How To Transition From Soldier to Civilian

Projects

At the Center for Science and the Imagination, we pursue collaborative projects across many subjects and disciplines, exploring applied imagination, storytelling, technology in society, teaching and learning, and futures thinking. Here is a selection of our current and past projects. To learn more about our work, visit our About CSI page and check out our books and annual reports.

Current Projects

  • Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

    • Reimagining the education ecosystem in Arizona by supporting teachers and professional development organizations around the state.
  • Imagination Salons

    • A series of salons exploring how we can define, foster, and measure imagination, convened by collaborators across the U.S. and beyond.
  • Climate Imagination ClimateWorks

    • Positive climate futures, crafted by an international team of authors, grounded in real science and rooted in local geographies, cultures, and communities.
  • Applied SciFi

    • Events, research, and publications surveying how science fiction narratives can shape the development of real-world technologies.
  • Veterans Imagination Project

    • The Veterans Imagination Project (VIP) builds on traditional and proven transition services like career counseling and art therapy and infuses them with future-oriented insights to create a holistic intervention for career readiness.
  • Sound Systems

    • American orchestras face challenges relative to diversity, equity, relevance, sustainability. How do the embodied and cultural roles of performers and artists – enactors of aesthetic memories and futures – need to be reimagined and centered? What is the future of the orchestra?
  • Solar Tomorrows Fellowship

    • Creating educational materials on solar technologies, clean-energy transitions, and energy equity for learners throughout Arizona, from classrooms to newsrooms.
  • Evoke

    • Sponsored by the World Bank, this project brings together authors, artists, and experts to create stories, art, and instructional materials that inspire young people to solve global grand challenges.
  • History of the Future

    • Examining gripping cinematic visions of the future emanating from different moments in recent history.
  • Imagination Desk

    • In this occasional audio series, we chat with artists, scholars, and technologists about what inspires them and how they define and use imagination in their work.
  • Applied Imagination Fellowship

    • Our Applied Imagination Fellows work on projects to motivate transformative change, advance visions of inclusive futures, and explore how imagination is practiced by individuals and communities.
  • Imaginary Papers

    • Imaginary Papers is a quarterly newsletter. Each issue features brief pieces of writing from a diverse array of contributors, from scholars and journalists to cultural critics, and more.  subscribe
  • Skill Tree

    • Examining and celebrating how video games imagine possible futures, build thought-provoking worlds, and engage people as active participants in interpreting stories.

Past Projects

  • Us in Flux

    • A series of short stories and virtual gatherings that explore how we might reimagine and reorganize our communities in the face of transformative change.
  • Smithsonian Futures

    • Envisioning the future of Smithsonian museums and research units through collaborative imagination sessions with curators and staff.
  • Frankenstein Bicentennial

    • Arizona State University served as the network hub for a global celebration of the bicentennial of the writing and publication of Frankenstein, 2016-2018.
  • Hieroglyph

    • Rekindling our grand ambitions for the future through hopeful, technically grounded visions of the near future by Neal Stephenson and other leading science fiction authors.

Text: "What will you be in the future?" over a woman looking off with icons of technology swirling around her head.

Veterans Imagination Project Community Workshops

Learn new skills to navigate your transition and define your post-service success.

Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

Arizona STEM Acceleration Project (ASAP) is a new initiative transforming how Arizona’s K-12 educators deliver high-quality, hands-on STEM activities to our state’s future leaders.

Hear From Past Participants

How VIP Can Change Your Trajectory

The Applied Sci-Fi Project

The Applied Sci-Fi Project, made possible by support from the Sloan Foundation, is an event series and research project that brings together science fiction writers, futurists, scholars, and technologists to

An illustration of a globe with representations of solar energy, forests, factories, and other technologies.

Everything Change: An Anthology of Climate Fiction, Volume III

A collection of short stories by writers from around the world, exploring the climate crisis and how human responses to it will shape the futures we will inhabit. Featuring winning stories from our 2020 Everything Change Climate Fiction Contest.

Get the book

EVOKE: The Collaborative Process

EVOKE: The Collaborative Process from Science & the Imagination on Vimeo.

Want to change the future? Start with a great story. EVOKE is a massive multi-player online educational game that uses narrative to help players develop 21st century skills and drive collaborative innovation.

