Dr. Natasha Bajema interviews Justin Sherman, a Cybersecurity Fellow at New America and a junior at Duke University. They talk about the Internet, cybersecurity and governance.

• My headline for this week is a blog post from the Mad Scientist blog entitled “Science Fiction’s Hidden Codes” by Lt Col David Calder. 
  • In this piece, he discusses the important role of science fiction in helping us think through alternate realities as a result of technological and societal drivers.
  • Of course, if you’ve been listening to this podcast, you know this topic is near and dear to my heart.
• Lt Col Calder talks about how the science fiction genre is moving away from recent decades of space operas and alien dramas and moving back to its roots where the genre explores hopes and fears about the future of society, technology and war.
• Science fiction is booming. Unit sales have doubled between 2010 to 2017. I think it’s because more and more people are trying to find a way to cope with the rapid technological advances in today’s world
• One of the reasons I started writing fiction is my desire for impact.
  • There is also increasing interest in science fiction among policymakers and military leaders. For example, Major General Ryan, Commander of the Australian Defence College, uses science fiction in his work to explore the character and nature of future warfare. And of course, the U.S. Army leverages science fiction to imagine future battlefields through the Mad Scientist Laboratory. 
  • In fact, they often run science fiction short story contests. If you haven’t already checked them out, take a look at their website at madsciblog.tradoc.army.mil
  • In addition to their blog, they offer an amazing selection of videos of subject matter experts talking about future technology.