The Experimental Committee: US Presidential Advisory Committee on Technological Development MUNUC 33
1 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
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Dear Delegates,
Welcome to MUNUC 33! My co-executive Kelsey and I are incredibly excited to welcome you both to MUNUC and, more specifically, to MUNUC’s first-ever Experimental Committee. We hope that the committee structure we have designed for you will be challenging and fun, and most importantly that this weekend will be one to remember.
My name is Max Johnson, and I am a fourth-year at the University of Chicago. I study pure mathematics and my end-goal is to become a research professor in Algebraic Topology. This year I will be applying to graduate schools and will soon be learning where I will be headed next year for my Ph.D. Outside of mathematics, I am an avid rock climber and overall fan of the outdoors. I love to travel and try to knock countries off my bucket list as often as possible.
You are all ahead of me in Model UN: I did not start until I was in college. I started off all-in; however, and in my first year I was a member of the competitive team, an AC for ChoMUN (the college conference), and an admin staffer for MUNUC. I have since run several committees at the college and middle school level, but because I was on the Executive Committee for MUNUC last year, this is my first high school committee. I hope you will all go easy on me!
In general, I think people would consider me a fairly light hearted and laid-back moderator. That said, I do think that order and respect are necessary for a fun Model UN experience. I ask that you all allow me to moderate with a light touch by agreeing with those norms and the ones set out later in this background guide!
I can’t wait to meet you all!
Max J. 2 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 LETTER FROM THE CRISIS DIRECTOR
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Dear Delegates,
Max and I are ecstatic to welcome you to the first iteration of the MUNUC Experimental committee! We’re excited to delve into this fast-paced exploration of science policy and alternate American history, and I can’t wait to see what delegates bring to the table backroom.
A bit about me: I’m a third-year at the University of Chicago majoring in Molecular Engineering, Physics, and Creative Writing. At the time I’m writing this letter, I’m also trying to add Gender and Sexuality Studies, so stay tuned for details on how many theses I’ll be working on next year. I do physics research and over the past few years I’ve jumped from solar cells to batteries to bug eyes to satellites to levitating particles. I’ve also been doing MUN for, like, forever, and it’s a huge part of my life. I serve as Vice President of the UChicago MUN traveling team, and as an executive for ChoMUN, our collegiate conference. Outside of school and MUN, I love to write poetry and fiction, and I’ve recently gotten very into audiobooks-- I listen while cooking, while in the shower, and while playing copious amounts of Wizard101.
I grew up right outside of DC and I’ve worked for NASA for some time, so the intersection of politics and technology hits quite close to home. That being said, I’m really looking forward to seeing delegates’ visions for the committee’s trajectory, and I encourage everyone to develop expressive, bold arcs that they can get excited about. I cannot, cannot emphasize enough how much I want delegates to integrate their own interests and big questions into their backroom. The mechanics of this committee are designed to allow delegates to experiment, and we encourage everyone to focus on long-term arc elements that they normally wouldn’t get to do in standard continuous crisis committees.
This committee will be fast paced and more challenging than a normal continuous crisis in many regards. We recommend this committee for students who have done at least one crisis committee before and have a general sense of how continuous crisis works. I will be going over my expectations
3 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 for crisis notes and crisis arcs at the beginning of the committee and I will be available to answer questions and give feedback all weekend. However, I encourage you to prepare ahead of time and have a sense of what you and your character might want to do over the course of the few decades we’ve outlined in the background guide. To this end, please check out the crisis preparation modules on the MUNUC website.
I can’t wait to meet you all.
Best regards,
Kelsey Gilchrist, Crisis Director
4 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 DELEGATE EXPECTATIONS
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To ensure your committee can be a fun and comfortable experience for all delegates, we would like to set some norms and expectations. Both your Dais and MUNUC itself heavily condemn all forms of homophobia, sexism, racism, transphobia, and general prejudice. While we hope this goes without saying, we also realize that one cannot discuss several decades of history without entering time periods in which these issues were central and unequivocally important.
We ask that these issues be engaged with respectfully, if at all. Most importantly, if you are unsure whether you are engaging with such a topic respectfully, we ask that you either refrain from doing so or clarify with the Dais. We have intentionally designed our committee so that you can be fully immersed in the topics at hand without straying into potentially problematic territory. We encourage you to do so!
Of even more importance is treating your fellow delegates with respect. We would like to avoid any personal insults and keep roleplay friendly. No one in committee should ever be confused as to whether a remark was intentionally offensive, and this is the standard with which we will evaluate these cases, if necessary. Of course, arguing over policies and roleplay-based feuds is part of a fun crisis committee. We ask that it be clear that such conversation is entirely unserious outside of the context of the committee.
The most important rule is that if you are unsure whether a comment, directive, note, or speech will be offensive, refrain from doing so at least until you can speak with a member of the Dais. The backroom especially will take this very seriously, and we would prefer to avoid having to shut down a problematic crisis arc.
In terms of competitive expectations, this committee was designed to challenge delegates to really focus on long term crisis plans with overarching themes and goals. Delegates will be rewarded for plans that have a clear vision and motivation and plans for which there was clear forethought in how to develop the arc over time periods.
5 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 COMMITTEE MECHANICS
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Mechanics
Given the extraordinary timespan of this committee, one might think of each committee session in two distinct ways. For the majority of each session, the committee will be a regular crisis committee. Crises will occur, driven by a combination of your own notes and backroom input, and you will work together to write directives to solve them. Time will flow normally during these portions of session.