How To Transition From Soldier to Civilian

Bob Beard on how to make long-term plans amid the culture shock of civilian life. Slate.com

Veteran Imagination Project helps soldier dream big for next career

“You know, we’re trying to populate the desert, well you can’t do it without food,” said Curtis Merritt. Merritt is sharing his vision for the future of agriculture, one that

Program helps veterans reckon with reintegration

Veterans Imagination Project helps vets craft future narratives, find success ASU News

Imaginary Papers: Issue 17

Erin K. Wagner, Joe Tankersley & Joey Eschrich

History of the Future: Planet of the Vampires

On January 24, 2024, ASU CSI partnered with Majestic Neighborhood Cinema Grill to present the 1965 Italian Sci-Fi classic “Planet of the Vampires.” The film was introduced by Dr. Serena Ferrando. Click here to read her introduction “Introducing Terrore nello spazio.”

History of the Future: Total Recall

On April 24, 2024, ASU CSI will partner with Majestic Neighborhood Cinema Grill to present the 1995 Sci-Fi Blockbuster “Total Recall.” Get tickets here!

History of the Future: Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

On March 27, 2024, ASU CSI will partner with Majestic Neighborhood Cinema Grill to present the 1981 Post-Apocalyptic classic “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior” Get tickets here!

History of the Future: Westworld (1973)

On February 28, 2024, ASU CSI partnered with Majestic Neighborhood Cinema Grill to present the 1973 Sci-Fi classic “Westworld.” The film was introduced by series curator, Devan Hakkal. Read his introduction “An Epidemic in the Wild West” here.

Introducing Griots & Galaxies

This is a ten episode series hosted by Jenna Hanchey, Chinelo Onwualu, and Yvette Lisa Ndlovu that explores the work of ten African speculative fiction authors and imagining new futures for the continent.

Griots & Galaxies: Wole Talabi

In this conversation, Wole speaks about gods going on heists and how technologies hold the potential to bring us together in alternative histories and imagined futures.  

An illustration made up of partial, colorful images of five types of landscapes. From left to right: a monumental building and waterfall on the bank of a river; a small outpost or hut suspended above a swamp; a suburban scene where roads have been flooded or replaced with canals; a grassy village with a thatched-roof dwelling; and a tower in a desert with plants snaking up its side.

Book Launch: Climate Action Almanac (Online)

Tracing Pathways to Positive Climate Futures Zoom Webinar – Register This event starts at 1:00 pm Arizona time, which is 12:00 pm Pacific and 3:00 pm Eastern. When we think

Griots & Galaxies: Kemi Ashing-Giwa

In this conversation, Kemi takes us to galaxies far, far away, reimagining the hero’s journey through African-centered space opera. 

Griots & Galaxies: Suyi Davies

In this conversation, Suyi talks to us about godpunk, Stranger Things, and how to support African and other marginalized writers…

Griots & Galaxies: Tlotlo Tsamaase

In this conversation, Tlotlo talks with us about queerness, the dead, and how African surrealist stories illuminate the politics of African urban landscapes.

Imaginary Papers: Issue 16

David K. Seitz, Katherine Buse, Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal & Joey Eschrich

Griots & Galaxies: Chinelo Onwualu

In this special episode of Griots & Galaxies, Yvette interviews her cohost, editor and author Chinelo Onwualu. Chinelo shares with us her experiences as cofounder of Omenana and a forerunner in African speculative fiction…

Griots & Galaxies: Shingai Njeri Kagunda

In this conversation, Shingai talks to us about building community across the African diaspora, and challenges us to consider that taking African knowledges seriously means rethinking time itself.

Griots & Galaxies: Temi Oh

In this conversation, Temi talks to us about neuroscience, corporate control, and how futures of AI technologies relate to histories of racism and colonialism.

Griots & Galaxies: Ayodele Olofintuade

In this conversation, Ayodele talks to us about African metaphysics and the importance of queer and gender-expansive characters to resisting colonization. 

Griots & Galaxies: Tobi Ogundiran

In this episode of Griots & Galaxies, Chinelo and Yvette sit down with critically-acclaimed author Tobi Ogundiran. In this conversation, Tobi takes us into horror and haunting, talking about how fairytales reveal what different societies fear–and lo…

Griots & Galaxies: Mohale Mashigo

In this episode of Griots & Galaxies, Jenna sits down with award-winning singer/songwriter and author Mohale Mashigo. In this conversation, Mohale shares her experiences in multimedia storytelling, and questions if aliens are truly as scary as Weste…

Solar Tomorrows Project Lesson Plan

For Grades 9-12 Created by Annie Holub INTRODUCTION For Teachers  This Solar Tomorrows Project was designed by Annie Holub over the summer of 2023 as part of the Solar Tomorrows Fellowship at

A Slice of Life in 2050: A Sci-Fi Documentary Discussion about Possible Solar-Powered Futures

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit North America in 2020, the Center for Science and Imagination and Center for Energy and Society at Arizona State University convened a collection of

Imaginary Papers: Issue 15

Mateo Díaz Choza, Devan Hakkal & Joey Eschrich

History of the Future: RoboCop

On September 20, 2023 ASU CSI will partner with Majestic Neighborhood Cinema Grill to present the 1987 action classic, RoboCop. The film will be introduced by Dr. Jenny Brian. Get tickets here!

