Well, yes, those Sci-Fi dystopias

Charlie Stross tells us of how:

SF is a profoundly ideological genre—it’s about much more than new gadgets or inventions. Canadian science-fiction novelist and futurist Karl Schroeder has told me that “every technology comes with an implied political agenda.”

Well, yes, we’d run with that. Although we’d go further, a major strand of Sci-Fi is exploring the political agendas, even outcomes, that might come from a specific technological change. Many of which do become dystopias of course - partly that’s because “and then everything was lovely” isn’t a hugely gripping storyline.

But OK, there’s a lot of politics in there, at least there’s a lot of discussion of politics in there:

Science fiction (SF) influences everything in this day and age, from the design of everyday artifacts to how we—including the current crop of 50-something Silicon Valley billionaires—work. And that’s a bad thing: it leaves us facing a future we were all warned about, courtesy of dystopian novels mistaken for instruction manuals.

Which, well, we doubt we share many political thoughts or ideals with Mr. Stross so let’s just say that’s possible. But then Sci-Fi really has discussed many of the available dystopias along the way. Possibly the grandaddy of the genre, “We”, tells before the event how Stalinism isn’t going to work. “Brave New World” can obviously be read as a warning about the then very fashionable in left wing circles eugenics programmes (the Fabians were virtually founded upon the idea).

More recently “Fallen Angels” can be read as a warning of actually allowing any greens, anywhere, to hold the controlling reins of politics. There have been novels about how the govt of Earth tried to strangle any freedom among the space colonies by denying water for reaction mass (again, cod-green arguments) so they go corral a moon of Saturn. A whole series that has the UN controlling all new technologies.

Our point here is not that Mr. Stross is wrong in identifying some dystopias that result from a possible excess of corporate power. Rather, that the universe explored also includes those with an excess of government control. Which brings us to this:

We were warned about the ideology driving these wealthy entrepreneurs by Timnit Gebru, former technical co-lead of the ethical artificial intelligence team at Google and founder of the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (DAIR), and Émile Torres, a philosopher specializing in existential threats to humanity.

Gebru is famous among those who pay attention to these things for insisting that AI cannot be allowed unless it accords to her definitions of what is moral. It must include - work by, produce outcomes that lead to - equity, for example. But as the universe is inequitable by those current standards of how equity is defined - equal outcomes - Gebru’s definition insists upon the only AI we’re allowed being an AI that doesn’t work. For it doesn’t describe, start from, the world that exists, it becomes a projection of the desired world. Desired by a certain set of morals and ethical stance, not a building upon what is extant.

We’d argue that the dystopias for us to avoid as described in Sci-Fi are not those in which Marc Andreessen gets to cackle at us mere mortals from his private space station. Rather, those in which bureaucrats prevent private space stations from ever existing.

But that there is to betray - just as we insist Mr. Stross is doing - our own ideological biases.

The real point we want to make here is that yes, Sci-Fi, among other things, explores dystopias. But many dystopias, formed by different stretches and exaggerations of current society and technology. They’re by no means all - or even mostly - about an excess of capitalist, corporate or even market power. There are many about that potential excess of state, bureaucratic and just plain foolish power too.

SciFi doesn’t tell us to worry purely about the current crop of Silicon Valley capitalists. It tells us to worry about all who would direct our society. A little more equity from Mr. Stross and others in the dangers faced here would be welcome. For we’re really very certain indeed that the potential dangers do not stem merely from those trying to make a buck or a billion.