Committee sessions serve a second purpose, however. In between certain sessions there will be significant time skips. The world you have so far built will evolve based on the decisions you have made. These updates will be presented to you as one big crisis update at the beginning of the next session.
While the executives of your committee will write the overall story of what occurs in between sessions, you will each be given a chance to more explicitly control what will occur in your personal backroom schemes. This will be done through a ‘Big Ask Note’ (explained in detail below) in which you will be allowed to make larger, more complicated requests that might reasonably occur over a several-year period.
Time Skips (Frontroom)
The majority of the front-room experience will reflect that of a normal crisis committee. The only exception to this will occur at the very beginning of each new time period, following a time-skip. At this time the backroom will present a lengthier version of a crisis break in which we brief you on what has occurred in the elapsed time between sessions, inform you of new consequences of the decisions you made in previous sessions, and present the overarching challenges and technologies you will be confronting in the new time period. Following this update, you will, of course, be allowed to ask questions and clarify your new situation. This update will also include an urgent crisis for you to
6 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 immediately act upon. Committee will then continue in a standard way as you write directives and respond to updates.
Time Skips (Backroom)
The backroom will progress normally during most of the sessions as well. Unless you are asked to specifically write a note for an upcoming time skip, you should write notes as normal, using resources you have collected to execute plans, gather more resources, or otherwise influence the world around you. The main difference will be that directly before we change time periods, you will be given time to focus on writing a longer, more detailed note in which you plan to do with your resources during the time that elapses in between sessions. Before writing the note, you will be given a general overview of when the next committee session will take place. Additionally, we will give hints about what will have changed from known history.
These notes can make larger requests that one might normally expect in a standard committee as you should think of it as occurring on a several-year timeline. For example, one might reasonably spread a movement across several states or countries, drastically increase the size of an army, or rapidly produce a new technology during one of our time skips, whereas such feats would normally require several notes to accomplish in a standard committee.
Your Character
Of course, no one expects a cabinet member to stay in office for thirty years. In fact, a cabinet member is lucky if they remain through all eight years of a presidency, let alone being retained for several. As a result, we will be slightly smudging who exactly each of you is. As far as mechanics relevant to the committee go, you will retain the same title, powers, motivations, and basic character traits during each time period. Moreover, you will remain in control of all of your backroom resources, and will still be credited with all of your previous frontroom initiatives. As far as the mechanics go then, you will be safe in pretending that you are simply a single person with a long tenure in office. You may carry your ideologies and opinions over with you between time skips.
7 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 An important note here is that there are no bios attached to your characters. Part of the exercise of this committee is creating something brand new, with no template. Although the powers of your role in the US government are defined, your personality and history are up to you. This allows for significant creativity, but certainly try to keep things reasonable. If your first note asserts that your character has already spent years stockpiling nuclear warheads, it will be shot down. However, perhaps you have some interesting connections or backstory. The role is set, but the character is yours to establish.
The President
As a cabinet, however, you work for a President, and Presidents change. The role will be taken by the Chair of the committee, who will, of course, be in-room with you as you debate. While the president will not take an active role in these debates or in the crafting and passing of directives (as in a normal committee), the President will still be an important part of the world around you that you will be expected to contend with. In particular, while cabinet members are selected by the President, Presidents themselves are elected by the people and come in with a platform.
Depending on your actions in previous sessions and how the general populace responds to what you do, the Chair may become a new President and inform you at the beginning of session that they expect a new direction or that they have particular beliefs. These should be thought of as representing the people at large who elected the president, and presidential responses will be packages with normal updates to inform you of how you are functioning not only in governing a country but also in furthering the agenda of the President you ostensibly serve.
As always in crisis, you will be free to follow the guidance of the President, reject it outright, work against it in the backroom, or otherwise interact with it however you see fit. Keep in mind, however, that as a representative of the people, ignoring this guidance may cause not only the executive themself to be upset, but also those they represent.
8 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 COMMITTEE TIMELINE
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Note: Date ranges are estimates, and real committee pace may vary depending on engagement in the content, committee actions, and delegate arcs. However, you will be given an update at the end of each session going over the approximate timeframe and potential topics of discussion for the next session. At the beginning of each session, the previous session’s events will be reviewed and their impact on the present session will be revealed.
Since this is a continuous crisis, there will be updates throughout normal committee proceedings; for the purpose of this outline, we are highlighting the large logistical updates that are meant to give you a sense of time and allow you to plan for future committee events, given the potential for this committee to divert slightly from history. During this time we will clarify events that have happened and take questions from delegates about committee structure and themes going forward.
• Friday
o Committee Session I
▪ Start date: mid-1950s
▪ Events from: 1950s- 1960s
▪ Plan:
▪ Committee overview, intro to Crisis
▪ Committee proceedings
▪ Big Update and “Big Ask” note (last 5-10 min)
[Time Skip]
• Saturday
o Committee Session II
▪ Start date: 1970
9 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 ▪ Events from: 1970s-1980s
▪ Plan:
▪ Big Update
▪ Normal Committee
▪ Big Update and “Big Ask” Note (last 5-10 min)
[Time Skip]
o Committee session III
▪ Start date: 1990
▪ Events from: 1990s-2000s
▪ Plan:
• Big Update
• Normal Committee
• Big update and “Big Ask” note (last 5-10 min)
[Time Skip]
o Committee Session IV
▪ Start date: 2010
▪ Events from 2010-2017
▪ Plan:
• Big Update
• Normal Committee
• Big update and “Big Ask” note (last 5-10 min)
[Time Skip]
• Sunday
10 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 o Committee Session V
▪ Starts 2017- i.e. Present day
▪ Plan:
▪ Big update
▪ Normal Committee
▪ A zoom break in the middle
▪ Big update and final notes
[Potential time skip, depending on committee progression]
o Committee Session VI
▪ Start Date: whenever we leave off
▪ Seeing the effects of the culminating events
▪ Plan:
• Final Update
• FunMUN
11 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 TOPIC OVERVIEW
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Throughout American history, changes in technology and science have forced governments to adapt quickly to draft laws to regulate unforeseen technologies, fight wars with weapons never before seen, and protect the populace from the dangers posed by even the most well-intentioned inventions. Moreover, in the United States, it has been historically difficult to reconcile these new governmental responsibilities with a population that believes strongly in preserving personal freedoms. For example, regardless of one’s position on the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, it is most likely that it’s writers could not predict the destructive power that even the simplest of firearms have in the 21st century compared to the contemporary arms at the time of writing.