History of the Future: The Truman Show

On October 18, 2023 ASU CSI will partner with Majestic Neighborhood Cinema Grill to present 1998 cerebral blockbuster, The Truman Show. The film will be introduced by Bob Beard. Get tickets here!

History of the Future: Prospect

On November 8, 2023 ASU CSI partnered with Majestic Neighborhood Cinema Grill to present the 2018 independent film, Prospect, starring Pedro Pascal. The film was introduced by Dr. Jenna Hanchey. Click here to read her introduction “On Prospect.”

History of the Future: Rollerball

On August 16, 2023 ASU CSI partnered with Majestic Neighborhood Cinema Grill to present the 1975 cult classic, Rollerball. The film was introduced by Matt Bell. Click here to read his introduction “Rollerball and the Future We’re Racing Towards .”

Michael G. Bennett

  This episode of The Imagination Desk features Michael G. Bennett, a lawyer and legal scholar, scholar of science, technology and society, visual artist, and higher education leader. In this chat, we discuss different ways that artists use imagination…

Christopher Rowe

In this episode of The Imagination Desk, we sit down with science fiction and fantasy author Christopher Rowe to have a conversation about the relationship between imagination and faith, and how imagination influences our view of the universe.    Chris…

Claudia Alick

In this episode of The Imagination Desk, we sit down with cultural producer, performer, and inclusion expert Claudia Alick. In this conversation, Claudia speaks about Black imagination and futures, and shares her perspectives on ways to create safer an…

History of the Future: Outland

On February 15, 2023 ASU CSI partnered with Majestic Neighborhood Cinema Grill to present the 1981 space western, Outland. The film was introduced by Dr. Ben Fong.

History of the Future: Soylent Green

On January 18, 2023, ASU CSI partnered with Majestic Neighborhood Cinema Grill to present the 1973 eco-thriller, Soylent Green. The film was introduced by Dr. Christy Spackman. Click here to read her introduction “Can you see the cow? On Jell-O, Mormon Musicals, and Soylent Green.”

A stack of books on the ground, against a blurry outdoor backdrop.

Reimagining “The Future of [X]” (Online)

How to Build Collective Visions of the Future Using Sci-Fi & Foresight Tools What is the future of [X]? Over the past decade, there has been a growing trend of

Imaginary Papers: Issue 14

Jenna N. Hanchey, Erin K. Wagner & Joey Eschrich

History of the Future: Her

On April 19, 2023 ASU CSI partnered with Majestic Neighborhood Cinema Grill to present the 2013 science-fiction romantic comedy, Her. The film was introduced by Dr. Ed Finn. Read his introduction “Navigating Love and Artificial Intelligence in a Rapidly Evolving World” here.

Solar Tomorrows Fellowship

The Solar Tomorrows Fellowship reaches educators and learners of all ages throughout Arizona through educational materials about solar technologies and choices, clean-energy transitions, and issues of energy equity and justice.

History of the Future: Terminator 2

On Wednesday, March 15, 2023, ASU CSI partnered with Majestic Neighborhood Cinema Grill for a screening of Terminator 2. The film was introduced by Dr. Aviva Dove-Viebahn. Click here to read her introduction “Terminator 2: The Evolution of a Sci-Fi Icon.”

CSI Skill Tree banner, featuring a screenshot from the game Mutazione, showing a woman and an older man sitting next to a rooftop garden. Superimposed on the image are headshots of our guest speakers, Pamela Carralero and Matthew Derby.

CSI Skill Tree: Mutazione (Online)

  Register – Zoom Webinar In the CSI Skill Tree series, we examine and celebrate how video games envision possible futures, build rich and thought-provoking worlds, and engage people as active

The Future of Energy Ownership

Clark A. Miller Energy Democracies for Sustainable Futures

Redesigning Political Economy: The Promise and Peril of a Green New Deal for Energy

Clark A. Miller The Green New Deal and the Future of Work

Bob and Erik sitting on a TV set

Helping veterans transition to civilian careers

Program Director Bob Beard and former participant Erik Villegas appear on Arizona PBS to explain more about the methods used and why thinking about the future can be a helpful tool in military to civilian transition.

