Elie's Expositions

A bereaved father blogging for catharsis... and for distraction. Accordingly, you'll see a diverse set of topics and posts here, from the affecting to the analytical to the absurd. Something for everyone, but all, at the core, meeting a personal need.


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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Art Imitates Art

I found this a fascinating coincidence.

Plot description (spoiler-free), courtesy of IMDB, of the new movie "Swing Vote", which opens this week:
In a remarkable turn-of-events, the result of the (2008) presidential election comes down to one man's vote.
Plot description, courtesy of Wikipedia, of the 1955 short story "Franchise" by Isaac Asimov - bolding added:
The United States has converted to an "electronic democracy" where the computer Multivac selects a single person to answer a number of questions. Multivac will then use the answers and other data to determine what the results of an election would be, avoiding the need for an actual election to be held. The story centers around Norman Muller, the man chosen as "Voter of the Year" in 2008.
Yesterday's science fiction, today's.. topical comedy?

Actually, I find the Asimov version more plausible. There's an element of predictive reality in his conception of a computer all but deciding the election results, since for many years now - with the obvious exception of 2000 - election results are known from exit surveys with a great amount of certainty well before the polls close.

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