andy jennings

"Perilous Republic" $US2.99 : available in all ebook stores  Future fiction starts with a premise. You make some guesses. In "Perilous Republic" I explore the world of Melbourne at the end of the 2020s.  There are some trends, some pressures that I think will be important. Let's start with demographics. As the population ages, we will get to the point where the majority of the population are beyond working age. This is a profound change and has far reaching consequences.  Political parties are in the business of winning elections. If they can do this by handing out money to the majority of old people, then I think they will. Where will they get this money? They might take it from the minority of working age people or they might borrow from the future, which is essentially the same thing. We already see the use of direct election bribes in the early 2020s. It's simple. It works. But in essence it's a violation of the social contract: it puts all of the he...

Cities are growing all over the planet. In considering Melbourne's housing problems, I was momentarily distracted by San Francisco. Seems there has been an influx of some 75 thousand people over the last decade, leading to some well publicised incidents: demonstrations at Google buses, posting of nasty signs. Serious, I thought. Then I realised that Melbourne is growing by some 50 thousand people every year. So where SF has struggled with 75 thousand, Melbourne has somehow dealt with 500 thousand. Wikimedia:  Biatch  at  en.wikipedia Impressive, I thought. Melbourne is successful. In a sense, yes. There are problems with success. It becomes expensive, for one. "The Economist" global housing prices. How can it be that it's more expensive to live in Melbourne than in London? At one level, it is the price of popularity.  How does it do it? Mostly by adding at the edges. The fastest growing areas are in the outer fringes of the city. Great...

In the near future, you might face an interview with a policeman or woman wearing the google glasses. How might it go? First he/she might ask you your name. The glasses have access to images of you from various databases. If you give a false name he will know  straight away. Let's say you are on a train. He might ask where you are off to today. The ticket you carry has a unique number linked to your identity. He will know where you boarded the train.  He might ask where you work. Linked to the tax office database, he will have your complete work history.  What changes with the glasses is the immediacy. Especially in identifying you. Much of crime fiction is nostalgic. Typically (e.g. Rebus) the detective is an older male, quite uncomfortable with technology. He relies on younger people around him to make use of it. Even then, not a great deal of surveillance is employed. There might be some trawling through CCTV footage. Is the past somehow more human? O...