Additionally, communication between the academic community and government officials is often neglected in favor of band-aid solutions. A very recent and poignant example of this communication failure is COVID-19’s devastation of the United States’ healthcare system. For years, especially following SARS in 2003 and H1N1 in 2009, healthcare experts and scientists have warned federal and state governments that our healthcare system and emergency supplies would not be enough to deal with and fight off a serious outbreak or pandemic. Clearly, the consequences of such a blatant disregard of warnings and our general lack of preparation have been disastrous. Climate change is another relevant example of a disconnect between academics and government officials. These situations are not unique, as it is understandably difficult to write laws that regulate technology and address scientific concerns. Most lawmakers do not have a scientific background, and complex, substantive debate often goes unappreciated by the general US voting body. Not to mention, laws become outdated or insufficient as technology becomes more sophisticated, so this area of law requires near-constant reevaluation and upkeep that is difficult to pull off in a legislative body.
However, not all is lost. By devoting the necessary attention to the government’s relationship with science, we can advocate for increased scientific awareness by the people that represent us. This committee’s goal is to increase delegates’ understanding of what it means to be a powerful government body faced with difficult decisions regarding science, healthcare, and technology.
12 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 Specifically, the committee will experience the critical impact of these kinds of decisions over time, as well as the effect that rapid technological growth can have on society at large over the course of 50 years. As the Cabinet of the President of the United States, you will navigate four distinct time periods (the 1950s-60s, 1970s-80s, 2000s-10s, present day), and confront specific events that have shaped known history. Your history, however, need not adhere to events that have transpired, and we encourage delegates to think about ways they can alter the course of recent history by making fundamentally different changes than their predecessors.
Committee Members and the Presidential Advisory Committee
The composition of this committee is nonstandard as we will be covering a time period longer than any normal person’s career. Moreover, in order to include an assortment of important voices and powerful figures, we will need to create a government advisory body that does not necessarily exist, but better reflects the types of individuals and organizations that influence policy over time. We have decided to call this body simply the Presidential Advisory Committee. The committee will consist of standard cabinet and executive positions in government, but also leaders of industry and technology. A roster is provided at the end of this background guide.
In order to truly simulate the decisions that end up shaping a country’s path over time, you should assume that this body has all powers one might reasonably expect of the executive and legislative branches of government. That said, we will focus on executive functions as is traditional in crisis. There will be no GA or resolution component to the committee.
While we will not put strict limits on what policies and actions can be taken by the government, we ask that you consider the following factors in deciding what methods would be germane. In particular, as an advisory body to an elected official, you are responsible to the people of the United States and should do your best to act as such. Moreover, while we hope you will make your characters your own, you should still act in their best interest. Finally, we expect that all delegates will consider our norms and expectations set forth earlier in this background guide. Clearly, actions that amount to racism, sexism, prejudice or worse, are strictly forbidden.
13 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 MECHANICS EXAMPLES
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If this seems complicated, we hope that the following examples will be illustrative. Of course, any crisis you face will be slightly different, and we are not saying that the responses listed here are the way in which your committee should respond. It might be good preparation for you to think of solutions and outcomes different than the ones we make up here. Keep in mind that in the following examples, we follow a small thread, and that the real committee will most likely have to juggle several different problems and themes at any given time.
Start of Session
Initial Break
The Russian Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant has suffered a disastrous meltdown! While people are unsure of whether there will be direct, harmful effects in the United States, the country is already home to several Nuclear Power Plants, including the Seabrook Power Plant in New Hampshire. Hundreds of protestors have gathered in front of the gates to the power plant and are refusing to allow employees in, demanding the plant be torn down. The surrounding area relies on this plant as an energy source, and shutting it down would leave them without power for a significant period of time. Additionally, as the plant is not unique, we are concerned that more demonstrations may occur across the country. The leader of the protestors has offered to meet with you but has already stated they plan to make no concessions in their demands.
The current President ran on a platform of embracing Nuclear Power, but this was before the Chernobyl accident.
Frontroom Response
The delegates decide to concede to the demands and tear down the power plant. Their directive includes an incentive policy to encourage the rapid development of new power plants in the area to
14 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 mitigate the loss of electricity. They are rejecting the president’s original platform, but justify this in that there is a new political climate after the meltdown in Russia.
Example Backroom
Seizing this opportunity, a delegate who has already built up a small group of mercenaries decides to have their people sneak into the plant while it is being torn down, steal the functional parts and fuel, and take them back to a secret base to build a power plant of their own.
