems and Democrat in-fighting.
"Governmint"? I know it's both off topic and random, but it just entered my mind and now I would like to know... what flavors and stuff would go into an ice cream called "Governmint"?
They've been using George Orwell as inspiration for a while now.
At 8PM, TNA Impact "Roar of the Redneck!"
At 9PM, Shitty Monster Movie with Cheap CGI
At 11PM, Watch an Ultimate Gamer Cry Like a Fucking Emo - Life is so fucking hard man!
At 1AM, Another Fucking Infomercial - look, the Aussie guy is selling pills to get a 6-pack!
At 2AM, Highlander vs Al Quaeda.
That explains the fear of liquid explosives.
Anyone who works with the DHS is working against the People of America.
Damn. Too bad Robert Heinlein ain't around anymore.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
I think Niven and Pournelle can claim "prior art" on this one since they claim to be responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union by advising Reagan to go ahead with the horribly expensive Star Wars initiative. Can't remember which of his books mentioned it in the footnotes.
A federal research director fantasized about a cellphone that could simultaneously text and detect biochemical attacks. Multiple cellphones in a crowd would confirm and track the spread. The master of ceremonies for the week was Greg Bear, the sci-fi novelist whose book "Quantico" featured FBI agents battling a designer plague targeting specific ethnic groups.
"What if we had a black box that IDs DNA on the scene?" Bear asked a panel of firefighters and police officers. "Put a swab in the box. How long would it take us to do that? Would that be of interest to anybody here?"
Yeah sure. Detecting biochemical attacks in crowds (what crowds?) is a constant, vexing problem. It is urgent that we get cell phones with gas chromatographs that are constantly on and working or some such crap. ID DNA "on the scene?" You realize that it would only ID DNA that is already in its database, right? Not like on Heroes wher you put DNA in a gadget and a little icon appears on a Google map showing where the person is. Dou you want everyones DNA data on such devices? Your DNA?
This is complete and utter totalitarian Roman Circus bullshit! I don't know which is more disturbing, that the government, particularly the nefarious DHS, is doing this or that so many Slashdot readers and other citizens not only believe this drivel but think it is a just dandy idea. God help us.
in my experience, overly judgmental and overly critical people, such as yourself, i have often found to be the biggest morons around
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
"The agency is hoping the interaction between writers and bureaucrats will inspire them to fund scientific studies"
Why hire expert consultants when you have writers making up stuff for cheap?
Umm, Great Ideas From Sigma so far:
"free and worth every cent"
Give me Charles Stross, John Scalzi, Rudy Rucker even David Brin and we'll talk.
Andrews founded an organization of sci-fi writers to offer imaginative services in return for travel expenses only. Called Sigma, the group has about 40 writers. Over the years, members have addressed meetings organized by the Department of Energy, the Army, Air Force, NATO and other agencies they care not to name.
Hm. The last book Robert Ludlum wrote was called "The Sigma Protocol". It was published the same year he died. He was 73.
It was about a collective of creepy post-Nazi idea men commissioned by Hitler to re-envision the world. Well, after the war, these men carried on with their pursuit of Bad Science in the shadows. Central to the plot was a string of assassinations of old men who had fallen out of the club because they thought what they were about to achieve was too horrific even for a bunch of ex-Nazis. The cataclysmic ending resulted in explosions and heroic rewards, etc., but also with a young software billionaire carrying on the creepy work. . . (The book's last page makes a very deliberate jab at Bill Gates and his recent affiliation with the fucking creepy organization, Planned Parenthood.) Or maybe it wasn't deliberate. Still, an elbow in the ribs is an elbow in the ribs intended or not.
Whatever the case, I'll leave the obvious connective threads dangling because they're rather over-dramatic in the same way that the premier episode of Lone Gunmen was just too stupidly prophetic to be taken seriously. Even though it was right on the money.
Anyway. . . The real point I'd like to make is that any dick-head writer 'Heinlein' enough to work with the DHS needs a stern talking to or failing that, a good ass-kicking. Sci-Fi writers can be exceptional dorks sometimes.
I mean. . , did anybody else notice the distinctive Starship Troopers feel to J.J. Abram's Star Trek? (I'm talking about the cinematic version of ST, not the book).
