France seeks science-fiction writers to help futureproof its military against science-fact

The French army has said it is looking to recruit four or five sci-fi writers and futurologists to staff a "Red Team" that predicts future threats and how to disrupt or defend against them. The unit will be run by the l'Agence Innovation Défense and DGRIS – the defence strategic unit. It will be expected to "propose scenarios …

[vir]

Here

Just watch a few seasons of Black Mirror. I take payment in Perigord truffles, bordeaux, or foie gras.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sadly, Ian M Banks passed and if he was alive we'd prefer to have him at the MoD but somehow I don't think that would have fitted with his ideals or the MoD's given the Culture's whole ethos.

[ElReg!comments!Pierre]

Well fr. gov has strongly denied the move in somewhat overly-precise terms "we can assure that science-fiction stories are not going to influence defense policies", or someting to that effect.

So we can safely assume that they already have prospects, or even signed contracts.

[Anonymous Coward]

looking to recruit four or five sci-fi writers and futurologists

1. must be a native French national

2. must have published at least 5 novels in French, min. 100,000 copies sold

3. must agree to give recommendations as per recommendations received

4. we're French, no funny foreign ideas, please!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: looking to recruit four or five sci-fi writers and futurologists

>4. we're French, no funny foreign ideas, please!

Allo, my name is René Artois and I write science fiction in my spare time while running a small cafe.

[Chris King]

Re: looking to recruit four or five sci-fi writers and futurologists

So they're looking for a French-speaking national with five or more popular titles published in France under their belt.

Doesn't that limit the field somewhat ? The rest of the planet has some outstanding speculative sci-fi writers to choose from.

"Think like a local, be defeated by outsiders ?"

[Grikath]

Re: looking to recruit four or five sci-fi writers and futurologists

"Doesn't that limit the field somewhat ?"

I'd think it would completely eradicate it. Either that, or there are actually 5 french-native speculative fiction writers in France, successfully writing/publishing bestsellers for the french market, and they've just announced who they are to the connaisseurs.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: looking to recruit four or five sci-fi writers and futurologists

Monsieur Verne? Sounds French to me...

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: looking to recruit four or five sci-fi writers and futurologists

Sure. Boulle too. But I think they're looking for living novelists.

Wikipedia and other sites list a good number of French SF authors, though it looks like relatively few have been translated into English. I only recognized a few names.

[ivan5]

Macron clutching at straws again I see. I write SF in my spare time and there is no way I would associated with such a project.

Now to upset people, I think they are looking in the wrong place, they should be looking at climatologists with their unvalidated computer models of the future being the best SF so far.

[Rich 11]

If that's the best SF you can come up with then don't give up the day job.

[Claverhouse]

Also War Writers won't have a lot of War Stories to write

The Network Science Division of the US Army Research Laboratory, told the Conference on Applied Machine Learning for Information Security last year that inside two decades, humans will be "just one species of intelligent beings" on the battlefield - robots, sensors, smart weapons, autonomous vehicles, and wearable things being the others.

In that case it won't morally matter in the slightest if such machines are eliminated or dismembered on the battlefield; it will be just a cost-adjusting exercise for accountants with the country with the biggest bill losing.

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: Also War Writers won't have a lot of War Stories to write

and wearable things

I was just following orders. Orders from my pants.

[AceRimmer1980]

Science Fiction?

You couldn't make it up.

[sbt]

A trade delegation of angry Hungarian winemakers arrives...

... and is mistaken for an advance detachment of invading Bavarians. France surrenders quickly.

[Chris King]

Re: A trade delegation of angry Hungarian winemakers arrives...

"France surrenders quickly"

Obligatory Dr Who quote, keeping on the subject of sci-fi:

"Glory to <Insert Name Here>" - the anthem of Tivoli, the most-invaded planet in the galaxy.

[sbt]

Re: A trade delegation of angry Hungarian winemakers arrives...

That sounds like Adams. Or Brockman's snowclone: "I, for one, welcome our new <insert name here> overlords."

[Chris King]

Re: A trade delegation of angry Hungarian winemakers arrives...

Yes, this paticular one's from Who.

[Wade Burchette]

Re: A trade delegation of angry Hungarian winemakers arrives...

Bonjour! You cheese eating surrender monkeys.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: A trade delegation of angry Hungarian winemakers arrives...

I see you have never read an account of the Battle of Verdun in WW1.

(I think you mean Brandenburgers, btw. The Bavarians were actually not that enthusiastic about WW1, and at that time the Bavarian army still had a degree of autonomy. )

[Nick Kew]

Open Source it

Let's see.

Can't imagine wargaming for the military will do much to stimulate the best imaginations. As soon as you think "threat to France", are you not limiting that creativity? If they want to harness sci-fi, a trawl of published work surely makes more sense.