Next Break (Same Session, Same Time Period)
Protests have broken out at every remaining Nuclear Power Plant in the country. Emboldened by the previous success, the protestors believe that you will again fall to their demands and shut down the nuclear power plants. Their demands are again non-negotiable. Further, they are incredibly upset that your government seems to be unable to account for a significant amount of the Uranium previously in the plant and grows suspicious of your honesty.
Frontroom Response
The delegates agree to slowly roll back the Nuclear Power Plants, granting companies the ability to expeditiously create new power plants using more traditional fuel sources to replace these Nuclear Plants.
Frontroom informs the delegates that the next session will be a new time period*
Example Backroom (Big Ask Note Note, same session, same time period as before)
That same delegate now controls the only functional nuclear plant in the country. Using this lone facility for research, their time skip note asks the backroom to allow them to develop a new, safer form of Nuclear Energy known as Molten Salt Reactors (a real technology). In secret, they gather scientists to confirm the safety of these reactors and prepare propaganda materials to convince
15 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 people they are totally different from the Chernobyl Reactor. Further, they have their people build several factories to begin producing the parts needed for a rapid rollout of this technology in secret.
Note that this is a large ask for a traditional committee, where even one factory might be a large ask.
Session ends
Session Begins, new time period
Big Update (In committee this would go over several themes, not just energy sources.)
Over the year following your last directive, Nuclear Power was immediately phased out, and incentives were offered to companies willing to provide energy to these areas. The only companies with the resources to expand that quickly were coal and natural gas-based power corporations. As a result, this Nuclear Power has been replaced by sources known to the environmental movement to create large amounts of Earth-harming pollutants.
Environmental activists, already suspicious of these energy sources, began investigating the new plants immediately. As it turns out, over several years it has become clear that in your government’s haste to replace one power source, corners were cut in the building of these new plants which have been producing pollutants at far greater rates than normal power plants. Adverse effects have been seen not only in the ecology of the surrounding areas but in human health outcomes as well. The report states that it is unclear what long term damage will be caused by these decisions, but already there are problems for us to deal with.
When this report was released, it caused an instant stir in a nascent environmentalist movement. As it stands, across the country nonviolent protests have chained themselves to the exteriors of these plants in defiance. Moreover, inside sources tell us that more radical factions of environmental activists are planning to find other ways to solve the problem if nonviolent ones do not work out.
The new President ran on a platform that included embracing eco-friendly energy sources to appease these movements and has asked that you all take this into consideration.
16 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 Frontroom Response
The delegates decide to give harsh penalties to the companies that created these plants. They shut down the plants and have them replaced by solar and wind power, even if this will take a long time to do.
Example Backroom
The same delegate from before reaches out to the environmental movement to inform them of their new reactors and ask the environmental movement to support introducing these eco-friendly nuclear plants as the new standard.
17 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 THEMES OF CRISIS
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The defining mechanic of this committee-- time jumps-- is what enables the committee to look analytically at long-game issues. Over the course of the weekend, the committee will look at how problems evolve over time, often starting small and becoming too large or too systemic to easily solve. Within the larger theme of technology, there will be five smaller themes that will certainly be relevant from session to session, even as the committee jumps through time: Climate Science, Energy, Industry and Infrastructure, Privacy, and Wealth Accumulation. These themes are clearly related to each other in many ways, and we urge delegates to consider how they interplay and overlap to impact society, especially as related to the overall committee topic of Governing Technology. To make your research and conference preparation easier, we’ve outlined the five themes: Climate Science/Environmentalism, Energy, Industry and Infrastructure, Privacy, Wealth Accumulation.
Climate Science/Environmentalism: Climate change has been a concern since the late 1800s, and scientists have been marking fluctuations in weather patterns and global temperatures for a while. It wasn’t until 1938 that scientists began piecing together human impact on the environment. In 1956, Gilbert Plass released the carbon dioxide theory of climate change, which was the foundation for most modern climate advocacy. Obviously, climate change and environmental protection are key issues today, but this is a discussion that has been ongoing throughout the last half-century. The impact of climate change and environmental degradation is shifted onto impoverished and non- white communities, and many activists from these communities have been disregarded and ignoring alongside scientists. There was a lot of work on the part of large corporations through the past few decades to shift the burden of environmental degradation onto the consumer and ignore the larger technological and social change that needed to happen. It’s worth looking at how more decisive government action and more receptiveness to scientists and environmental justice advocates could have improved the current state of the world with regards to climate change.
18 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 Energy: Energy is very closely related to the environment and climate change, but the energy sector primarily focuses on the development of renewable and clean energy as opposed to dependence on fossil fuels.
Industry and Infrastructure: Industry and infrastructure are also tied to energy and the environment, but this theme mostly focuses on public funding versus private sector development of the things that society takes to function, such as roads, education, and water.
Privacy: Where does the government get to interfere and when? When are the same rules applied to large data-based corporations?
Wealth Accumulation: Over the course of the last half-century, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened tremendously, and the economy has served the uber-wealthy. Now, it is suffering due in no small part to the immense inequality. How has technology contributed to this, or how can the government use technology to alleviate this?
19 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 HISTORY BY DECADE WITHIN COMMITTEE TIME SPAN
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1950s – 1960s
The 1950s United States was a time period of rapid economic growth. Following the conclusion of World War II, the manufacturing sector of the country rapidly took off alongside the housing market. The overall effect was a large expansion of the middle class and an increase in American consumer culture. The introduction of credit cards and easily accessible loans added fuel to this fire encouraging the growing demand for more and more products amongst Americans finding themselves with disposable income for the first time.
