France Is Hiring Sci-Fi Writers to Predict Future Military Threats

They'll "propose scenarios of disruption" to help the military prepare for them.

Paid to Predict

A new job opportunity just opened up for science-fiction writers in France.

In September 2018, the nation launched the Defense Innovation Agency (DIA), an organization designed to essentially do for the French military what DARPA does for the United States — research and develop futuristic technologies.

Now, to help it predict what sorts of technologies it might need in the future — and what sort it might face off against — the agency is turning to an unlikely source of information: sci-fi writers.

Dark Thoughts

According to a newly published DIA report, France wants to assemble a "red team" comprising four to five sci-fi writers and futurologists to "propose scenarios of disruption" the military might not think of.

These scenarios will include potential ways terrorists or enemy governments might take advantage of advanced technology, according to a new BBC story, which notes that the sci-fi supergroup will use role playing and other techniques to figure out its predictions.

Basically, it seems France wants the creatives to imagine how the future could go really wrong so that the nation can stay one step ahead of any trouble — and really, who better to envision dystopia than a team of science-fiction scribes?

READ MORE: French sci-fi team called on to predict future threats [BBC News]

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