--- Original Message ---
"Corwyn J. Alambar" <nettiger@best.com> Wrote on
Tue, 7 Nov 2000 13:27:44 -0800 (PST)
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>While too late to do this election, I would propose the following
as the foundation of a "Futurist's Voter's Guide", so that at
the very least these issues are on the table.<
I scratch my head and wonder why these types of questions were
not presented somewhere - somehow - to any and all candidates.
These questions are timely, necessary and, without pause, essential
to our culture and our future.
While role-playing how the candidates might answer these questions,
I laughed in frustration while thinking of Sunday evening's primetime
"Saturday Night Live" comic sketch on the election.
Today I had a tele-conference with Michael Rose (Dept of Ecology
and Evolutionary Biology at UC Irvine). We discussed the issues
and differences our culture is on the precipice of. He talked
to me about how the "economy" had been the key ideological challenge
and fight around the 18th Century - which lasted a few hundred
years between three separate schools of though: the socialists,
the conservatives, and the capitalists. We discussed how we
today are in the beginning midst of a 21st century ideological
challenge between three different schools of thought (to be discussed
later). But it's not the economy at issue but our physical "body"
and how it can and will change and who will want the changes,
who will fight the changes.
It might be a good idea to get your "Futurist's Voter's Guide"
published for the next round.
Natasha
The proposal is this: How do the candidates answer the following
questions:
1) What is your vision of America's place in space in 20 years,
particularly
in the civilian sector?
2) If you had to choose one of the following to come true during
your
administration, what would it be and why?
a) A breakthrogh in life extension technology adding at least
50% to the
lifespan of the average American (to 120 years old)?
b) The establishment of the first permanent civilian habitation
in space?
c) The ability to replace failing organs with new ones grown
from a culture
of that person's own cells?
d) A zero-emissions transportation network that costs about
as much as the
average family car today, per person?
e) The ability to cure all genetic diseases through use of
genetic
engineering technology?
3) In your opinion, what was the most significant scientific
achievement
since 1950, and the impact it has had on you personally, on
the nation,
and on the world as a whole.
4) Based on your answer to number 3, what technology could you
imagine that
would have as far-reaching effect, if not moreso, and what
you would do
to make it a reality.
5) Longevity has been increasing at a surprising rate - 50% over
the 20th
century, and is increasing at a growing rate. Fundamentally,
what it means
to grow old in the modern world is changing dramatically.
What policies
would you enact/rescind/modify to deal with this growing change
in
social demographics and its corresponding effects on all our
lives?
6) Suppose that sometime during your presidency, proof positive
was shown
that we had created a truly artificial intelligence. How
would you handle
the questions that spring from this breakthrough, including
such issues as
citizenship and "human rights" questions, as well as the ethics
of dealing
with this sort of a being.
<-><-><-><-><-><-><->
While this is in no way exhaustive, it is an attempt to offer
a starting
point. The goal is to assess the candidate's positions on futurist
causes, and not their adherence to a particular political or
social
ideology; their party affiliation should tell more about that
than this
questionaire should ask.
Any additions of quesions, etc.? Maybe by the time of the next
major
elections in the US (two years hence - senate and all house races),
this
questionaire can help us get a better view of how these people
will pursue
the policies we hold dear.
-Corey
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