How Sci-Fi Like WarGames Led to Real Policy During the Reagan Administration

From hacking legislation to missile defense.

I wrote two different articles this month on the feedback loop between sci-fi movies and real-world science/tech/policy. This is the first, for Slate’s Future Tense, on the outsized influence that sci-fi and sci-fi writers had on President Ronald Reagan and his administration’s policies, from computer crime law to the Strategic Defense Initiative, AKA “Star Wars”. I wrote it to accompany a Future Tense screening of WarGames that I hosted on October 11th along with friend and sci-fi novelist Malka Older.

This year, John Badham’s WarGames — one of the movies most beloved by hackers, techies, and tech policy wonks (like me!) — celebrates its 35th anniversary. Though it may look a little kitschy now, it was notable for several firsts: It was the first popular film depiction of the now well-known hacker archetype. It raised the specter of an artificial intelligence starting World War III a year before James Cameron’s The Terminator did, and it introduced America to a young Matthew Broderick. WarGames is the alternately lighthearted and deadly serious tale of a wargaming A.I. at U.S. missile command that almost sparks a nuclear war after being broken into by a troublesome but well-intentioned teenage hacker. Some of the technology in WarGames is almost comically outdated, like the hero’s 1200 baud dial-up modem that connects to his cradle phone via an acoustic coupler, but it offers a jumping-off point for so many rich conversations about issues that are still relevant: A.I., autonomous weaponry, computer crime law, cybersecurity, and cyberwar. It is also one of the best examples of science fiction directly influencing policy in Washington — just one of several such examples during the Reagan years. [Continue reading this article over at Slate.com!]