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Sci-Fi Writers Dream Up Ideas For US Government

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the mote-in-uncle-sam's-eye dept.

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."

3 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Look up Pandora's Box by feyhunde · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

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    I'd say more, but my guild is raiding.
  2. Re:An Improvement by anonymousNR · · Score: 2, Informative
    At first I really freaked out then I read TFA

    Andrews recruited only sci-fi writers who had conventional science or engineering chops on their resumes. Now about a third of the writers have PhDs.

    Then I was ok

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    -- It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. -- Aristotle
  3. Did they Invite Mr. Schneier? by CodeBuster · · Score: 3, Informative

    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).