Infomocracy

2016 Older, Malka [Ann] (b. 1977). Infomocracy. New York: Tom Doherty Associates. An excerpt was published in People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction! Ed. Nalo Hopkinson and Kristine Ong Muslim. Special Issue of Lightspeed, no. 73 (June 2016): 304-10. PSt

First volume of a trilogy that illustrates the problems of establishing and maintaining eutopia based on a world-wide electoral system that fosters micro-democracies. Among the problems are corruption and political maneuvering among the groups vying for electoral success at the level of global government. The title suggests a central theme, the importance of the control of information. In the second volume is Null States: The Centenal Cycle, Book 2. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2017, three different plots, in Darfur, Geneva, and Central Asia, pose challenges to the system. As the title suggests, in the final volume, State Tectonics: The Centenal Cycle, Book 3. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2018, the various groups vying for power produce something of an earthquake, and, at the end, there is many more sources of information. Whether this is good or not is left unclear. The Latinx female author has a doctorate from the Centre de Sociologie des Organisations in Paris and has been a Senior Fellow for Technology and Risk Management at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. See her brief statement “Thirsty for New” in People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction! Ed. Nalo Hopkinson and Kristine Ong Muslim. Special Issue of Lightspeed, no. 73 (June 2016): 396-97.