World Sci-Fi Convention Panels -- 4: CSI in the Future

Posted by Colin Harvey Sep 3, 2008

My debut as a panellist at a US Worldcon was daunting; the room was packed out, I was moderating a subject in which I was interested, but about which my expertise was limited, and the panel was fearsome in its expertise:

Henry Stratmann is a full-time cardiologist and part-time science fiction writer.

Diana Rowland has worked as a street cop, a detective, a computer forensics specialist, a crime scene investigator, and a morgue assistant,

Cordelia Willis is a crime scene investigator.

Perrianne Lurie is a doctor of emergency medicine.

I needn't have worried.

The panel were courteous, the audience interested.

Once we got past the opening salvoes of how glossy and unrealistic CSI was, what emerged was how surprisingly often the series got it right; Catherine Willows with a bloated body in the bath, budget cuts manifesting occasionally, pressure of multiple demands.

Of course the series glosses over the realities: as one panellist put it, "you don't see the point at which the crime lab call you to ask which ten of your fifty-seven samples you'd like processed."

When asked what they'd like to see developed, Perianne Lurie wanted to see APHIS truly automated, rather than the laborious job of manual matching.

Cordelia Willis would like to see the facility to separate out cross-contaminating DNA.

Diana Rowland wants to see a one hundred per cent accurate way of telling whether the suspect is really, really telling the truth.

Henry Stratmann suggested a brain scan, given that when a suspect lies, they use different parts of their brain.

It was actually dispappointing to have had to wind the panel down, but sadly all things must come to an end, including this series of posts on Worldcon panels. I hope they've been interesting and informative.