The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has asked some science fiction writers for some assistance in... Well, in homeland security. The DHS was formed in response to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, which were events fairly similar to the suicide-747 attack on the US Capitol at the end of Tom Clancy's bestselling 1994 book Debt of Honor. The Illuminati board game, based on the bestselling novel The Illuminati by Robert Anton Wilson, has a card called "terrorist attack" which has a picture that is very similar to the World Trade Towers being hit by an airplane, and it was made in the eighties. It makes sense that if you you're looking for some original ideas about how to deal with the problems of tomorrow, then you might want to get the assistance of some of the world's more imaginative people.
An article about the DHS conference said that the science fiction writers were reluctant to give up their best ideas for no cash. Can you blame them? Some of their more helpful suggestions were material that becomes armor when struck by a bullet; an antibiotic that cures martyrdom; and a satellite that beams solar energy to earth. Apparently, the armor and the satellite are retreads but a cure for martyrdom was news to everyone except the people working psychological operations (however, it's a pretty good bet "martyrdom" is not caused by a bacterial infection and thus not susceptible to antibiotic treatment).
At a different conference, an Israeli futurologist was happy to divulge his thoughts about what the future may hold (see here). Dr. Yair Sharan, director of Tel Aviv University's Interdisciplinary Centre for Technology Analysis and Forecasting, predicted suicide bombers remote-controlled by brain-chip implants and carrying nano-technology cluster bombs or biological compounds for which there is no antidote. It's possible these were the kind of ideas the DHS was looking for when it brought together a group of sci-fi writers.
The sci-fi writers might not have given their best and freshest ideas at the conference, but it's certainly true that science fiction has sometimes predicted the course of technology a long time in advance. Robert Heinlein is a good example of this phenomenon since he described in his books future inventions such as cell phones and the internet. Science fiction writers have also contemplated future difficulties we will encounter in the law. For instance, Heinlein gives a lengthy discussion in his book Stranger in a Strange Land of property issues that will have to be dealt with in connection to who owns the moon or another planet. It is probably best that we all take some time to read some science fiction and consider the possible issues of tomorrow if for no other reason than to keep our imaginations limber.
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