Yellow cover with delicate white circles nested in each other to look like a tunnel with the words Visionary Histories David J. Staley

Visionary Histories

When someone says they want to know the future of something, what they are really saying is they want to know what the state or behavior—especially the emergent behaviors—of some complex adaptive system is going to be at point n in the future. Visionary Histories makes the case for the disciplined study of the future via the historical method, that historians are methodologically well-positioned to anticipate the possible future behaviors of a wide variety of  complex systems.  

Imaginary Papers: Issue 12

Zoyander Street, Jason Tashea & Joey Eschrich

Applied Imagination Fellows Project Report: Ian Edwards

Applied Imagination Fellows Project Report: Sultan Sharrief

Applied Imagination Fellows Project Report: Panthea Lee

Applied Imagination Fellows Project Report: Regina Kanyu Wang

Applied Imagination Fellows Project Report: ImagiNasi by Benjamin Ong

Fabrice Guerrier

This episode of Imagination Desk features Fabrice Guerrier. In this conversation, Fabrice discusses how he uses imagination, and how imagination can be used to create better social futures.

Laura Tohe

This episode of the Imagination Desk features Laura Tohe, poet laureate of the Navajo Nation for 2015-2019, discussing how imagination informs her work and how it is used in both the poetry community and Indigenous communities. 

Corey Pressman

This episode of Imagination Desk features Corey Pressman. In this conversation, Corey discusses what applied imagination means to him, his work, and the future.

Lisa K. Solomon

This episode of Imagination Desk features Lisa Kay Solomon. In this conversation, Lisa discusses different applications of design thinking and futures thinking, and incorporating creativity and imagination into interdisciplinary fields and everyday life.

Annual Report 2021/22

Center for Science and the Imagination Annual Report 2021-22 PDF Annual Report 2021-22 EPUB

Fabrice Guerrier

This episode of The Imagination Desk features Fabrice Guerrier, who sits down with us to explore topics including the relationship between imagination and the physical world, how imagination can be used to to come up with better solutions to current is…

Laura Tohe

This episode of The Imagination Desk features Laura Tohe. In this conversation, Laura dives into the role imagination plays in communities, specifically Navajo communities. We also discuss the importance of language in her community, and the impact of …

Corey Pressman

This episode of The Imagination Desk features Corey Pressman. In this conversation, Corey discusses inquisitive topics including the effects of imagination on mental health and culture, the link between imagination and materialism, and how he uses imag…

Lisa Kay Solomon

This episode of The Imagination Desk features Lisa K. Solomon. In this conversation, Lisa talks about practicing imagination in the classroom, listening to and learning from our peers, and collaboratively building inclusive futures. Lisa Kay Solomon is…

A collage art piece with the following text on the image: Image description Collage art piece, an aerial view of an island made up of paper stained green with descriptive text cut into short phrases printed from a typewriter onto parchment-like paper. The island is surrounded by multiple rings of ink on watercolor paper

The Island, by Elsa Sjunneson

A story about ability and disability, journalism, and creating adaptable communities.

The text “Imaginary Papers 11” over a multicolored folded paper sculpture

Imaginary Papers: Issue 11

Lafayette Cruise, Azucena Castro & Joey Eschrich

Sympathy, by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

A story by Suyi Davies Okungbowa about children, robots, and bureaucracy.

Us In Flux Conversations: Suyi Davies Okungbowa & Lance Gharavi

A paint and paper collage of a wrought iron fence over grass transitioning to tall sunflowers over rich brown soil.

University, Speaking, by Phoebe Wagner

A story by Phoebe Wagner about reimagining universities as radically open to their communities, and better attuned to addressing local challenges.

White text that says “Us In Flux” over a texture background

Us In Flux Conversations: Phoebe Wagner & Punya Mishra

Becoming Birch, by Carter Meland

A story by Carter Meland about rock music, unexpected connections, and northern Minnesota forests.

White text says Us In Flux over a maroon and gold sunset gradient, and then half the image is birch tree artwork

Us In Flux Conversations: Carter Meland & Grace Dillon

Solutions for unfinished learning

ASU News

Imaginary Papers: Issue 10

Pippa Goldschmidt, Paul Cockburn & Joey Eschrich

The Sci-Fi Feedback Loop: Mapping Fiction’s Influence on Real-World Tech

May 12, 2022

Life After Carbon Imagining the City of the Future

Clark Miller Event – Video

Cities of Light: How Will Solar Energy Transform Urban Futures?

Clark A. Miller Event – video

Building Solar Cities Rethinking How Cities Get Their Power

Clark A. Miller Event – video

Ubiquitous Collaborative Support (UbiCoS)

A novel multi-platform approach to scaffolding math learning and encouraging student collaboration.