If you're an established sci-fi writer, where's the incentive to taint a reputation?

If you're a wannabe or up-and-coming sci-fi writer, maybe you could use the money. If your principles allow it, and you don't worry about being tainted by association.

How about a D&D model? Recruit Dungeon Masters, then open up play to the public and let stories grow. No, wait, who the **** is going to want to play that?

Aha! How about some creative thinking. Turn the D&D into a novel form of literary award: decent annual prizes and award ceremonies for the best stories within the framework of a MUD where a primary goal is to attackresist a sinister state (and don't tell 'em who's behind it - find or invent some rich patron of the arts). That could motivate some real creativity!

[TheProf]

Wouldn't bother

Going by all the crap 'predictions' made in most 'science' fiction the French will soon be preparing to defend themselves from aliens who are here to steal French water, women, brains, gold and cattle intestines.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Wouldn't bother

I was thinking that too. We remember the correct predictions from SF because they came true. We tend to forget about the 99% that didn't come true or are extremely unlikely.

[Mage]

Futurologists & SF writers?

I've read SF for 50 years and I write it. I've also read a lot of nonsense by Futurologists and watched Horizon, Tomorrow's World etc up to 1982.

They are wasting their money. Cheaper to have one person generally expert at science, technology and maths who isn't gullible, paid to read books, journals and browse the internet.

Of course it could be PR. The US has form on this in 1950s.

[Anonymous Coward]

History has shown...

that whenever a government starts to lose the support of it's citizens, a good way to rally the citizens back into cohesion is with a new threat of Fear, Uncertainty and Death ®

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: History has shown...

Yes, I realize that the last word should be "Doubt" but missed my 10 min. edit window.

(But Death works just as well for frightening the plebs)

[DCFusor]

Re: History has shown...

It's more accurate anyway, or at least HL Mencken would agree with it.

And this isn't something said yesterday.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/h_l_mencken_101109

Back in the day, before anywhere near as much PC baloney existed...(in a couple of senses) the saying

was "Fear, uncertainty, and deception" in regards to Microsoft, which entity it was originally coined for. After all, doubt ~- uncertainty. The change was kind of...one of those things like wikipedia edits or a stealthy re-write of history.

[John Brown (no body)]

Wasn't this one of the sub-plots...

...in Nivens & Pournelles Footfall?

[Sanguma]

French Space Farce

I believe that Derek of New Zealand's own Astro-Investigation and Defense Service would be delighted to share the defense of the Earth against the threat of another attempt by that famous interstellar fast food chain Crumb's Crunchy Delights to harvest human flesh for the interstellar fast food market - if he could be found. He's been gone for over thirty years - last seen in the vicinity of Kaihoro near Wellington - and people have started to worry his chain saw will have run out of gas by now and he may himself have been harvested ... meanwhile, Chuck Chunder of the Australian Space Patrol has put in a request for retirement now that the French are proposing their own Space Patrol, complete with Space Cadets and all.

[Long John Brass]

Re: French Space Farce

Thats in rather bad taste :)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: French Space Farce

If it isn't in bad taste, it's failed as a farce.

[Long John Brass]

Re: French Space Farce

You are probably aware; But just in case...

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092610/

[GrumpyKiwi]

Re: French Space Farce

Have a +1 for the Astro-Investigation and Defence Service reference.

"He could be Ministry of Works"

"Nah, he's moving too fast"

Back when Peter Jackson was good.

[amanfromMars 1]

For Proprietary Immaculate Provisioning via OHMS

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[Anonymous Coward]

Re: For Proprietary Immaculate Provisioning via OHMS

Alors, répéter cela en francais et peut-etre nous vous respondons.

[amanfromMars 1]

Re: For Proprietary Immaculate Provisioning via OHMS

Alors, répéter cela en francais et peut-etre nous vous respondons. .... Benson's Cycle

Okay, Benson's Cycle. No sooner said than done ..... courtesy of Google Translate. :-)

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[My-Handle]

Re: For Proprietary Immaculate Provisioning via OHMS

Strangely, that doesn't seem to have lost any clarity in translation.

[Paul Hovnanian]

Threats?

"Well now, Launcelot, Galahad, and I wait until nightfall and then leap out of the rabbit and take the French by surprise, not only by surprise but totally unarmed!"

[Mike 137]

" to brainstorm possible future terrorist attacks"

It's worth noting that when originally coined "brainstorm" meant temporary insanity - "'a succession of sudden and severe paroxysms of cerebral disturbance' (Dorland 1901)" [OED supplement 1933].

"Dorland" refers to the American Illustrated Medical Dictionary

[Toni the terrible]

Why Not Chinese Writers

That person who wrote "DARK FOREST" .....