The bounties are a supercharged step up from what I imagined in "The Elder Colossus." Bad idea, good logical extrapolation process (though separating the two seems impossible).
I'm afraid I have a monkey wrench to throw into your story: how does the client who placed the bounty know who to pay? In Wright's scenario, there were public prediction markets, where many people would place bets that a given assassination would take place before a certain deadline. When the assassination did take place, everyone who had placed a bet got paid, including the actual assassin. Nobody has to know anybody and there are many people who get money afterward. That would preclude the sort of solution you write about, although maybe your heroes could target the prediction markets, themselves. I'd sure love to prevent Wright's cheap-drone-bullet apocalypse.
The premise is that the assassin provides "proof of work" that the deed was done (video, news story, police report?) and that unlocks the escrowed funds. So the first the client hears about the assassination is notification that payment was made. Not being a crypto genius, I don't know how to make that work. Hopefully no one will. Hence the header image.
I’m beginning to think we should stop writing cautionary tales. We’re just giving them ideas.
Unfortunately, it may be too late. This story is a response to someone else's cautionary tale, John C. Wright's "Peter Power Armor."
Just finished reading. Great story and chillingly plausible.
Thank you!
This is disturbing, but given the premises, which set of evils are the lesser?
I find the solution unsatisfactory, but that title was taken.
Oh. That's beautiful.
I read the story with that title early in my sf-reading days. 😁
Next step, the SCIW forms a subsidiary: Mercenaries On Demand
Mission creep is everywhere.
The bounties are a supercharged step up from what I imagined in "The Elder Colossus." Bad idea, good logical extrapolation process (though separating the two seems impossible).
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/all-tomorrows-futures-benjamin-greenaway/1144974464
https://randallhayes.substack.com/p/all-tomorrows-futures
Thanks, I picked up the collection (though it's going to take a while to work its way through the queue). It's a hard problem.
Oh, dude, I have so many unread books.
Chilling and very good story!
“Ah, 1984, an instructional manual for government officials”
I'm afraid I have a monkey wrench to throw into your story: how does the client who placed the bounty know who to pay? In Wright's scenario, there were public prediction markets, where many people would place bets that a given assassination would take place before a certain deadline. When the assassination did take place, everyone who had placed a bet got paid, including the actual assassin. Nobody has to know anybody and there are many people who get money afterward. That would preclude the sort of solution you write about, although maybe your heroes could target the prediction markets, themselves. I'd sure love to prevent Wright's cheap-drone-bullet apocalypse.
The premise is that the assassin provides "proof of work" that the deed was done (video, news story, police report?) and that unlocks the escrowed funds. So the first the client hears about the assassination is notification that payment was made. Not being a crypto genius, I don't know how to make that work. Hopefully no one will. Hence the header image.