Boomtown

 by The Weight of Light and Cities of Light collaborator Andrew Dana Hudson, in the anthology Phase Change: Imagining Energy Futures (2022)

Book cover for Sickness, Systems, Solidarity. A composition in blue, yellow, and pink showing objects associated with the pandemic, like a face mask and a bottle of hand sanitizer, and objects asociated with gaming, like a video game console and a chess set.

Sickness, Systems, Solidarity: A Pandemics and Games Essay Jam

The global cataclysm of COVID-19, and the quarantines and social distancing that have accompanied the still-unfolding pandemic, has brought enormous changes to the games industry, the ways we play videogames (and physical games) alone and together, and the meaning and content of games old and new.

Andrew Dana Hudson: Our Shared Storm

Speculative fiction writer and sustainability researcher Andrew Dana Hudson discusses his book, five interlocking novelettes exploring the possible realities of our climate future.

Imagination project helps student veterans see their future more clearly

Scott Bordow, ASU News

Imaginary Papers: Issue 9

Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Bob Beard & Joey Eschrich

“Planetary Reversal: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Utopian Plan to Save the Planet” 

A Lecture by N. Katherine Hayles  Presented by ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination and the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict Rescuing the planet from climate chaos

Annual Report 2020/21

Annual Report 2020-2021 PDF Annual Report 2020-2021 EPUB

Solar Futures: an Interview with ASU’s Joey Eschrich & Clark Miller

Solarpunk Futures podcast

Kamila

Kamila is the apple of her parents’ eye: a brilliant student with a quick wit who wanted to change the world with science and technology. She had a future —

Marcel

The Taliban has re-taken Afghanistan. When Marcel chooses to let her disabled brother leave the country ahead of her, she has no idea if she will ever see her family

Andre

Andre left his country after University when one of his film projects was banned by the government and they persecuted and threatened to jail him. He returned secretly to save

Carlos

Carlos is just like any other young man in his twenties: he wants a chance to make his own way in the world, and define himself on his own terms.

Gladys

Gladys loved her life on the farm: the big open skies, the stars, the chance to see wildlife before it disappeared. And she loved raising her children there, even though

Stay in the Airplane

Notes for the podcast

In this season finale BDJ talks with guests about the shortcomings of AI, the perils of deploying it too early, and what gives them hope for the future of AI.  Guests: Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) Kade Crockford (@onekade) August Cole (@august_cole) Ellio…

Smithsonian Futures Exhibit

Smithsonian

Not Your Typical AI

Notes for the podcast

In this episode, Brian David Johnson talks with guests about their favorite AI’s and non-typical AI’s.  Guests: Laura Moy (@lauramoy) Rashida Richardson https://www.rashidarichardson.com Tim Fernholz (@TimFernholz_ Alida Draudt https://www.alidadraudt….

Dark Possibilities and Grim Realities

Notes for the Podcast

In this episode, Brian David Johnson talks with guests about the future of AI and what we should be optimizing for. Guests: Douglas Rushkoff (@rushkoff) August Cole (@august_cole) Chris Noessl (@chrisnoessel) Alida Draudt https://www.alidadraudt.com/ L…

What We Think About When We Think About AI

Notes for the Podcast

In this episode, Brian David Johnson gathers Kade Crockford, Eliot Peper, Tim O’Reilly, and Malka Older at the annual SXSW conference to discuss what sci-fi can teach us when it comes to how we think of AI today and how it can shape the future.  Guests…

Welcome To Sci-Fi House

Notes for the Podcast

In this episode, Brian David Johnson gathers science fiction authors, researchers, technologists, and activists at the annual SXSW conference to explore the human dimensions of machine intelligence. Guests: – Tiffany Li https://tiffanyli.com/ – Saayeli…

Brian David Johnson

In this episode of the Imagination Desk, we sat down with ASU futurist in residence Brian David Johnson. In this chat, we talk with Brian about his work on artificial intelligence and introduce his new podcast called Sci-Fi House Presents Imagining Int…

Illustration of a waterfall in a verdant forest, against a vibrant blue sky. The waterfall has a solar installation on top of it, and is caged by an orange structure of rings.

Crafting Climate Futures: From Story to Policy (Online)

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow presents an opportunity for decisive global action amidst escalating climate chaos. Now, more than ever, we need narratives of positive climate futures

Imaginary Papers: Issue 8

Lena Nguyen, Dagmar Van Engen & Joey Eschrich

A sci-fi story of Earth’s renewal

EcoFutures Climate Justice Project

Today’s escalating climate chaos is intensified by global threats to democracy, violent backlashes to migration, and horrific biodiversity loss. Furthermore, environmental degradation is exacerbating existing inequalities, with poor and marginalized

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Imagining Our Climate Futures (Online)

If we hope to achieve the global will and cooperation needed to meet the challenges of the climate crisis, we need stories of hope and transformation, not just disaster and

Logo for KJZZ 91.5 radio station: black font against a white background, with a series of concentric semi-circles on the left side, in blue.

