Fifty Degrees Below - Kim Stanley Robinson [91]
Back to the office, glancing briefly at the Tibetan language cheat-sheet they had given her. “The tide rises in six hours. The waves are hollow when the tide ebbs.”
In the next meeting with Diane and Frank, Anna brought to the screen another web page she had found. This one was on FCCSET, the Federal Coordinating Council on Science, Engineering and Technology.
“What’s this?” Frank said as he read over her shoulder. “Fuck set?”
“No, they pronounced it Fix-it,” laughing.
“Oh right, so very clever these acronyms. I like DICE, Dynamic Integrated Model of Climate and the Economy, where you just skip the M.”
“Fix-it was a program that looked at scientific problems and tried to identify already-existing federal programs that could match up with other programs, to work together on particular problems.”
“So what killed it?”
“How do you know it got killed?”
Frank just looked at her.
“Well, it was a matter of money, I guess. Or control. The programs identified as worthy by Fix-it were automatically funded by the Office of Management and Budget. There was an OMB person sitting in on all the Fix-it meetings, and if the program was approved then it was funded.”
“Now that’s power!”
“Yes. But too much power, in the end. Because the top people in the agencies being identified didn’t like getting funding like that. It took away from their control over the purse strings.”
“Oh for Christ’s sake. Is that really why it ended?”
“Apparently. I mean it didn’t end, but it had that budgetary power taken away. So, I’m wondering if we could get Congress to bring it back.”
“Worth a try,” Diane judged.
Frank was still shaking his head. “Territoriality really does run deep. They might as well be peeing around the edges of their building.”
“I guess.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“I don’t know. It’s a theory. Anyway, I think we should try to reintroduce this program. You’d be able to get agencies all across the board coordinated. What if they were all doing parts of the same large project?”
Frank’s eyebrows were arched. “Talk about a theory. This is Bob’s Manhattan Project idea again.”
“Well, the method is there,” Anna claimed. “Potentially, anyway. What if you could get a proposal funded through all those agencies, using Fix-it as a coordinating committee?”
Diane liked the idea. “We need Congress to put it in place, obviously. I’ll talk to Sophie.”
After a moment’s silence Frank said, “We could really use a president with that in his platform.”
“Unlikely,” Diane judged.
Frank scowled. “I don’t see why. What century do people think they’re living in?”
Anna and Diane shared a look, anticipating a rant, but Frank saw it and said, “Well, but why? Why why why? We should have a scientist candidate for president, some emeritus biggie who can talk, explaining what the scientific approach would be, and why. A candidate using ecological theory, systems theory, what-have-you, in-out throughputs, some actual economics. . . .”
Diane was shaking her head. “Who exactly would that be?”
“I don’t know, Richard Feynman?”
“Deceased.”
“Stephen Hawking.”
“British, and paralyzed. Besides, you know those emeritus guys. There isn’t a single one of them who could go through the whole process without, I don’t know. . . .”
“Exploding?” Anna suggested.
“Yes.”
“Make up a candidate,” Anna said. “What science would do if it were in the White House.”
“Like Nick’s Swiss