Has science fiction become more than entertainment? In this episode, Tim Brown and Common Core Diva Lynne Taylor explore how ideas once confined to books and movies are increasingly reflected in conversations about artificial intelligence, transhumanism, digital identity, and emerging technologies. As innovations move from fiction into everyday life, this discussion examines how cultural narratives can shape public expectations, influence policy discussions, and frame the future of technology in ways many people never stop to consider.
Resources for the show:
H.G. Wells: 1) https://jacobin.com/2023/07/h-g-wells-socialism-progress-science-fiction
AND https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hg-wells
1a) https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6155&context=atg
AND https://campuspress.yale.edu/modernismlab/h-g-wells/ (Scifi, Fabian Society, Margaret Singer)
Wells as a thief? https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2009/03/31/famous-plagiarists-could-it-happen-today/
2) https://blog.rootsofprogress.org/technocracy-hypothesis
3) How does fiction shape politics and what can we learn from analyzing its impact on public attitudes? — Alliance for Peacebuilding https://share.google/i3h5ku45BtKwc6SLy
4) Who’s afraid of the political novel? An introduction – PMC https://share.google/oRWFgLTTe6sJgBFAG
4a) Speaking of things ‘sci-fi’, how about $300k ‘dogs’ data center developers are trotting out:
https://fortune.com/2026/03/17/robot-dog-patrols-data-centers-ai-infrastructure-buildout/
5) Strange Horizons – Political Agency and Inevitability in Speculative Fiction By Ruthanna Emrys, By Lila Garrott, By Alexis Shotwell https://share.google/nZ0iZu7JL3ClkZgUX
6) Common Core aligned lesson: The War of the Worlds Worksheets, Project, Test | Ereading Worksheets https://share.google/txWZZmaUQEHig4as8
Aldous Huxley:
7) From the National Endowment for Humanities (Common Core aligned entity): https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2015/novemberdecember/feature/the-talented-mr-huxley
7a) “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley (ISBN 978-0-06-053526-1) cites his regard for B.F. Skinner, pages 322 & 323)
8) https://www.audible.com/blog/summary-brave-new-world-by-aldous-huxley
9) Totalitarianism in print:
https://minnesotaenglishjournalonline.org/2020/05/05/aldous-huxleys-brave-new-world-a-cautionary-tale-of-totalitarian-ideology-by-shahin-hossain/
AND
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azDg7L-dFdw
(Note about 12 minutes)
10) Promoting eugenics (nothing new by the government) https://online.ucpress.edu/tph/article/29/3/105/89976/Designing-a-Brave-New-World-Eugenics-Politics-and
AND
https://voegelinview.com/aldous-huxley-political-thought-man-letters/
11) Aldous Huxley and the United Nations: https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/journals/22202293/2018/4/5
AND
https://adametinson.com/Visions%20of%20Human%20Rights%20-%20Writing%20Sample%20-%20Adam%20Etinson.pdf
11a) https://courier.unesco.org/en/articles/defeating-enemies-freedom
11b) The pages from “The Human Situation” (2nd attachment in the email)
12) Common Core spin on Huxley: https://www.socialstudies.com/pdf/CFL332CC.pdfhttps://files.harpercollins.com/HarperAcademic/BraveNewWorld_TeachingGuide_final.pdf
13) BOTH Wells/Huxley: https://scispace.com/pdf/signs-of-the-t-aldous-huxley-high-art-and-american-yzgqo10wx9.pdf
AND
https://www.brlsi.org/proceedings/aldous-huxley-writer-and-prophet/
(Note: pseudo science and psychology usage)
More ties:
https://www.pbs.org/video/what-you-dont-know-about-the-father-of-sci-f-pmoypj/
(Note: this is about 18 minutes)
Workers Education Association is based in the UK: https://www.wea.org.uk/about-us
Related resources:
Technocracy (what I call ‘technocrappiness’):
**Many are beginning to cite resources from the UN about data centers, but are they really fighting them or creating a false illusion of safety so that those opposed and fighting them will be ultimately exposed (hey, it’s a great ‘tin foil hat’ plot).
Check this one out about the technocracy push for more data: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/review-of-international-studies/article/abs/localizing-the-un-2030-agenda-io-technocracys-engagement-with-territorybased-approaches-to-data/3057D98443D34337CEE12B25D5100535
Our friend, Patrick Wood, an expert on technocracy, was interviewed on how technocrappiness ties to data centers:: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/data-centers-draining-the-grid-flock-surveillance-you/id1796245001?i=1000771948034&l=vi
From 2023, the International Political Science Association: https://www.ipsa.org/na/event/rise-digital-technocracy
How did the IPSA play into education? https://www.ipsa.org/about-ipsa/history
“A Patriot’s Handbook” by Caroline Kennedy (ISBN: 0-7868-6918-6)
Oppenheimer AND Einstein’s writings, pages 446-448
(Note: both are considered ‘patriots’)
Tim Brown
#ScienceFiction, #ArtificialIntelligence, #Transhumanism, #FutureTechnology, #CommonCoreDiva, #LynneTaylor, #TechnologyPolicy, #DigitalSociety, #AIEthics, #EmergingTechnology