The time period was also characterized by political and social conservativism, with anti-communist sentiment at an all-time high as a result of the Cold War. For the most part, however, most Americans during this time period were rather complacent as is common in times of substantial economic growth.
With economic growth also came innovation, and several large inventions came during this decade. Most, like the first commercially sold computer, would not have their largest impact until the technology progressed. Others, however, would have their impact felt immediately.
First Nuclear Power Plant
The 1950s saw the creation of the first viable power plant fueled entirely by nuclear fission reactions. Incredibly powerful and remarkably efficient, nuclear power was an exciting innovation in large scale energy production. Proponents argued that the new form of energy was far cheaper and required less environmental strain to produce than, say, natural gasses or coal plants. At the same time, however, detractors argued that the nuclear waste produced in the process of generating this energy was dangerous both to humans and the environment if handled improperly. Moreover, in the case of a meltdown, these early plants did have the ability to cause large scale and long term damage to the surrounding areas. As a result, their adoption was and has continued to be scattered and piecemeal.
20 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 Many support less dangerous wind turbines and solar panels in their place, but these are generally far less efficient and require large swaths of lands to produce comparable amounts of electricity compared with the relatively compact nuclear power plants.
Solar Energy
An alternative to nuclear power as a green energy source, solar cells were first invented in the 1950s. At the time they were not quite efficient enough to compete with other sources of power, being expensive to install and producing less electricity per square meter. Despite this, solar power still had the advantage of being entirely renewable for billions of years to come, deriving its energy from the constant fission and fusion occurring within our Sun. Among its early adopters, in this decade solar cells were first explored as a means for powering satellites.
Television Sets
Although invented prior to 1950, this decade saw a massive increase in the number of American homes equipped with television sets, and, for a lucky few, the introduction of color TV. While largely harmless as a source of entertainment, television had a definite impact on American culture and especially on the country’s relationship with its celebrities, many of whom could now be seen on a daily basis. Moreover, televisions saw the introduction of visual journalism as many switched from a radio news-diet to a television one. For advertisers as well, the television presented a significant improvement in their ability to sell their products.
Air Travel
The 50s saw the introduction of jet-propulsion aircraft, allowing intercontinental travel and generally far fewer connections for long flights. Although far from accessible for most consumers, it was in many ways the first time that quick travel between continents was possible for the wealthy and those on important business or political journeys. Security was lax, and stayed that way until 2001. The conditions of the flights themselves were luxurious and relaxed, in many ways in order to compensate for the staggering cost of the transportation.
21 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 First Commercial Computer
The decade also saw the invention of the first commercial computer, although it bore little resemblance to the device you are most likely reading this on. The computer took up an entire room’s worth of space, and the price was such that only the wealthiest organizations could afford one, let alone individuals. For those that could get their hands on one, however, this was the first real instance of pure automation being introduced to research and the workplace, expediting a lot of menial work previously done by humans. Already in the 50s however, many were afraid of the eventual role computers might play in society, and whether humanity and especially low-training workforces would be able to keep up with the looming threat of automation that was already visible to those who looked hard enough.
Sputnik
Near the end of this decade, the Soviet Union launched the space probe Sputnik, the first man-made object designed and launched to orbit our planet. While Sputnik itself was incredibly limited in features, especially compared to modern satellites, the launch itself struck a blow to the confidence of the West in capitalism’s technological superiority. As a result, in many ways the success of the Sputnik launch can be thought of as the starting line for the subsequent race to put a human on the Moon.
Space Race
Science and technology in the 1960s focused largely on the Space Race, initiated in 1950 with the launch of the Soviet Sputnik satellite. Throughout the decade, the United States and the USSR competed to put the first human being on the surface of the moon. Historically, in 1969, the United States won this effort with Apollo 11. This victory consumed the concentrated energy of many of the brightest scientists in the country for the entirety of the decade. With it came a drastically improved understanding of rocketry, paving the way for the country to eventually send satellites and astronauts into space on a regular basis. Of particular note, the 1960s saw the first ever weather satellite launched, allowing hitherto impossible meteorological investigations and predictions.
22 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 Computers
While their operating systems remained far simpler and less useful than our modern equivalents, computers in the 1960s at the least began to resemble the shape of recognizable desktop computers. IBM introduced the word processer, which was a sort of computerized typewriter, and the first keyboards and computer mice were designed and produced as well. The COBOL language, which is infrequently studied today but continues to underlie vast swaths of the technology we take for granted, was invented early in the decade. On occasion, there is great concern when a COBOL program breaks or needs a significant change, as there are a limited number of COBOL experts working in 2021. As a small aside to those familiar, it was in this decade that the quicksort algorithm was first invented.
1970s – 1980s
Diplomacy with Tech
The 1970s and 1980s were fraught with diplomatic tensions and successes, and technology played a huge role in both mediating and exacerbating the Cold War. While collaborative technological efforts and sharing of information brought countries together, it also served to strengthen the divide between NATO and the rest of the world. Continued military advancement was a key component of the Cold War, but does the government have a place in encouraging development that isn’t for the military? If so, what should the government prioritize going forward? If not, are we setting up a system where human advancement only comes in times of conflict? Delegates must weigh these questions while they consider the role of technological expansion in diplomacy when confronted with global crises such as the 1970s energy crisis and threats from the Soviet Union.
