Sci-fi Writers partner with UK Ministry of Defence to envision future warfare

Science fiction has always had the power to predict future technology. Now, two sci-fi writers, Peter Warren Singer and August Cole, have teamed up with the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) to create a collection of short stories that imagine future wars. 

The MOD’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) branch commissioned the project. The authors produced eight short stories exploring the potential threats and opportunities emerging technologies may present over the next two decades.

Each of the eight stories examines and applies a specific technology to the battlefield, exploring the geopolitical conflicts that could arise due to radical shifts in green technologies. The authors take inspiration from historical events, such as the two World Wars, with several stories referencing them, including the recovery of the Enigma Machine and the Christmas Day football match. 

The stories are written in various formats, including first- and third-person narratives, newspaper clippings, and obituaries.

The DSTL believes that fiction writers can help to imagine the unimaginable, making such scenarios useful for defence planning. 

Singer and Cole have experience in security subjects and modern warfare. They are proponents of ‘Fictional Intelligence’ (FicInt), which combines fiction writing with intelligence to imagine future scenarios grounded in reality. 

The hope is that the stories will be entertaining and informative, allowing readers to learn about the transformative potential of some technologies and how they could shape future conflicts.

The first story in the collection, A Glimmer of Hope, explores the potential role of quantum computing in future conflicts and how it could give one nation an advantage over another. 

In A Model Peace, the unethical and dominating ways in which companies and nations use data and data modelling are highlighted. 

Chasing Glory examines the threats and opportunities that could arise from new computer paradigms through the broadcast of a digital journalist on an uncrewed supply convoy being attacked.

Measure of the Mind takes a unique perspective, presenting a research report on a world leader carried out by an AI system and exploring how cyberpsychology could be used to manipulate and predict people's thoughts. 

The AI of Beresford Bridge further explores the potential of AI, while Silent Skies analyzes the damage that autonomous drone technology could cause. 

Green Wars considers the impacts of a societal shift towards net-zero carbon dioxide emissions on geopolitics. 

Finally, The Solstice Cup focuses on human enhancement, describing how advanced soldiers called ‘perfs’ play football with Russian enemies while bounding across the pitch at 30 miles per hour.

According to the Chief Scientific Advisor to the MOD, Dame Angela McLean, the defence industry should tap into the creativity and vision of the fiction sector to encourage foresight and innovation to create agile and resilient solutions for the future. 

These stories aim to help the MOD prepare for future conflicts by imagining the potential threats and opportunities that emerging technologies may present. 

By exploring settings and characters who share research ideas, readers can learn about the transformative potential of emerging technologies and how they could shape future conflicts.

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