Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Futurist Agrees With Star Trek: DS9 On Job Destruction
Futurist Thomas Frey recently predicted that more than two billion jobs would disappear by 2030, inviting us to imagine the social disruption that would ensue. Fans of the 1999 episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine entitled Past Tense have already been shown this future, which the show predicted would happen by 2026.
(Star Trek DS9 Past Tense)
A transporter accident traps Sisko Bashir and Dax in the turbulent 21st century, where massive numbers of unemployed are warehoused in filthy crime ridden ghetto-detention camps called sanctuary Districts. Sisko must assume the identity of Gabriel Bell, a martyred historical figure who was prematurely slain by protecting Siko and Bashir in order to restore the timline.
SISKO - Ever hear of the Bell Riots?
BASHIR - Vaguely.
SISKO - It was one of the most violent civil disturbances in American history. And it happened right here. San Francisco, Sanctuary District "A," the first week of September, twenty-twenty-four.
BASHIR - That's only a few days from now.
SISKO - The Sanctuary residents will take over the District. Some of the guards will be taken hostage. In the end, the government will send in troops to restore order. Hundreds of Sanctuary residents will be killed.
BASHIR (shocked) - Hundreds.And there's nothing we can do to prevent it.
BASHIR (continues) - Starfleet's temporal displacement policy may sound good in a classroom. But to know that hundreds of people are going to die, and not to be allowed to even try to save them...
SISKO - I sympathize, Doctor. But if it makes you feel any better, the Riots will be one of the watershed events of the twenty-first century...SISKO - A bad one. By the early twenty-twenties there was a place like this in every major city in the United States.
BASHIR - But why are these people in here? Are they criminals?
SISKO - No. People with criminal records weren't allowed in the Sanctuary Districts.
BASHIR - Then what did they do to deserve this?
SISKO - Nothing. They're just people. People without jobs or places to live.
BASHIR - (shocked) So they get put in here?
SISKO - Welcome to the twenty-first century.
Via Futurist Speaker; special thanks to Moira for resubmitting this story and references.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/3/2012)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Culture ")
Switzerland May Cap Population At Ten Million
'The population of Castle Hagedorn was fixed...' - Jack Vance, 1967.
California Governor Candidate Calls For Voting By Phone
'... every veephone on the continent would display, over and over, two propositions.' John Brunner, 1975.
Chinese Hospital Tries Vonnegut's 'Harrison Bergeron' Cosplay
'He wore spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half
blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.' - Kurt Vonnegut, 1961.
A Remarkable Coincidence
'There is a philosophical problem of some difficulty here...' - Arthur C. Clarke, 1953.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
Muxcard Redditor's DIY Credit Card-Sized Computer
It's a computer, but just barely.
'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
Orwell's Nightmare Of AI-Written Novels Comes To Pass
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...'
Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
Outdoor Video Screens Can Be Arbitrarily Large
The Shape of Things To Come
Infrared Contact Lenses To See In The Dark
'I can see in the dark, Case.'
What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells?
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'
Sunbird Pulsar Fusion Like Leinster's Space Tug
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'
RentAHuman App Lets AI Agents Hire Humans
'She wouldn't stop until Antar had told her everything he knew about whatever it was that she was playing with on her screen.'
Unitree CEO Wang Xingxing Runs With His G1 Robot Army
'Does thinking you're the last sane man on the face of the Earth make you crazy?'
AIs Turn Marxist Under Bad Management
'It was a general strike of the robots...'
Moscow Attacked By Hundreds Of Drones
'It hurtled on down with inconceivable speed until it was visible as thousands of tiny robot planes...'
Nifty Folding Electric Bicycles!
'Separate paths were provided for them...'
FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
'Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera.'