Nuclear Power
Following the nuclear development of decades past and the energy crisis of the 1970s, the United States sought to be more self-sufficient in the energy sector while also showing off US scientific advancements of nuclear power. Thus, the United States invested billions in nuclear power plants. However, the development of these plants did not come without negative consequences. While the
23 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 plants generated the desired amount of energy, the US government did not plan effectively and ended up overspending on many of the plants-- hiring separate engineers and architects for each plant that was built. As a result, the US government did not have the ability to standardize maintenance plans or to reduce costs by way of bulk parts. Additionally, since the projects were poorly planned, the reactors produced a lot of nuclear waste that the government couldn’t use effectively and did not know how to dispose of. As a result, nuclear waste piled up and, in some cases, disproportionately impacted minority and low-income communities. Indeed, the plants themselves were often built near such communities; however, this did not pose a significant threat until it became clear that the lack of standardized government maintenance would have severe consequences. In 1979, a reactor at the Three Mile Island plant suffered a partial meltdown, marking the worst nuclear accident in United States history. While the accident has not been linked to increased rates of cancer in local communities, follow-up studies of the impacted area have been criminally neglected and underfunded. This, combined with Chernobyl a few years later, contributed to the rise of anti-nuclear sentiment that still haunts the country to the present day. As a committee, delegates will have the opportunity to try again at these pivotal moments in the history of nuclear energy. How the government dealt with nuclear in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s is one of the most catastrophic incidents of ball-dropping in the entirety of US history. Delegates must weigh their options-- is nuclear better off in the hands of the public or private sector? How should nuclear energy be regulated? Can the government decrease production costs while also increasing safety and accountability? Is standardized nuclear energy a worthy goal, or does it present a national security risk? How should the government approach testing and research of storage and waste management solutions given the risks that they pose to vulnerable communities? How does environmental justice play into the debate on nuclear energy? Can the US government balance its energy demands with new pushes towards non-proliferation and denuclearization? Delegates must answer these questions in real-time as they experience what it is like to be a presidential administration in the midst of a Cold War and nuclear crisis.
Climate Change
At long last, the villain of our generation, climate change. By the 1980s, there was overwhelming evidence of man-made global warming and climate change, most specifically related to ozone
24 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 depletion. While climate change is an overarching thread through all of the time periods, it relates pertinently to the overall energy theme of this time period. Delegates will be forced to reconcile what they currently know about climate change with the “evidence” that we give them in crisis updates and Reagan administration policy.
1990s
The 1990s were the decade that brought us texting, the world wide web, Amazon, and a slew of tech start-ups. Personal computers began to take off, and the first model of a hand-held computer (phone) was launched. There was a surge in communications technology and ingenious ideas to make life easier. However, there were many unknowns about the future of these new technologies. Would they be innocent gadgets simply used to better humankind? Or would they be more pervasive and more sinister than we could ever imagine? The answers to these questions become clear as we move into the 2000s, but the presidential advisory board on technology must be prepared to step in before things go too far.
2000s
Internet (Wikipedia)
The early 2000s saw one of the most important technological advancements in human history. The internet revolutionized how people worked together, communicated, and interacted. It allowed niche communities to flourish, people across the globe to stay in touch, and information to be shared faster than ever before. The substantial impact the internet has on society is impossible to overstate. The internet is, in theory, totally democratic. Anyone can host a website and others can navigate to that site if they choose. Entire industries have been built simply to help people navigate the world wide web, culminating most notably in Google’s nearly universal search engine.
The only invention of comparable significance with respect to the dissemination of information was the printing press. Indeed, one of the most amazing features of the internet is how it allowed authors and writers to circumvent the publishing industry almost entirely. Entire books, references, articles can all be distributed without a single piece of paper ever being used.
25 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 The internet is rarely left as free as it could in theory be. From the reliance on DNS services for people’s websites to be easy to find to the politics surrounding information crossing borders, almost every country on the planet regulates the internet to some extent. The extreme example is China’s “Great Firewall” which in theory heavily filters what portions of the internet Chinese citizens can access. Even in the United States however, the government often will shut down websites, execute subpoenas, and seize domains to prevent websites from allowing criminal activity to occur. For the most part, such regulations are probably desirable.
Alongside the attempts to regulate the internet are, of course, efforts to evade those regulations. From simple VPNs, which can obscure what websites you are accessing and from where, to Darknet servers which are not accessed in the same way as traditional websites, many still use the internet for undesirable or outright criminal purposes.
On the other side, the anonymity of the internet often allows those who are oppressed by governments of organizations to speak out about their situations far more easily than ever before. It also allows people to learn about and empathize with problems far away from their home without that information being curated by some other source, like local news.
Smart Phones (camera phones)
Later in the decade, another monumental advance would be made with the creation of smartphones capable of browsing the internet, taking pictures, texting, and far more. Suddenly the majority of human knowledge no longer required a library or even a desktop computer to access. Instead, in one’s pocket, there was already a device the size of a wallet that could answer most questions, navigate almost anywhere on earth, and more. Suddenly you did not need a camera to take pictures, but instead almost everyone could snap a picture of their day to day life with this incredible device. While the majority of people will not use these features for anything monumental, it is worth noting that the democratization of photos and eventually video has allowed governments, organizations, and people to be held more accountable than ever before as any wrong doing is easy to capture on tape.
26 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 Social Media
Following soon after the popularization of the internet, people realized this tool could be used to form communities and stay in touch with the people they cared about. Websites like MySpace and Facebook were built around this idea, bringing people together over any distance. For many these inventions allowed them to explore niche interests with people around the world who cared about the same things. For others it allowed them to find old friends they had fallen out of touch with. Few do not have at least some form of social media account they regularly use nowadays. Many use them for their news, entertainment, calendars, and other aspects of their lives.