ASU’s Veterans Imagination Project Aims To Help Veterans Envision New Career Paths

By Steve Goldstein

Headshots of Climate Imagination Fellows Vandana Singh, Libia Brenda, and Hannah Onoguwe.

The Days After Tomorrow: Climate Fiction for the Future

Can we reimagine our relationship with nature and protect the future? How can we marshal our collective imagination to accelerate global transformations and move towards a sustainable way of life?

A landscape illustration of mountains with many wind turbines on them, with a colorful city scene in the distance.

Workshop on Reimagining Climate Futures

Join the Center for Science and the Imagination, the Journal of Science Policy & Governance (JSPG), and the UK Science and Innovation Network for a workshop that brings together innovative

Illustration of a waterfall in a verdant forest, against a vibrant blue sky. The waterfall has a solar installation on top of it, and is caged by an orange structure of rings.

Postcards from the Future

Create a digital postcard from the future, with concept art by João Queiroz.

Unlocking Our Climate Imagination

When we imagine our climate future, it’s easy to drift towards catastrophe, especially in view of this summer’s shocking examples of climate chaos—from floods and sinkholes to heat domes and

Imaginary Papers: Issue 7

Damien P. Williams, Nilanjana Bhattacharjya & Joey Eschrich

A grid of colorful squares that include the images of five people and the text "Applied Imagination Fellows 2021-22"

Applied Imagination Fellows 2021-22

Our fellows are exploring how imagination can motivate transformative change.

Learn more about their projects >>>

Imagination Salons

Imagination is a fundamental human capacity, practiced by individuals, communities, and cultures the world over. The act of imagination, creating mental images and simulations beyond our direct, physical experience, is

Moscow author’s story lands in climate fiction anthology

Moscow-Pullman Daily News (Idaho)

Logo for KJZZ 91.5 radio station: black font against a white background, with a series of concentric semi-circles on the left side, in blue.

Indigenous Futurisms And Climate Fiction

Tom Maxedon Word podcast, KJZZ 91.5 public radio

Imaginary Papers: Issue 6

Lisa Yin Han, Jonathon Keats & Ruth Wylie

Sarena Ulibarri and Ed Finn on Solarpunk

How Do You Like It So Far? podcast

Cities of Light: A Collection of Solar Futures

A collection of science fiction stories, art, and essays exploring how the transition to solar energy will transform cities; catalyze revolutions in politics, governance, and culture; and create diverse futures for human communities.

Get the book

Claire Vaye Watkins: Climate Writing (Online)

Join Claire Vaye Watkins, award-winning author of the climate fiction novel Gold Fame Citrus and the short fiction collection Battleborn, for a virtual reading and a conversation about climate writing.

A young man extending his hand toward a mailbox, reaching toward a hand that is coming out of the mailbox.

Sci-Fi TV Dinner Small Bites: The Mailbox (Online)

Our Science Fiction TV Dinner series is going virtual for 2020-2021, to help keep our community safe during the pandemic. We’re shifting the format slightly, presenting Science Fiction TV Small

Arizona State University’s Free Solarpunk Anthology is All About Optimistic Futures

Andrew Liptak, Tor.com

Cities of Light: A discussion on the impact of a solar future

Justin Spangenthal, The State Press

Applied Imagination Fellowship

The Center for Science and the Imagination invites applications for its new Applied Imagination Fellowship. The fellowship is inspired by our belief that imagination is a crucial but often overlooked resource that serves as the ignition system for empathy, anticipation, and resilience. Learn more

How imagining our own extinction may save us

Pauline Holdsworth, CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

Cities of Light: A Collection of Solar Futures

A collection of science fiction stories, art, and essays exploring how the transition to solar energy will transform cities; catalyze revolutions in politics, governance, and culture; and create diverse futures for human communities. Our contributors imagine solar futures in four U.S. cities: Chicago, San Juan, Portland, and San Antonio.

Get the book

Katie Bouman

Katie Bouman is an assistant professor of computing and mathematical sciences, electrical engineering, and astronomy at Caltech in Pasadena, California. In this episode, we talk about scientific collaboration, imagination, and Katie’s work on the Event…

A Blue rectangle with wavy maroon lines with the text "Imaginary Papers 5" in bold white text

Imaginary Papers: Issue 5

Emma Kostopolus, Malik Toms, and Joey Eschrich

Annual Report 2019/20

Annual Report 2019/20 PDF Annual Report 2019/20 EPUB

A village scene with a young woman walking in the distance, including a large tree and a large hut with a solar-paneled roof. In the background, the sky is webbed over, like a dome is built around the entire village.

