It wasn’t a round table. Maybe it should have been. It was too big for that. There was no head to the table but the politician was clearly running the show. Looking down, as the room’s cameras and networks were, you could see those seated: the philosophers, the engineers, the lawyers, the artists, the business people. Carefully balanced in the planning to represent race and gender. The room’s systems projected scenarios on the delegates’ screens. Heated discussions about political, economic and technological options; decisions about ownership, control and legislation became data as the room listened, interpreted and considered its options.