As these websites grew in user base, the incentive to monetize the model grew and grew. Suddenly the websites incorporated advertisements and other forms of monetization. It was not long before they became political tools as well, most notably in the 2008 election. Of course, in hindsight it is clear that these systems could be used maliciously both by local and foreign actors, but at the time it would have been difficult to foresee the incredible effect companies like Twitter and Facebook have had on American life.
Worth noting as well is that for many social media can be addicting or have other negative side effects. Increases in depression among young Americans have been linked to social media usage and with the advent of cyberbullying came one of the most difficult forms of harassment to escape. While it is illegal to harass people over the internet, there are and were a plethora of tools that could render one anonymous.
Genome
Orthogonal to these other updates, it is important to recall that the Human Genome Project finished sequencing the human genome in this decade. This project was a major precursor to many recent advances in medical science that have allowed doctors to find genetic causes for a large number of ailments. In fact, it was techniques pioneered near the end of the project that turned sequencing a genome from a vastly expensive enterprise to something an average household can now afford.
27 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 This technology however has led to much debate around the ethics of genome sequencing. Some suggest that all newborns should be sequenced at birth to find markers for future disease. Others believe that this approach could lead to practices tantamount to eugenics and fear this data being leaked to, for example, insurance companies that could raise premiums based on genetic factors.
2010s
With every passing decade, both the available technology and the rate at which it advances increases greatly. The past two decades were no exception as never-before-seen technologies increased productivity and changed how we lived our lives. With an increase in the speed of innovation, however, comes an increase in the risks of unregulated technologies. Indeed, tensions between Silicon Valley and Washington D.C. have rarely if ever been higher than this decade. Issues of privacy, workers’ rights, and monopoly characterize the issues raised specific to this time period.
Internet of Things
As computer chips and other hardware continue to shrink small devices are being designed to allow technology to help people in their everyday tasks. From in-home assistants like the Amazon Alexa to wearables like the Apple Watch, it seems that almost no task is free from electronic assistance. As a result, people rely more on technology today than ever before.
At the same time, this technology has become more opaque and harder to understand for those same users. Trusting the manufacturers and inventors of these technologies has become a central part of the consumer experience. For non-experts, patent laws and genuine complexity obscure how exactly these devices work--and what exactly they are doing. For many, the ability of these devices to integrate themselves in every aspect of our lives has outpaced the government's ability to ensure and protect our privacy.
Examples of companies infringing on our privacy and putting it at risk abound. Studies make it clear that in-home assistants like Alexa and Siri can hear and record your conversations. Even more worryingly, it is known that Amazon, Apple, and Google have kept recordings permanently to train their AI systems. In theory these devices are only keeping track of how users use them: for example,
28 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 Amazon saves everything users say after the word “Alexa.” However, anyone who owns one of these devices is likely aware that it can be accidentally or unintentionally triggered.
There are several distinct threats that this type of data collection poses. The first and most obvious is that the data that can be sifted from our personal conversations and home life is perhaps more potent than any form of data collection previously known. Advertisers openly admit that they use personal information of this kind to convince people to buy things, encourage them to watch or consume media, and attempt to change votes and opinions. Even those of us who think we are not easily manipulated should be wary of the incredible complexity with which these organizations can try to get in our heads.
Privacy experts are also concerned not only about the integrity of tech companies, but also the strength of their security. While one might believe that Google has no interest in using their data maliciously, it is still a worrying thought that this information might be protected by insufficient security measures. Computer hacking advances alongside information security in a perpetual arms race, and personal data like that collected by Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, could be very valuable to those working outside of legal regulations. Large scale leaks of personal data happened several times throughout this decade, and it is likely that these are just the ones we know about.
Finally, experts worry about the legal gray areas that determine the relationship between tech companies and policing. The justice department has already attempted to issue warrants demanding recordings from Amazon’s Alexa for use in criminal proceedings. And though this may seem like a noble use for this data, it is easy to feel uncomfortable at the thought of the government having listening devices in all of our homes.
These concerns all extend to the so-called Internet-of-things that has turned everything from fridges to televisions into devices that can listen, watch, and learn about us. Even a device as simple as the home-cleaning Roomba is devising a scheme to sell the floor plans of your household to advertisers and other interested parties.
29 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 Wearables
One of the scariest new sources of data collection are so-called ‘wearable’ devices such as smart watches and arm bands. These devices track, among other things, important vital signs. While it is currently illegal to do so, the selling or unintentional leaking of this data could be very dangerous for those with medical conditions. A hypothetical example could be your health insurance company learning your heart rate is above average and deciding to charge you more for your insurance. This leads to another privacy concern: incremental deregulation. Companies like Amazon and Google with near infinite reserves and lobbyists are constantly petitioning Washington D.C. to ease up on the regulations limiting what they can do with your data. So, while much of it might be sitting on a server unused somewhere, it is unclear that the regulations currently preventing its sale will continue to exist.
Similar issues crop up with technologies like Apple’s FaceID and TouchID. While so far it seems that the actual fingerprint and facial recognition data for individual users is more or less secure, it is possible that related or future technologies might not be. Moreover, while these ‘biometric’ security measures sound safe, security experts warn that they are less secure than the simple 8-digit passcodes they aim to replace.
