What Would You Pay for Safety? with Author Michael C. Bland

The man who helped design the surveillance state is perfectly fine with it—until his daughter calls covered in blood with a dead boyfriend on the floor. The Price of Safety, Michael C. Bland’s award-winning sci-fi novel, is set in 2047, where cameras are everywhere, your optics can be hacked, and the system was built by someone who genuinely thought he was keeping people safe. Matthew sits down with Michael to ask the question the book won’t let you avoid: how much liberty are we actually willing to trade for safety—and what happens when the people holding the keys decide your freedom is the price?They dig into the mechanics of how surveillance reshapes behavior (the terror isn’t being watched—it’s not knowing when), why grief and helplessness after loss quietly raise our tolerance for control, and how every character in the book, including the ones doing terrible things, genuinely believes they’re the hero of their own story. Michael also shares the moment his fictional DNA scanner turned real: he wrote it into his second book, and a month after publication, a California company announced they’d built it.The conversation keeps landing uncomfortably close to the present—and that’s exactly the point. Website ************************************************************************** This episode is a production of Superhero Ethics , an Ethical Panda podcast and part of the TruStory FM Entertainment Podcast Network . Check out our website to find out more about this show and our sister podcast Star Wars Generations .We want to hear from you! Keep up with our latest news and send us feedback, questions, or comments via social media or email. TikTok · Twitter/X · Instagram · Facebook · EmailJoin the conversation in the Star Wars Generations and Superhero Ethics channels on the TruStory FM Discord .Want even more content while supporting the podcast? Become a member! For $5 a month or $55 a year you get access to bonus episodes and bonus content at the end of most episodes — and you can even give membership as a gift. Sign up here. You can also support us through our sponsors: Purchase a lightsaber from Level Up Sabers , run by friend of the podcast Neighborhood Master Alan . Use Audible for audiobooks. Sign up for a one-year membership or gift one through this link. Purchase any media discussed this week through our sponsored links.

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What Would You Pay for Safety? with Author Michael C. Bland is an episode from Superhero Ethics by TruStory FM.

This episode is 53:07 long.

This episode was published on Feb 24, 2026.

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