We synthetically experience futures we want-or want to avoid -understanding the human stakes in a different and more compelling way. By creating empathy with characters and immersing the reader into a situation or setting, stories also spark emotions in a way that bullet points and numbers cannot. Yet humans understand not just through thinking but feeling too. This also provides a kind of “red teaming,” in which lessons can be learned by shifting points of view or injecting a complication into a best-laid plan. Characters become guides through whose eyes and other senses we literally experience key concepts. A reader is far more likely to be able to put new information into context and understand it through a synthetic experience. Shaped literally by our human evolution, our brains engage with story in ways that make it an ideal means for conveying new or complex information, be it the possibilities of truly creative AI or the terminologies explaining quantum engineering. As such, organizations ranging from NATO Allied Command Transformation to United States Special Operations Command to the Australian Defence College have commissioned such projects as a means to envision the future operating environment, highlight disruptive trends from new technologies and geopolitical shifts, and spur conversation and debate about the future of professional military education. The value of useful fiction lies not merely in its greater engagement, but in how it promotes understanding, action, and connection. In this collection, for instance, we draw out the insights of Dstl research and experts, but share them through character-driven stories. This makes it different from both traditional white papers and science fiction. Much like any research endeavour, useful fiction expressly draws upon fact and the “rules of the real” while conveying insight through narrative. A blend of fact-based research, scientific grounding, and envisioning, this approach fuses together the process and rigour of non-fiction analysis with the communications techniques honed by creative communities. Today we can use story’s latest evolution, called “useful fiction,” to explain and explore the most important elements of these combined technological and human futures. While technologies like PowerPoint, so common for sharing ideas in defence and security communities, are only three decades old, narrative has been used to convey human conflict throughout the entire arc of human history, dating back to the very first conversations held around a fire in Paleolithic caves. Indeed, how different will future conflicts look when quantum technologies or new energy paradigms become as commonplace as smart phones? Or when algorithms decide military manoeuvres or even diplomatic forays?Īnd yet, one of the most promising “technologies” to explore these futures may be the oldest communication technology of all: Story. But it must do so in an era where any given technological breakthrough-be that artificial intelligence ( AI) or bioengineering-regularly seems to disrupt centuries of accepted thinking on everything from military doctrine to the laws of war. Its challenge is to both shape and understand what lies ahead in matters of defence and security. This is especially true for organisations like Dstl. It is also what often makes their effects so difficult to accurately project. The human, or socio-technical, element is what makes these technologies matter. What we do have, however, is a greater appreciation for the importance of the interaction between technologies, politics, economics, and societies. Professor Dame Angela McLean - Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence Prefaceįor all of our technological advancement in the 21st century, we still do not have a crystal ball for unveiling the future. I am sure you will find their stories enthralling and inspirational. Thinking the unimaginable is simply a day in the office for these talented sci-fi writers … who wouldn’t want to hear what people like that have to say? The writers of this genre have been years ahead of their time in predicting the modern world around us from the internet and mobile phones to the electric submarine and driverless cars.ĭefence needs to harness the creativity and vision of this sector to further stimulate foresight and innovation to develop agile and resilient solutions for the future. The world-class teams at Dstl work with the top minds from across military, academia, industry … and now science fiction. It is vital in this endeavour to look beyond the horizon at the threats and opportunities that various futures may present. Dstl provides the science inside UK defence and security and creates generation after next technology.
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