This has nothing to do with a lack of good intentions or intelligence - most disaster planners have both in abundance. Instead, I believe, it is directly related to the failure to read science fiction.
Let's face it - science fiction writers can be a brutally cold, heartless bunch and they adhere religiously to Murphy's Law. When they write a crisis, it's a flat out catastrophe on every side! The radios don't work, the attack comes during a crippling alien flu pandemic and the military commander leading the rescue charge is your girlfriend's ex who hates your guts. Nothing is ever simple, and survivors are usually left to fend for themselves and work out their own solutions against insurmountable odds.
These authors also have a soul-deep grasp on the Wizard's Second Rule, eloquently laid out in Terry Goodkind's epic fantasy novel Stone of Tears: "The greatest harm can result from the best intentions."
Go to your local bookstore and run your finger along the spines of the some of world's best known science fiction novels. How many of these stories begin with someone's idealistic goal for improving life or pursuing noble exploration into new frontiers?
Apparently, no one in the Mexican or EU governments read science fiction. So I forced to conclude as I read that Mexico plans to follow the EU's lead in establishing a "biometric national identity database" in which they are mandating the enrollment of everyone under the age of 18. The good intentions involved are supposedly the prevention of identity theft and promotion of ease and efficiency in travel.If you haven't already recognized the nasty potential for serious disaster inherent in this plan, you aren't reading enough science fiction either.
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