And on a semi-related note. . . One interesting thing in the world of speculative fiction which totally caught me off guard was that Dollhouse has been renewed for a second season. WTF? I mean, that's cool and all, but. . , has hell frozen over?
These thoughts may all seem disconnected, but they really aren't. Don't think too hard though. It's Friday and the week has been long.
-FL
If they invited Bruce Schneier to speak instead of a gaggle of Sci-Fi "movie plot" writers then they might actually learn a thing or two about homeland security AND it wouldn't be a complete waste of the taxpayer's money or the politician's time (the former being much more valuable than the later).
where is stargate?
The last administration already did this with results ranging from tedious to risible. Then it was the usual suspects: Larry Niven, Drake, etc, I think. I can't be bothered to read the article to see who it was this time.
How about Peace? Many SciFi movies,books have a peaceful future.
The love of good Whiskey,Woman,Weed is all i need.
You have got to be kidding. Science fiction? Could we have picked a fiction genre more devoid of factual understanding? Fantasy, maybe?
There is a reason why sci-fi and fantasy are often grouped together. They're both factually delusional in many regards. One has space ships and perfect governments; the other has faeries and trolls. There is little difference, in most cases. Yes, some sci-fi has a political theme, but more often than not it takes the role of poor plot device or fantastical utopia (ala Star Trek - vs. Battlestar Gallactica, which is somewhat less idyllic).
But let's make a distinction here. BSG is entirely different than something like Star Trek. It is a political, moral, and religious commentary set in a fictional world (which is more-or-less plausible - and could be substituted for any any midevil or modern setting, more or less). BSG, and a similar but small subset of science fiction (like 1984) is first and foremost political fiction. Not "science" fiction. The 'science' part in their story is merely the backdrop - an unfamiliar but physically possible world - in which things are put into motion.
"Real" science fiction has a necessary requirement of suspended disbelief. Yes, it explores new, or different ideas. But it always starts out "Let's pretend". THAT is dangerous when we're dealing with real people with real lives, and it's terrifying that
This kind of bullshit is what makes me think that Obama's putting Kumar (of Harold and Kumar fame - Kal Penn) in the "Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Liaison" position is going to be indicative of the kind of farce we should expect from here on out. What's next, asking the ALF how to manage our forests (hint: it'll involve many, many more forest fires than we've currently got, and a complete cease to all US wood production)?
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
roll on the nuclear bomb powered space ships
There's something seriously wrong with /. when people don't get that comment.
Maybe someone needs to make it into a movie so that the kiddies can understand it. Actually, it would make a pretty *awesome* movie..
Never email donotemail@WeAreSpammers.com
And, it's at minimal expense to taxpayers, since the writers are consulting pro bono.
Just goes to show, nobody wants to pay writers. Absolutely nobody.
Nobody seems to be trying to re-think capitalism. I'm not talking about the current crisis. There's a more fundamental problem - increased productivity no longer results in higher real income. US per-capita real income per hour worked peaked in 1973.
Think about that for a moment. We have incredibly good production technology. 20% of the workforce makes all the real stuff. That number was 50% in 1950 and 90% in 1900. Yet workdays have been getting longer for several decades.
SF writers used to write about things like that. Harry Harrison did. Today, nobody touches it.
The most successful attacks are all low tech. Even 9/11 was low tech, commander planes that practically fly themselves and point them at buildings. What they need to do is to stop thinking big and complex and start thinking big and simple. Like using truck mounted mosquito sprayers to spread salmonella infected water all over a city center. Or waiting until the dry Santa Anna Winds are just right and then creating a fire line along the highway several miles long. Think big but simple because that is what the next attack will be.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
So far 1984 was good inspiration for US and EU, i'd say.
Mod parent up, his lesson is useful.
Sort of...
Interesting read nonetheless.
Some days it's just not worth
chewing through my restraints.
Hopefully the Sci-Fi guys will help the cops and bureaucrats learn the difference between real threats and advertisements for a TV show:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_Mooninite_Scare.
The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power. -- Daniel Webster
It's not voice activated but you have http://www.epocrates.com/
And I can bet that Cory Doctorow wasn't even invited
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
Q. How come Idaho has potatoes, Nevada has blackjack and hookers, and Texas has oil wells?
A. Idaho had first pick.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
The urinal cam? http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/22/1714245&art_pos=13
Think Deeply.
From now on we will all travel in TUBES!