5 Burning Questions: Julian Bleecker

Renowned futurist, technologist, and author Brian David Johnson, who left his position at the Intel Corporation in January, will be joining Arizona State University as Futurist in Residence for spring 2016 at the Center for Science and the Imagination and as a Professor of Practice in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society.

Whether we’re crossing oceans, blasting off into space, migrating to distant unknown lands, or pursuing voyages of discovery within our own minds, we learn about who we are and who we want to become by traversing time, space and the imagination. In this volume, eleven young authors explore human futures shaped by excursions through space and time, and into the labyrinthine caverns of the human mind.

Imagine a world devoid of animal life except for humans. Or a future where medical advances enable people to live for hundreds upon hundreds of years. Would life be as sweet if there was no end in sight, or without our pets to greet us at the door at the end of a long day? These are just a few of the quandaries explored in “Living Tomorrow,” a new anthology of creative, thought-provoking visions of the future crafted by young people ages 13-25 from across the United States and worldwide.

Our science fiction visions of the future often obsess over the mechanical and the digital—from rockets and space stations to holodecks and cyberspace. In this volume, 11 young authors use science fiction storytelling to explore a diverse range of possible futures shaped by biological and environmental challenges and solutions.

Technologists and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer aficionados Astrid Atkinson and Bridget Kromhout answer CSI’s 5 Burning Questions at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Dawn Gilpin, associate professor of public relations and social media at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, answers CSI’s 5 Burning Questions.

One person’s utopia is another’s dystopia, but both perspectives have one thing in common—hope for humanity is taken away when all the questions are answered for us. This collection of science fiction stories takes us into dark futures so that we can have a conversation about how to avoid them.

Take a whirlwind tour of tomorrow through the minds of 10 young authors as they paint compelling pictures of what could happen over the next several decades through short science fiction stories. Featuring a foreword by professional futurist Brian David Johnson and an interview with journalist Bryan Walsh.

Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age (1995) has had a significant impact on many people; not only is it one of the precursors to the Center for Science and the Imagination, but

Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination, Intel and the Society for Science & the Public are proud to announce the winners of their competition, “The Future – Powered by Fiction.” The competition challenged young people ages 13-25 from all over the world to share their visions for possible futures inspired by real science and technology. To see a full list of winners, visit: http://isef.tomorrow-projects.com/results/

On May 14, 2014, Intel futurist Brian David Johnson took to Google Hangouts to announce the winners of The Future – Powered by Fiction, a competition that challenged young people worldwide

In this episode, we talk with interspecies jazz musician and philosopher David Rothenberg. David appeared at Arizona State University’s Emerge: Carnival of the Future on March 7, 2014 to perform alongside flying quadcopters and the band There Is Danger. Click here to watch a clip of the performance, titled “Drone Confidential,” and visit Slate’s Future Tense channel to read an article about the process of creating the performance. Check out this transcript of the interview, or watch the video below! https://vimeo.com/91355576

This post is part of CSI’s Thoughtful Optimism and Science Fiction project. To learn more about the project, visit https://csi.asu.edu/category/optimism/. Listening to my co-readers react to the stories in Cory Doctorow’s

Time-traveling, a fantasy carnival and superhero fiction. We read a trio of Cory Doctorow short stories from the collection A Place So Foreign and Eight More (2003) – “A Place So Foreign,” “Return to Pleasure Island,” and “The Super Man and the Bugout” – and noticed a common trend between these radically different stories.

Space exploration has always been driven by both the imagination of the individual and the political will of nations. When the United States decided to go to the Moon it was an inherently political endeavor, part of the Cold War arms race; however, the majesty of the journey itself inspired the imaginations of millions of people to dream of traveling far beyond the Moon.

Near-future science fiction is notorious for its inaccurate predictions – from Blade Runner’s Replicants to the Back to the Future hover boards that people sarcastically mention at New Year’s parties. However, Kim Stanley Robinson’s dark political adventure Red Mars (1993) is spot-on with its predictions about virtual reality.

Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars (1993) initially presents a markedly optimistic vision of the future. The terraforming technology he envisions has enormous potential: it enables colonists to leave an environmentally devastated planet Earth to create a utopian society out in space.

Have you ever thought about robots? I mean really thought about them. They are so prevalent in science fiction that it is easy to take the existence of robots for granted. But someone had to invent robots at some point, and for some reason. The answer can be found partially in the etymology of the word: the English robot comes from the Czech robota, meaning forced or compulsory labor. The term “robot” in its original use would be unfamiliar to modern audiences; it was first used by Karel Čapek in his work R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), a science fiction play from 1920.

Like any genre, science fiction has changed over the years. Just as romance novels evolved from sociopolitical fairytales to the popular, racy stories of today, so too science fiction has transformed. In the Golden Age, science fiction stories were mostly forays into the fantastic, the unreal: they were sweeping epics; they were grandiose space operas; they were explorations of sublime worlds, outlandish technologies, futuristic and expansive societies. Characters in this kind of science fiction were often merely vehicles for traversing strange narrative universes, the author’s intricately-fashioned galaxies and dreams.

Contemporary science fiction storytelling is dominated by gloomy, dystopian narratives. The Thoughtful Optimism and Science Fiction project at the Center for Science and the Imagination is an attempt to uncover an alternative history of the genre that focuses on more hopeful and inspiring visions of the future that are still thoughtful, critical and complex. A group of student researchers has been hard at work since 2013, laying the foundation for a public database and a series of essays, reflections and comments about the history of thoughtfully optimistic thinking.

