Suppose an anonymous organisation has the ability to take control of the minds of any people they chose, as long as they are able to identify who it is they want to control.
The method they use to do this is unknown, and all attempts to protect or isolate the president(s) and other officials hav...
"The obvious decision would be for the government to start operating secretly, using leaders who cannot be identified easily": in most civilized countries that would most certainly induce a massive constitutional crisis. Modern political systems simply do not have a way to allow for faceless namess numberless unaccountable dictators.
Military dictatorship? Welcome to South America! It worked splendidly in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, etc. etc. When you create an antagonist with such power you shouldn't be surprized if the cure is as dangerous as the disease.
I already gave an answer, but it might not answer your question. If you want to improve your question, I suggest 1) explaining what you mean by government b) what you mean by secret c) leaders d) not identified easily and e) what that government is supposed to do.
1) any person(s) and formal administrative structures, 2) the public are not aware of the names and origins of all the leaders of the chain of command. 3) There may be a single leader atop the chain of command or hundreds of them, depends on what ends up getting implemented. Answer could also discuss what kind of govt structure is more stable, 4) identity includes face, name, and genetic/racial origin. Ideally all such details should be kept secret (since we have no idea how capable the anonymous organisation is), 5) Ensure the citizens don't starve to death
@ghosts_in_the_code Your answer to 5) doesn't sound like you are looking for a government but a secret society/rebell group that exists to do good and prevail until times are changing. Maybe you are looking how such a society would form out of former government officials? Also it would be nice if you could include those specifications via an edit in your initial question
@Raditz_35 I've tried editing, hope it's better now. Thanks. Btw can't a body that ensures the survival of the citizens be called a government?
Since it has a number of things to consider, such as how food is produced and distributed, what changes should be made to economic policy and how citizens use money, regulation (or at least safe suspension) of existing institutions, such as courts, army, etc. All these do sound like responsibilities of a government
@ghosts_in_the_code Those sorts of things have to be specified in your question. If you know exactly what that "government" is supposed to do, please let us know
@ghosts_in_the_code Doesn't matter if you know all of the functions,your question sounds like you want a secret structure that is just like the US government and not some society that takes control and prevents infrastructure from collapsing. If you can be more precise as you were just there, the answers would be better. For example I wouldn't have wasted my time writing something completely different than what you wanted.
@Raditz_35 I don't mind the infrastructure collapsing as long as the people survive. I don't really know which institutions are better retained, and which are better dismantled
To close-voters, I know I have asked 3 different questions,... But is it really possible to answer any one of them in isolation, without also discussing the others? (a) is only a minor question, (b) and (c) are the big ones and are interrelated
@ghosts_in_the_code Put all of that into your question. This I think is why it was put on hold - all of that information is missing and not at all intuitive. Yes, here are some people that will downvote and flag because you assume for example your "government" wants to provide food but you did not mention water anyways. But chances are they are not in the mood. I really like your question now that I get it, this is just an issue of formulating (work on point a) and your initial post lacking information that you could give us because you apparently thought about it
@ghosts_in_the_code I can't say. I have no power to reopen your question. If I would have to write it, I'd add a lot more tbo. For example, you could've specified how your mind control thing works: One person at a time or millions at once? I think this is relevant. Maybe think about it for a day or two and then post a revised version? But keep in mind I have 0 authority or even experience and only "try my best to help" because this is a very interesting problem which I would love to see answered. All I can offer are my observations
Please explain why your "anonymous organisation" is going to be any worse/different than the ordinary acts of most if not all "public leaders". Or indeed, how the rest of the world would even know that such mind control is happening.
@jamesqf Nobody knows. But if existing presidents are manipulated and/or killed repeatedly, the rest of the government isn't going to sit and do nothing.
You will need to re-conceive the secret organization's evil power. There is no practical defense against it. (Better yet, just scrap the whole idea of mind control. It never makes for a satisfying tale.)
Discussion on question by ghosts_in_t…
Discussion on question by ghosts_in_t…