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Fictions Health & Care Re-imagined Our year-long ‘thought experiment’ Public attitudes toward the growing use of data and technology in every aspect of our lives are fast-changing. At Future Care Capital, we seek to support policy-makers and practitioners and, crucially, our beneficiaries to navigate these developments in relation to health and social care. There are, of course, many possible futures. Some scenarios we encounter in the course of horizon-scanning can inspire life-changing advancements, whereas others may seem dystopian and ‘one step beyond’ that which most of us deem within our comfort zone. Only one thing is certain: change is inevitable and new technology will be a key driving force in this transformation. Our tolerance for change will, of course, differ subject to the context in which we encounter new and emergent technologies. Public attitudes will no doubt impact on investment in the development of these technologies as well as the regulatory framework put in place to support their deployment: how people encounter cutting- edge treatments and technologies in health and care as they enter the collective psyche is of critical importance. Broad-ranging examples of technologies are already deployed in health and social care to positive effect – ranging from sensors in IoT (the Internet of Things) devices that prolong independent living and virtual reality for pain management to diagnostics and drug discovery underpinned by machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Others, such as quantum computing and large-scale simulation technology, remain at a relatively early stage in development and are therefore more challenging for people to imagine. Science fiction routinely draws inspiration from technology (as well as inspiring technological developments in its own right) – whether we think about William Gibson introducing the concept of “cyberspace” in Neuromancer, Isaac Asimov’s laws of robotics in iRobot or Margaret Atwood’s concepts of genetic engineering in Oryx and Crake. So, we wondered: could it help people to explore the ways in which a range of new technologies might shape health and care futures? Could it serve as a provocation for dialogue amongst those we routinely encounter? Could it also bring to life some of the leading-edge work underway around the world to transform how we approach illness and empower people to live independently for as long as possible for new audiences? We decided to find out. We expect the now infamous statement of mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park is likely to crop up at regular intervals: “…your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should”. Keith Brooke’s first novel, Keepers of the Peace, appeared in 1990. Since then he has published eight more adult novels, six collections, and close to 100 short stories. For ten years from 1997 he ran the web-based science fiction, fantasy and horror showcase infinity plus (www.infinityplus.co.uk), featuring the work of around 100 top genre authors, including Michael Moorcock, Stephen Baxter, Connie Willis, Gene Wolfe, Vonda McIntyre and Jack Vance. His most recent novel, Harmony (published in the UK as alt.human), is a big exploration of aliens, alternate history and the Fermi paradox, shortlisted for the Philip K Dick Award. Liz Williams is a science-fiction and fantasy writer living near Glastonbury, England, where she is co-director of a witchcraft supply business. She has been published by Bantam Spectra (US) and Tor Macmillan (UK), and her work appears regularly in Asimov’s Science Fiction and other magazines. She is the secretary of the Milford SF Writers’ Workshop, and also teaches creative writing. Her novel Banner of Souls was shortlisted for the Philip K Dick Award, along with three previous novels, and the Arthur C Clarke Award. Her Story Infectious for Fictions: Health and Care Re-imagined was included in the Best of British Science Fiction 2020 anthology. Stephen Palmer is the author of seventeen genre works, including Memory Seed (Orbit 1996), Glass (Orbit 1997), Beautiful Intelligence (2015), Tommy Catkins (2018) and The Conscientious Objector (2019, described by the Guardian as “Stunningly inventive ... a thought-provoking and thoroughly offbeat alternative history of the first world war”). His short stories have been published by Wildside Press, Spectrum SF, Newcon Press, Solaris, PS Publishing and others. In 2019, Newcon Press published a collection of short stories, Tales From The Spired Inn, set in the world of Memory Seed. Anne Charnock is the author of four novels including Dreams Before the Start of Time, winner of the 2018 Arthur C. Clarke Award. Her debut