Ed Finn, director of the Center for Science and the Imagination, describes the mission of Project Hieroglyph. Hieroglyph is a platform that unites scientists, engineers, artists and authors to create ambitious, thoughtfully optimistic, scientifically-grounded visions of the near future.

From Jan. 17 through June 8, the Tempe Center for the Arts presents “American POP! Comic Books to Science Fiction…and Beyond,” an exhibition that explores the transformative effects that science fiction and popular culture have on our everyday lives and the technology that surrounds us.

In this episode of 5 Burning Questions, we talk with Ed Finn, director of the Center for Science and the Imagination and assistant professor in ASU’s School of Arts, Media and Engineering and Department of English, about science fiction, narrative, the humanities and the future.

David Williams, associate research professor at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration and director of the Ronald Greeley Center for Planetary Studies, explains how science fiction has influenced him throughout his career.

Dave Guston, director of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society and co-director of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University, explains how science fiction has influenced him throughout his career.

Michelle Dock, gallery coordinator at the Tempe Center for the Arts, explains how science fiction has influenced her throughout her career.

Melissa Morris, a theoretical astrophysicist and assistant director of the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University, explains how science fiction has influenced her throughout her career.

Jeff Yarger, a professor of chemistry, biochemistry and physics at Arizona State University and director of the Magnetic Resonance Research Center, explains how science fiction has influenced him throughout his career.

Gallery coordinator Michelle Dock introduces the Tempe Center for the Arts’ American POP! Comic Books to Science Fiction…and Beyond! exhibit. Several Arizona State University departments, including the School of Earth and Space Exploration and the Center for Science and the Imagination, contributed to the design of the exhibit.

In this episode of 5 Burning Questions, we talk with Kathryn Cramer, the co-editor of Project Hieroglyph and a member of CSI’s Imaginary College.

Nathan Shedroff, designer and the chairman of the MBA in Design Strategy at California College of the Arts, discusses his research on the relationship between science fiction and real-world design at Arizona State University’s School of Arts, Media and Engineering in October 2013.

In this episode of 5 Burning Questions, we talk with David Quammen, the author of Spillover. David visited Arizona State University in November 2013, to discuss Spillover, Animal Infections and the Threat of Pandemic.

In this episode of 5 Burning Questions, we talk with Nathan Shedroff, designer and chairman of the MBA program in Design Strategy at California College of the Arts. Nathan visited Arizona State University in October 2013 to discuss his book Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Sci-Fi and the relationship between science fiction, interfaces and the future of design.

In this episode of 5 Burning Questions, we talk with science fiction author, futurist, and scientist David Brin. Brin recently visited Arizona State University to discuss his newest novel, Existence, which discusses the future of humanity.

A collection of science fiction stories exploring possible futures, written by authors from Brazil. Presented by futurist Brian David Johnson and the Tomorrow Project.

As histórias reunidas nesta antologia nos permitem vislumbrar possíveis cenários do nosso futuro, onde a única limitação é a nossa própria imaginação.

In this episode of 5 Burning Questions, we interview young adult fiction author Tom Leveen, whose most recent novel “SICK” was launched at Arizona State University’s Tempe campus on October 1st, 2013.

Science-based visions of the future, created by professional science fiction authors and young people from across the globe, exploring futures we want to work toward and possibilities we work together to avoid. Presented by CSI and the Tomorrow Project.

In this episode of 5 Burning Questions, we talk with legendary science fiction author, design critic, editor and journalist Bruce Sterling. Bruce recorded this interview with us during his tenure as CSI’s inaugural Visionary in Residence. Among many other things, Bruce blogs for Wired.com and is the de facto spiritual leader for ASU’s Emerge since its inception in 2012.

In this episode of 5 Burning Questions, we talk with Zach Berkson, a class 0f 2013 ASU graduate, doctoral student in chemical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara and founding president of CSI’s affiliated student organization, The Imagination Project.

We talk with Tracey Grose, Vice President of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.

In this episode of 5 Burning Questions, we talk with curator, photographer and poet Juan José Diaz Infante, mission director for the Mexican Space Collective. Learn more about the Mexican

This summer and fall, we are teaming up with Intel’s Tomorrow Project and the Society for Science & the Public to present The Future – Powered by Fiction, a competition

In this episode of 5 Burning Questions, we talk with Boyd Branch.

Raji Ganesan sporting CSI’s official lab coat at Intel ISEF 2013 Intel’s International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) was held in our very own Phoenix Convention Center this year! ISEF

This week the Center for Science and the Imagination hosted a small exhibition at Intel ISEF, a global science and engineering student competition. ASU’s Digital Culture program provided the centerpiece

Seth Herron is a graduate student at ASU studying sustainability and sustainable engineering, and a member of the Center for Science and the Imagination family. Seth is currently working with

ASU News

We can change the future by changing the story we tell ourselves about the future that we are going to live in. Imagining the Future and Building It features science fiction prototypes written by leading science fiction authors Madeline Ashby and Karl Schroeder, and technologists Roger Kay, Kathleen Maher, Rob Enderle, and Jon Peddie.

Ron Broglio, Associate Professor of English at Arizona State University, discusses how philosophy, aesthetics and literature can help us rethink the relationship between humans and the environment.

Conversations about changing the future with futurist Brian David Johnson, science fiction author Cory Doctorow, media theorist Douglas Rushkoff, and artist/technologist will.i.am.

Authors and futurists Douglas Rushkoff, Ray Hammond, Scarlett Thomas, and Markus Heitz create tales of the future, inspired by cutting-edge technology research, in this collection presented by Intel’s Tomorrow Project.