Sci-Fi TV Dinner Small Bites: Akoota (Online)

Our Science Fiction TV Dinner series is going virtual for 2020-2021, to help keep our community safe during the pandemic. We’re shifting the format slightly, presenting Science Fiction TV Small

Moya Bailey

Moya Bailey is a Black queer feminist scholar, writer, and activist. She is the co-author of #HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice and has a new book Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance coming out May 2021. In this …

A man and woman shot from above, standing on an ornate black-and-white patterned floor with stars and planets swirling around

Sci-Fi TV Dinner Small Bites: Ellipse (Online)

Our Science Fiction TV Dinner series is going virtual for 2020-2021, to help keep our community safe during the pandemic. We’re shifting the format slightly, presenting Science Fiction TV Small

Frankenbook Teachers’ Resource

Imaginary Papers: Issue 4

Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, Katherine Buse and Joey Eschrich

A blue figure holding the scales of justice, made up of binary code ones and zeroes, against a black background.

Stories of Algorithmic Justice (Online)

We often cling to the idea that artificially intelligent systems are neutral arbiters, despite knowing that these systems can only be as good as the parameters and data sets that

Imagination, Dreams and Empathy With Ed Finn

Join Ed Finn, associate professor and director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University, as he explains why imagination is the ignition system for all

A man holding a pink and purple umbrella, with a single-eye goggle, standing outdoors in front of a stone monument.

Sci-Fi TV Dinner Small Bites: A Love Letter to the Ancestors from Chicago (Online)

Our Science Fiction TV Dinner series is going virtual for 2020-2021, to help keep our community safe during the pandemic. We’re shifting the format slightly, presenting Science Fiction TV Small

“Tomorrow Is Another Daze” by Ernest Hogan

A story about Aztlán, creative reuse, and making technology work for you.

Us in Flux: Conversations—Ernest Hogan and Frederick Luis Aldama [Video—Past Event]

“Even God Has a Place Called Home” by Ray Mwihaki

A story about environmental health, technophilia, and transcendence.
Conversations—Ray Mwihaki and Christopher Rowe

Us in Flux: Conversations—Ray Mwihaki and Christopher Rowe [Video—Past Event]

Imaginary Papers 3

Imaginary Papers: Issue 3

Troy L. Wiggins, Kate Greene & Joey Eschrich

“The Wandering City,” by Usman T. Malik

A story about temporal anomalies, public spaces, and a new global consciousness.

Us in Flux: Conversations—Usman T. Malik and James Graham [Video—Past Event]

“A Cyber-Cuscuta Manifesto” by Regina Kanyu Wang

A story about big data, emerging life forms, and a plea for coexistence.

ISLS logo, a circle arrow with a starburst of 3 lines over it, with the letters ISLS

Using design-based research to improve peer help-giving in a middle school math classroom

Mawasi, A., Ahmed, I., Walker, E., Wang, S., Marasli, Z., Whitehurst, A., & Wylie, R.
International Conference on the Learning Sciences. 

Us in Flux: Conversations—Regina Kanyu Wang and Athena Aktipis [Video–Past Event]

“Notice” by Sarah Pinsker

A tale of unanticipated mail and the limits of self-reliance.

Us in Flux: Conversations— Sarah Pinsker and Punya Mishra [Video–Past Event]

“Fourth and Most Important” by Nisi Shawl

A tale of coded messages, clandestine drone deliveries, and surprising alliances.

Us in Flux: Conversations— Nisi Shawl and Ayana Jamieson [Video–Past Event]

Five separate works by Nina Miller for the Us In Flux series. From left to right; a quilt sewn with black thread, embroidered leaves, fabric resist and dye piece, a second quilt sewn with white thread, a woman embroidered with thread

The Art of Us in Flux: An Interview with Nina Miller

A conversation about art that visualizes the future, creative expression in moments of crisis, and how art can be a path into fictional worlds.

Two portraits embroidered on a quilt. The portrait on the left is stitched with black thread on white linen and the portrait on the right is stitched with various colored thread on a dark denim patch.

“Skating Without Streetlights” by Tina Connolly

A story about virtual reality, friendship, and the unexpected benefits of impersonation.

