A cultural engine for thoughtful optimism
Moonshot ideas, radical collaborations. Information to feed your imagination.
Why: Mark Siegel is an award-winning illustrator, New York Times bestselling author and the founder and editorial director of First Second Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers that creates graphic novels for every age category, in a wide range of themes and styles, with talent from all over the world. Mark visited ASU to present a […]
When technologists describe their hotshot new system for trading stocks or driving cars, the algorithm at its heart always seems to emerge from a magical realm of Spock-like rationality and mathematical perfection. Algorithms can save lives or make money, the argument goes, because they are built on the foundations of mathematics: logical rigor, conceptual clarity, and utter consistency. Math is perfect, right? And algorithms are made out of math.
Our neocortex is very adept at automation – at habitualizing complex behaviors and routines of thought. Consider: how much of your day is patterned? How much of your thoughts are processes you’ve repeated before? A lot! And this is a good thing: automation frees up our minds for the good life, the life examined, the life of the mind.
We spend an awful lot of time now thinking about what algorithms know about us: the ads we see online, the deep archive of our search history, the automated photo-tagging of our families. We don’t spend as much time asking what algorithms want.
In 1562, Don Carlos, the seventeen-year-old heir apparent to the Spanish throne, falls down a flight of stairs. Tragically, he sustains a terrible head wound. His father, King Philip II, orders physicians to attempt every available cure. Nothing works – not the birthwort powder applied to the skull, not the mixture of turpentine and egg […]
By Michael G. Bennett and Libbie Richards, Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
Every sea on Earth is plagued by massive amounts of trash. Refuse in the ocean kills hundreds of thousands of birds and marine mammals per year, and hazardous heavy metals bind to plastic particles and enter our food chain. The Ocean Trash Write-Away contest challenges writers to imagine solutions to this global challenge and write an inspiring short story set in a future where we’ve turned the tide on ocean trash.
A lot of ink and electrons have been spilled on the task of getting our machines to pass the Turing test. It is indeed an accomplishment of some proportion if a computer’s linguistic or artistic output can pass for human-generated. But does a passing grade really mean genuine awareness?
Published as part of a series of short stories and essays over at Medium.com’s magazine Matter on climate change, climate fiction, and how to survive the future. Check out the entire series… The trouble with climate change is that it’s too slow: a creeping disaster causing incremental changes to our lives one year at a […]
A short documentary by Nathan Broderick about experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats, the Millennium Camera, installed at the ASU Art Museum, and the Deep Time Photo Lab, an interactive exhibit that debuted at ASU’s Emerge festival in March 2015.
While Hollywood blockbusters thrill us with breathtaking escapist spectacles, short films present diverse and idiosyncratic stories across the spectrum of genres, from fantasy and science fiction to riotous comedy and psychological drama. Short films can function as speculative windows into possible futures, or provide glimpses of contemporary realities that we don’t normally see. The Phoenix […]
On June 9, 2015, CSI director and Project Hieroglyph co-editor Ed Finn visited the Eight, Arizona PBS show Arizona Horizon to discuss Project Hieroglyph, science fiction, optimism for the future, and the trade paperback edition of Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future.
An interview with Neal Stephenson about his new novel, Seveneves, humanity’s resilience, and more.
Together with ASU’s Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, we’re highlighting the sustainability solutions you can use every day to reduce your impact on the environment, support a just economy, and foster a healthy society. If you have an idea, action, product, or other sustainability solution, share it on social media using #SolutionADay. See what others are doing: sustainabilitysolutions.asu.edu/solution-a-day
In November 2014, award-winning author Margaret Atwood visited Arizona State University as part of the Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative. In this interview, she discusses topics ranging from climate change and storytelling to the nature of hope and how she conducts scientific research for her books.
The Center for Science and the Imagination seeks a talented professional to assist with operational and budgetary aspects of the center, promoting its mission through creative thinking, problem solving, organizational mastery, and adaptability in the face of wide-ranging challenges.
In November 2014, award-winning author Margaret Atwood visited Arizona State University as part of the Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative. In this interview, she discusses topics ranging from climate change and storytelling to the nature of hope and how she conducts scientific research for her books.
In November 2014, award-winning author Margaret Atwood visited Arizona State University as part of the Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative. In this interview, she discusses topics ranging from climate change and storytelling to the nature of hope and how she conducts scientific research for her books.
In March 2015, Arizona State University’s Emerge presented eleven spellbinding “visitations from the future” – tangible, visceral experiences at the intersection of art and science. Learn more at emerge.asu.edu.
In November 2014, award-winning author Margaret Atwood visited Arizona State University as part of the Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative. In this interview, she discusses topics ranging from climate change and storytelling to the nature of hope and how she conducts scientific research for her books.