The Libertarian Futurist Society is pleased to announce that prominent libertarian policy expert and lifelong SF fan Robert (Bob) Poole will be a presenter at the 44th annual Prometheus Awards ceremony.
Poole, a veteran LFS member and consistent Prometheus Awards voter for decades, co-founded the Reason Foundation, a leading libertarian think tank that publishes Reason magazine.
During the roughly hourlong awards show – which now has been confirmed for Sunday Aug. 25 in an hourlong Zoom event open to the public and set to begin at 2 p.m. Eastern time (11 a.m. Pacific time) – Bob will present the Prometheus Hall of Fame category for Best Classic Fiction.
In his speech, Poole is likely to discuss a wide range of subjects, from the vital importance of liberty and the power of science fiction to imagine freer, better futures to the impact of the Prometheus Awards and comments on this year’s Hall of Fame finalists and winner.
That makes two celebrity presenters who will grace our 44th annual awards ceremony. Victor Koman, a three-time Prometheus Best Novel winner (The Jehovah Contract, Solomon’s Knife and Kings of the High Frontier, previously was announced on this blog as this year’s presenter of the Best Novel category.
WHO IS BOB POOLE?
Poole has been a leading and influential libertarian leader, writer-editor and policy expert since the 1970s – and has supported the Prometheus Awards since it began in 1979.
According to his Reason Foundation bio, Poole is credited as the first person to use the term “privatization” to refer to the contracting-out of public services and is the author of the first-ever book on privatization, Cutting Back City Hall, published by Universe Books in 1980.
Poole is also editor of the books Instead of Regulation: Alternatives to Federal Regulatory Agencies, Defending a Free Society, and Unnatural Monopolies. He also co-edited the book Free Minds & Free Markets: 25 Years of Reason.
Poole has written hundreds of articles, papers, and policy studies on privatization and transportation issues. His popular writings have appeared in national newspapers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Forbes. He has also been a guest on network television programs such as Good Morning America, NBC’s Nightly News, ABC’s World News Tonight, and the CBS Evening News.
AN INFLUENTIAL POLICY EXPERT
Poole, an MIT-trained engineer who has advised four U.S. federal administrations (including President Reagan and Clinton’s administrations) on infrastructure issues, currently serves as director of transportation policy and Searle Freedom Trust Transportation Fellow at the Reason Foundation.
He has advised the Federal Aviation Administration, Office of the Secretary of Transportation, White House Office of Policy Development, National Performance Review, National Economic Council, and the National Civil Aviation Review Commission on aviation issues.
In the field of surface transportation, Poole has advised the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the White House Office of Policy Development, National Economic Council, Government Accountability Office, and state DOTs in numerous states.
Poole’s 1988 policy paper proposing privately financed toll lanes to relieve congestion directly inspired California’s landmark private tollway law (AB 680), which authorized four pilot toll projects including the successful 91 Express Lanes in Orange County.
More than 20 other states and the federal government have since enacted similar public-private partnership legislation. In 1993, Poole oversaw a study that coined the term HOT (high-occupancy toll) Lanes, a term which has become widely accepted since.
Poole was among the first to propose the commercialization of the U.S. air traffic control system, and his work in this field has helped shape proposals for a U.S. air traffic control corporation.
A version of his corporation concept was implemented in Canada in 1996 and was more recently endorsed by several former top FAA administrators.
For more about Poole, the Reason Foundation and Reason magazine, visit the Reason website.
Stay tuned for more updates about the full lineup of the 44th annual Prometheus Awards ceremony – and save this convenient weblink to spread the word about and watch the Zoom event:
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS:
* Prometheus winners: For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards’ distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.
* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,” an essay in the international magazine Quillette that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer and Sarah Hoyt), Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Facebook page for comments, updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
Libertarian futurists believe that culture matters! We understand that the arts and literature can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future – and in some ways can be even more powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, individuality and human dignity.
Through recognizing the literature of liberty and the many different but complementary visions of a free future via the Prometheus Awards, the LFS hopes to help spread ideas and ethical principles that help humanity overcome tyranny, end slavery, reduce the threat of war, repeal or constrain other abuses of coercive power and achieve universal liberty, respect for human rights and a better world (perhaps ultimately, worlds) for all.