novel, A Calculated Life, was a finalist for the 2013 Philip K Dick Award and the 2013 Kitschies Golden Tentacle award. The Guardian featured Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind in “Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2015”. Anne’s novella, The Enclave (NewCon Press), won the 2017 British Science Fiction Association Award for Short Fiction. Her story All I asked for in the sci-fi series Fictions: Health and Care Re-Imagined, was shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Award for best short story of 2020 and was included in the Best of British Science Fiction 2020 anthology. Her writing career began in journalism, and her articles appeared in The Guardian, New Scientist, International Herald Tribune, and Geographical, among others. Vincent Chong is a freelance illustrator and designer living in the UK. Since 2004 he has worked for clients around the world on a wide variety of projects ranging from book and magazine illustration to concept art for film and TV. Vincent has been a recipient of multiple British Fantasy Awards and also a World Fantasy Award for Best Artist. Contents Goodbye 01 Stephen Palmer All I Asked For 02 Anne Charnock Life’s Lottery 03 Keith Brooke Infectious 04 Liz Williams Vigorish 05 Keith Brooke Genomancer 06 Stephen Palmer When I Visit The Palace 07 Liz Williams George 08 Stephen Palmer Don’t Push The Blame On Me 09 Anne Charnock Carefree 10 Keith Brooke Stealthcare 11 Liz Williams It’s Her Turn 12 Anne Charnock Goodbye 01 Stephen Palmer Goodbye Stephen Palmer As we walked along Penny Lane we saw a stack of Oz magazines burning. Liverpool was quiet that evening. Dad had tears in his eyes as he passed his hand through the smoke, shrugged his shoulders, and said, “Goodbye.” I didn’t know what to expect. We were a typical British family, so Dad brought us up to hide more than we showed. There’d been occasions in the past – a couple of funerals, my sister Ellen’s wedding – when there’d been tears, but those were exceptions. So why had Dad chosen to do this... and in Liverpool? He wore a tatty old tie-dye shirt and jeans, his white hair loose around his shoulders, his beard and moustache combo still showing a few dark hairs. We’d all seen the photos from the sixties, when he and Mum went to the Isle Of Wight festival and saw Jimi Hendrix. We knew his style. As I watched him walk to the end of Penny Lane he seemed half that young man, half this old man. But I suppose that was the idea. We didn’t know Liverpool’s street layout, so we just followed him. At the end of Penny Lane he halted and glanced up. I followed suit, and behind the clouds I thought I saw a yellow shape, like a fat aeroplane... then it was gone. Tears streamed down Dad’s cheeks. I began to feel nervous. This was so unlike Dad, unlike our family. He’d never spoken about the end. Then Ellen touched my shoulder and said, “It’s what he wants.” I nodded. My sister was the one most in touch with her feelings, and she’d always had a special understanding of Dad and his ways. Yet I wondered if even she’d not expected this. I turned around to survey the crowd. There were forty at least. Brave people, most of them Dad’s age. Would this walk through Liverpool influence their own choices? Dad halted in front of a gate made from corroded steel bars. A sign said: Strawberry Fields. This one, I recognised. This was the Lennon one. I knew the Beatles of course, and had grown up with them because of Dad, though their music wasn’t my kind of thing. But for Dad, these Liverpool locations were inextricably entwined with his identity. I began to realise then what this trek was all about. Goodbye As we watched, the sign detached and floated into the air, the gate following moments later. Distant music – a swarmandal, a brass section, McCartney’s unique flute mellotron – drifted down the street to enfold us in nostalgia. Then Strawberry Fields, that entire place, walls, bushes, trees and all, rose from the ground and ascended into the sky. There was no noise of destruction, no wrenching of tree roots, no smash and tumble of bricks, just the stately ascent of Lennon’s turf into the blue, blue sky, where it darkened, faded, then vanished. Dad wept, and Ellen went to hug him. I stood still, not sure what to do. My brother James glanced at me, but at once looked away. He was indifferent, I guessed. In a terse email he’d told me and Dad that he was only attending because he was curious about the technology. Some of the crowd behind us also cried – old men, old women. James, unmarried, stood alone. Ellen’s two children looked a bit scared. My wife Ceri stood a little way back, our kids Billy and Rhiannon at her side.

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