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."

Comments

George Orwell

[nEoN nOoDlE]

Seems like now that they've gone and made 1984 a reality, they need new material to work off of.

Re:George Orwell

[spiffmastercow]

Seems like now that they've gone and made 1984 a reality, they need new material to work off of.

Really? I'd say we're closer to Brave New World these days.. Don't forget to take your soma--err, i mean Paxil.

Re:George Orwell

[RDW]

It could be worse. The writers might suggest world peace could be achieved by some extensive remodelling of New York City real estate triggered by the appearance of a giant squid.

Noooooooo......

[A beautiful mind]

You're just giving them ideas! You don't want them to know how a dystopian future tyranny might maintain control!

Re:Noooooooo......

[Un pobre guey]

No joke. This is the last thing we should be doing. They need a crash course in understanding factual reality, not some wacky sci fi hallucination.

Re:Noooooooo......

[Jurily]

They need a crash course in understanding factual reality, not some wacky sci fi hallucination.

The voters, too. Someone keeps electing these morons.

Re:Noooooooo......

[Hanyin]

The voters, too. Someone keeps electing these morons.

You know, while I understand why government officials (particularly the ones higher up) are referred to as morons and the like, I think it's far more likely that they're well aware that they're dishonest with the public and serve themselves and come across as idiots because of their tangled web of lies which really doesn't matter that much once you consider how easy it is to sway public opinion with propaganda.

Of course, given that the great majority of candidates are self-serving (morons) to begin with it's not surprising that people like this get elected. Oh well, I guess I'll just find a less-restrictive place to live when things become too oppressive for me =).

Look up Pandora's Box

[feyhunde]

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.

Here's a couple wild ideas

[Anonymous Coward]

* 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?

Re:Here's a couple wild ideas

[joepa]

Seriously, consulting sci-fi authors? How about consulting superheros like Captain Common Sense?

Unfortunately, there's good reason to believe that Captain Common Sense is a homophobic theist. To draw the kinds of enlightened conclusions that the parent does, it turns out that we need to override our common sense tendencies. Consulting sci-fi writers is actually quite a clever way of dealing with the limitations of common sense.

An Improvement

[Maalstrom Aran]

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.

Re:An Improvement

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Yeah, an improvement but only in the entertainment value.

These guys do best exactly what we don't need more of from the DHS - "movie plot threats."

"Movie plot threats" are a dime a dozen, we will bankrupt ourselves trying to defend against even a fraction of a precent of them. We need to spend money on the basics like first responders, medical facilities, emergency planning, etc that apply to any threat, man-made or acts of god.

And once that stuff is taken care of to a reasonable degree, the rest of the money needs to stay in the hands of private citizens who will make much more productive use of it - whether it is as simple as buying food and shelter for their families or running small businesses.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Old news

[dosun88888]

They've been using George Orwell as inspiration for a while now.

Sigma??? Are you kidding me?

[Fantastic Lad]

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

Did they Invite Mr. Schneier?

[CodeBuster]

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).