The social ramifications of technological advancements are the bread and butter of the SF, but the tendency for SF authors to leave out a large amount of the political ramifications, is the current and most disturbing short coming. I am referring here to singularity fiction.
Not only is the political aspects of the singularity virtually ignored in the process, but when it comes to the post-human trend (personality uploads, etc.) the ubiquitous nature of this advancement is what is usually played up. The problem with this is the shirking class. The majority of the world is poor, and thus, the majority of the world would be unable to make the transition from human to post-human. Much like the current trends in life-extension and cryogenics being the playground of the rich and powerful, the post-human experience will be one undertaken by the elite of society, not the rank-and-file.
All new concepts and technology bering with them the specter of abuse by the powerful. In this aspect of the singularity, you would have the rich and powerful--as computer uploaded, computer-based beings--doing what they always do: rule over the common man with an iron fist.
Just as newsreels, movies, print, and the internet itself found themselves to be tools used by the powerful to propagandize the masses, the post-human era would be the first true era complete, permanent despotic, fascist rule. The elite leaders of the world would not fear assassination, revolution or dissent. They would be the first true totalitarians who would live in impenetrable castles.
Nero, Franco, Hitler and Stalin had much more to fear from the world around them than, say, an uploaded personality structure of Dick Cheney, ruling the country from a harddrive in an undisclosed location (Greenbrier Hotel).
This is were dystopian literature can enlighten the current trend of post-singularity SF as being rather benign. Because SF should be used as a warning to the present, and not an optimistic-technology-can-save-us-all cure-all, SF authors should look beyond the singularity, beyond the obscure economic theory, and show their readership what can happen when new technology is taken by governments who feel their grip on power being taken away and decentralized. In the age of RFID-traced passports, gps-enabled cellular phones, traffic cameras, hard-to-get driver's licenses, etc. the only thing we have to fear is the technology that surrounds us, and its misuse by the powers that be.
Because of the lack of universality in current SF fiction, these problems are not being addressed. The government is an organ of society that is ignored, derided and treated as if it is a non-issue. This should not be the case. We are living in a Cyberpunk 1984, surrounded by high tech trappings that ensconce us in a datastream that is traceable by the panopticon of government. As corporations, through lobbying and special-interest groups, think tanks, etc. gain more and more favor in the halls of the governmental system, they will become power hungry, and in this hunger, they will not be satisfied with staying independent money-making entities; they will eventually enfranchise themselves into the very system of government that controls us all. The cyberpunk ideal of corporations as entities that are more powerful than governments is mostly a short-sighted cold war concept; soon enough the governments will become corporations. Democracy brought to you by Coca Cola and Sony. And in this money-drenched dystopia, the human element becomes one or corporate commodity; society as a giant company town. We are but a few generations away from West Virginia Coal Wars part 2, but on a global scale, and with much more at stake than getting paid in actual money and an 8-hour work day.
The very freedom and liberty that is the basis of the modern (western) world will soon be trumped by the almighty dollar, much in the way science trumped faith in the age of enlightenment.
The economics of the future will be in the trading of control, much in the way it is now, but we will be embedded in world of state capitalism. Stalinesque Sovietism the sequel, but instead of the overlying dogma of the empowered masses, it will be the covenant of the corporate state--everything in its right place for the advancement of the societal credit rating. When ever action a citizen/employee takes has ramifications upon their overall credit rating (cash economies gone the way of the dodo bird), there can be no freedom of conscience, no freedom of speech, no freedom at all except to pursue credit for the sake of the state. If all the gears in an engine put power to the wheel,s then the engine is working. Do not worry about the current international crisis, just go buy stuff--but don't buy the WRONG stuff. Nothing used, nothing imported independently. Do not date outside your socio-economic strata, do not move out of the subburbs.
If you must imagine the future, imagine a quarterly credit report stamping on a human face forever.
