Everyone remembers the story “A Logic Named Joe” which describe a primitive internet, but here’s a story that forecast election tampering, woo sites, etc.
“I remember Babylon” by Arthur C. Clarke. To paraphrase Wikipedia:
The story takes the form of a non-fiction article by Clarke in which he warns the United States that the People’s Republic of China is planning to launch a communications satellite to broadcast directly to Americans. The satellite will offer an uncensorable mix of pornography , gore and photographic evidence from the Nuremberg trials - (as a come-on for), communist propaganda. The American who reveals the plan to Clarke boasts that “History is on our side. We’ll be using America’s own decadence as a weapon against her, and it’s a weapon for which there’s no defence”.
For a WWII equivalent, see the non-fiction book “Black Boomerang” by Sefton Delmer
" Scientists release a substance into the atmosphere to block the suns rays to combat global warming;"
No need to do that, just wait for a big volcanic eruption. The effects usually only last a few years. although I have seen reports that a mega-volcano such as Yellowstone would have much more dramatic effects and for far longer.
Blocking or obscuring the sun could well be possible, but an article somewhere (was in the New Scientist?) said that the real issue is to reduce CO2 levels.
Various other ideas have been mooted, such as initiating more cloud cover to reduce the amount of solar radiation. The question here is whether more clouds might lock in the heat.
There is so much controversy surrounding human police that a robotic police force may eventually be inevitable. The argument would be that they wouldn’t feel the fear that sometimes provokes police into firing prematurely. They would have a wider spectrum of vision, which would allow them to determine much more accurately whether or not a suspect has a weapon. In fact, they could even be programmed to allow the suspect to fire first, thus removing all doubt regarding their use of force. As machines, they would have a uniform methodology that wouldn’t be affected by the race, gender, or religion of suspects.
It sounds like I’m touting this to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, and the OP asked for “bad ideas”. That’s because I truly believe that, despite its seemingly good points, the whole project would go sideways very badly.
Unless designed specifically otherwise. Which is a distinct possibility.
As you say, the list of reasons why your bad suggestion is a good example of a bad suggestion just keeps getting longer.
Nonsense. The police department budget is only so big. Every police droid that somebody shoots up for fun is another one the police need to repair or replace. As a present day real-world example, try vandalizing a known-to-be-unoccupied police car and see how happy the department (and their employees) is/are with you.
Good point. At the same time you could expect someone vandalizing a cop car to be grabbed, perhaps thrown to the ground, arm(s) twisted, etc., in the course of stopping their attack on the car and arresting them for destruction of property.
To be sure, this might well reduce the number of people police shoot. Not nearly as bad an idea as I at first thought.
I have on occasion posited that if an enemy ever wanted to rouse the Third World against the US, all they’d have to do would be to broadcast episodes of Man v. Food in those countries. Imagine someone in, say, Africa watching Americans attempt to eat hamburgers the size of their heads and wasting half of it. They’d start a terrorist movement on the spot.
