72 newyork| november11–24, 2019
ONOCTOBER30,a groupofchantingnursesgathered
outsidea detentionfacility inSanDiego andtriedto
deliverflu-vaccinekitstotheBorderPatrolofficers.They
wereturnedaway,asexpected.TheDepartmentof
HomelandSecurityhaddecidednottovaccinatethe
migrantfamiliesitwasholdingcaptive.Atleast six
detainedchildrenhadalreadydied.Politiciansargued
aboutwhetherit wasfairtorefertodetentioncentersas
“concentrationcamps.”
That washappeningintherealworld.Meanwhile,
inthedystopiannearfuture imaginedbythecreators
oftheBBC-HBOseriesYearsandYears,a populist
demagogueU.K.primeminister,playedbyEmma
Thompson,explainsthat “concentrationcamps”are
justfine.“Let’slookat thewords,”shesays.“Theword
concentrationsimplymeansa concentrationofany-
thing.Youcanfilla campfulloforanges.”Sherecalls
thatFieldMarshalKitchenerinventedconcentration
campsintheBoerWarandtheBritishfoundaneffi-
cientwaytoempty them,too:“Theysimplylet naturetakeitscourse.” Backinreallife,therealU.K.prime
minister, a mop-haireddemagogueplayedbyBoris
Johnson,spoke at theUnitedNationsandwarnedof
“pink-eyedTerminatorssentbackfromthefuture to
cullthehumanrace.”
Realityhasgrownunkindtoourcreatorsofdysto-
pianfiction.It’sstealingtheirthunder. Thescience-
fictionwriterimaginesa darkfuture,thenlooksonin
horrorastheworldhurtlesintoanevendarkerone.As
WilliamGibsonputit tome,“TheZeitgeistfromwhich
I necessarilycarvemy doodleshasgonealladaman-
tine.”Trump’selectionupset Gibson’s planfora sequel
tohis 201 4 near-future dystopia,ThePeripheral.How
washetoincorporate“thissupremelyqueasymoment
inAmericanhistory”?In theforthcomingAgency,our
actualpresidentlurksonlyasa shadow;thebookfea-
turesanalternative-historytimelineinwhichthewin-
nerofthatelectionis a woman,competent,with“afully
functioningStateDepartment,”andevenso,devasta-
tionlooms.OCT 30
Nurses
attempting
todeliver
fluvaccines
tomigrant
familiesare
turnedaway
byBorder
Patrol.
IT ’LL BE
HARDER
TO WRITE
SCIENCE
FICTION
BECAUSE
WE’LL BE
LIVING IT
By James Gleick