Gig Economy
The problems arising from new technologies are not limited to privacy concerns. Of particular interest in the 2000s has been the rise of the “gig economy,” a catch-all term for the rise of contractor-based ‘distributed’ service apps like Uber, Lyft, Postmates, DoorDash, Fiverr, and far more. Startups of this ilk have arisen in almost every major industry. While these tools have been incredibly useful, reducing rates of drunk driving, allowing us to eat more easily from our homes, and allowing us to quickly hire cheap labor for small short-term tasks, they have downsides. Companies like Uber are limited in their ability to vet their contractors; there have been many reports of crimes being committed by real drivers who were accepted into the program. Moreover, for those contractors like Uber and Lyft drivers, the terms of their “employment” can leave much to be
30 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 desired. Quotations are used here because technically these people are considered freelance contractors.
This classification reduces the liability of gig economy companies and also their responsibility to these workers. The outcome is a rise in wages below the minimum wage that get off on technicalities. Moreover, these workers struggle to bargain collectively due to limited legal protections. They go without employer health insurance and many other benefits that are common for traditional employees. They have fewer protections when it comes to contract termination and general job security. And yet, more and more companies are opting for this nontraditional employment scheme as it allows them to provide their services at remarkably low prices. Many experts in labor politics view this change as a large step back for workers’ rights, a movement that has made tremendous progress since the industrial revolution.
Artificial Intelligence
Another technology that has characterized the advances of the 21st century is the rise of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Putting aside technical differences between the two, the basic idea is fairly simple. The idea is to give the computer some inputs and the correct outputs, and let it use that “training” data to guess the answer for new inputs. An example is, given any photo as an input, we might want the output to tell us whether that photo was a selfie. While this would be incredibly hard to program outright, if one gives the computer enough pictures and tells it which ones are selfies, one can eventually build a program that can guess the answer. Therefore, we say that AI is generally a “blackbox” where we cannot exactly describe how the program guesses the answer. This makes it of the utmost importance to be careful about what data the models are trained with.
Examples of this going wrong are common. For example, the first versions of Apple’s FaceID were quite good at telling apart Caucasians and light-skinned individuals, but failed to distinguish many Asians, allowing them to unlock each other's phones. Although this is not the most harmful security bug that has occurred, it is a clear example of how even well-intentioned AI can go very wrong. At the same time, however, many are pushing for greater adoption of AI in fields like criminal justice,
31 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 policing, health insurance, education, and finance. If similar errors occur like the accidental racism at Apple, we could see algorithms perpetuating societal prejudices simply because they appear in the data. In the context of the justice system or healthcare, the outcome could be much worse than an iPhone security breach.
In general, many experts caution the rush to adopt AI, given how hard it is to see under the hood of the algorithms. While errors like the ones just described do occur in more traditional programming, it is normally easier to diagnose and fix them as the overall program is better understood. On the other hand, even when it is known that a machine learning algorithm is biased, the route to fixing it is often much less clear.
Monopoly
The cloud computing ecosystem has provided a massive disruption to the technology market. Distributed computing systems have become the norm for expensive computations. Only a handful of companies have the resources to provide these expensive servers. This has led many new tech startups to rely on the behemoths of the industry, reducing their ability to compete directly.
This is part of a more general theme: as technological advancement depends more and more on incredible startup investment costs; many anti-trust experts worry that new companies will be unable to compete with industry giants. However, because anti-trust regulation is limited when it comes to vertical integration, there seems to be little legal recourse to keep technology competitive in the status quo.
This problem can be seen easily in Silicon Valley, where startups are often created with the sole intention of being bought out once they gain a small foothold. It seems that there are few technological services out there that are not under the umbrella of one of the largest tech companies. Even companies that do not want to be bought out often are subject to hostile takeovers or ruthless competition. Amazon itself is well known for reducing prices to unprofitable levels simply to kill off a competitor, but they are not the only guilty parties. A similar problem occurs with the Apple App Store where Apple can impose almost arbitrary terms on developers who want to create
32 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 apps for their devices, such as a recent scandal in which developers were directed not to support Hong Kong protests.
There have been and continue to be calls across the political spectrum to regulate these tech monoliths, however, little has been done to actually split any of them up. Between hordes of lobbyists and lawyers and a type of monopoly not predicted when antitrust laws were originally written, the government strains to reign in tech companies. This is true even with bipartisan support for regulating these monopolistic practices.
Transportation
Electronic and self-driving cars marked the flashiest improvements in transportation technology in this decade. While electronic car technology seems relatively straightforward and safe, self-driving technology has become a hot topic for regulation. While supporters of the technology argue that algorithms should in theory be able to drive better than people--they have no emotions, they do not get tired, etc., detractors believe that the technology has a long way to go before it can be a safe alternative to human controlled vehicles. Nonetheless, various states have been incrementally allowing the technology to be adapted, with companies like Tesla and Google pioneering the advances. However, there have been a few errors as the technology misses other vehicles or misinterprets shapes.
33 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 ROSTERS
______
Note, as mentioned in the first section, there are no bios. Research the powers of your position and make something interesting out of your characters!
1. Vice President
2. Secretary of State
3. Secretary of the Treasury
4. Secretary of Defense
5. Attorney General
6. Secretary of the Interior
7. Secretary of Agriculture
8. Secretary of Commerce
9. Secretary of Labor
10. Advisor on Environmental Policy
11. Advisor on Energy Policy
12. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
13. Postmaster General, Advisor on Communications
14. Advisor on Housing and City Planning
15. Advisor on Transportation Infrastructure
16. Advisor on Civil Liberties and Human Rights
17. Director of the CIA
18. UN Ambassador
19. Veteran’s Union Representative 34 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 20. Administrator of the Small Business Administration
21. White House Chief of Staff
35 The Experimental Committee | MUNUC 33 BIBLIOGRAPHY
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