SciFi Writers To Save The World From Terrorism June 11, 2007
Posted by showmescifi in Sci Fi, science fiction, scifi.trackback
Apparently the US Government is officially a fan of SciFi.
As part of its research and development efforts the US has solicited a number of SciFi writers to come up with their best idea on how to fight global terrorism.
Larry Niven, the author of Ringworld, said his motivation is “to save civilisation”. “We do it in fiction. Why wouldn’t we want to do it in fact?” he added.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said: “Fifty years ago, science fiction writers told us about flying cars and a wireless handheld communicator. Flying cars haven’t evolved, but cell phones are now a way of life. We need to look everywhere for ideas, and science fiction writers clearly inform the debate.”
(from the Sunday Telegraph)
Here’s an idea. Let’s get a mind reading machine that scans everyones thoughts and if anyone has a terrorism thought send them to Gitmo. Then again the US today already sends anyone they suspect of being a terrorist to Gitmo as it is so who needs the scanning?
Philip K Dick’s Minority Report also had an interesting option – if we had a set of genetically enhanced humans that could read the future…
This is nothing new. The Strategic Defence Initiative, the so called Star Wars programme from the 1980′s was supposedly one of Larry Niven’s big ideas.