Connecting the Dots between Texts and Current Situation

I will be using Card, "Ender's Game," Yolen, "Briar Rose," and P. K. Dick, "The Man in the High Castle," among other texts in my fall law and literature class. I'd like to share what I am hoping to do with them in this context, and hear from others who have worked with any or all of these in an undergraduate setting. The course is "culturally diverse" within general education, and also part of our legal studies minor, which I advise. Themes I want to address include war, genocide, the other, gay rights, and how we govern ourselves. I have been thinking of late how SF is said to suggest ways we can anticipate and, with luck, tell stories to help prevent certain kinds of futures. cf. Pohl's essay in Hassler (1997). But in my other hat (my department is "Finance and Legal Studies"), I have been reading how recent events show that all theory is a failure (cf Taleb, "The Black Swan"), and that anything important is incapable of being predicted, so we have to plan for the unpredictable. In which case, isn't SF the perfect way to address reality? Whether finance, or climate change, or whatever. Anyway, I hope to talk about some of this at Anticipation in Montreal this August, and between now and then, any ideas would be welcome, and I hope to see some of you there. Take care. Bruce Rockwood