Imaginary Papers: Issue 2

Indrapramit Das, Jessie Rack & Joey Eschrich

Us in Flux: Conversations— Tina Connolly and Dennis Bonilla [Video–Past Event]

A couch in front of a window, but it is pieced from multiple fabrics and quilted. It is fragmented and multicolored.

“A Room of One’s Own” by Tochi Onyebuchi

A tale of quantum entanglement and self-care.

Us in Flux: Conversations—Tochi Onyebuchi and Michael G. Bennett [Video–Past Event]

Fabric resist and dye piece depicting the moon over the ocean.

“When We Call a Place Home” by Chinelo Onwualu

A utopian tale of historical memory, the dangers of forgetting…and vampires.

Us in Flux: Conversations—Chinelo Onwualu and Robert Evans [Video–Past Event]

Imagining and Designing Low-Carbon Futures

video lecture at University of Oklahoma, by Clark A. Miller, coeditor of The Weight of Light and Cities of Light

Green linen embroidered with the white outline of a squirrel, and five leaf shapes cut from multiple colors of fabric secured to the linen with cross stitches in various colors.

“An Attempt at Exhausting My Deck” by Kij Johnson

A short story about backyard ecology, interspecies communities, careful observation, and solitude without loneliness.

Us in Flux: Conversations—Kij Johnson and Jessie Rack [Video—Past Event]

Illustrationdone in fabric, quilted landscape with small person looking over vast hills covered in crops.

“The Parable of the Tares” by Christopher Rowe

A short story about food, monoculture, and communities that draw together the human and nonhuman.

Us in Flux: Conversations—Christopher Rowe and Michael Bell [Video—Past Event]

Jonathan Alexander

This episode of The Imagination Desk features Jonathan Alexander. Jonathan is Professor of English and Informatics at The University of California, Irvine and author of books such as Writing Youth: Young Adult Fiction as Literacy Sponsorship (2016) and…

Everything Change Climate Fiction Contest 2020

What would our world look like if we actually respected and lived within planetary boundaries? We’re excited to announce our third global climate fiction short story contest. Learn more…

Imaginary Papers: Issue 1

Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, Torie Bosch & Joey Eschrich

YACHT

This episode of The Imagination Desk features the band YACHT or Young Americans Challenging High Technology. We spoke with them about their new album Chain Tripping and it’s use of machine learning.

Paolo Bacigalupi

This episode of The Imagination Desk features science fiction heavy-weight Paolo Bacigalupi, author of The Water Knife and Shipbreaker. We caught up with him in this bonus episode to discuss the changes in his writing process as well as his latest proj…

Maureen McHugh

This episode of The Imagination Desk features Maureen McHugh. Maureen is an author and narrative designer who has worked on some of the biggest transmedia stories and alternate reality games (ARGs) in the history of the medium including The Beast for S…

Matt Derby

This episode of The Imagination Desk features Matt Derby. Matt is a writer and designer who works on innovative media projects where these two disciplines meet. Matt is a designer at the game studio Harmonix, the co-writer of the serialized fiction pod…

Anne Cofell Saunders

Our first interview for The Imagination Desk features Anne Cofell Saunders. Anne is an award-winning TV writer and producer, who has worked on some of the most popular genre shows of the past decade including Battlestar Galactica, Chuck, Smallville, an…

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Stargate SG-1

A classic work of military science fiction TV, Stargate SG-1 plunges humans into a new cosmology shaped by stargates: devices that create wormholes, enabling near-instantaneous travel across vast distances of

Black Futures Reader

A collection of recommended media to experience more Black Futures.

Illustration from Lee Konstantinou's short story "Burned-Over Territory," showing a person with a shaved head and an earring seated, facing away, against a black background, with camera drones hovering around their head.

Future Tense Fiction Book Launch: Washington, DC

Join us to celebrate the launch of Future Tense Fiction: Stories of Tomorrow, a new anthology of science fiction from Future Tense, with France Córdova, director of the National Science

Future Tense Fiction: Double Spiral

By Marcy Kelly

Illustration for Emily St. John Mandel's story "Mr. Thursday." Stylized image of a person in the background looking at a yellow car through a window, and another person in the foreground with their hand up, as if to say "stop."

Future Tense Fiction Book Launch: New York

Join us at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice to celebrate the launch of Future Tense Fiction: Stories of Tomorrow, a new anthology of science fiction from Future Tense,

Future Tense Fiction: What the Dead Man Said

By Chinelo Onwualu

Future Tense Fiction Book Launch: San Francisco

Join us to celebrate the launch of Future Tense Fiction: Stories of Tomorrow, a new anthology of science fiction from Future Tense, with award-winning fiction authors Annalee Newitz, Meg Elison,

Future Tense Fiction Book Launch: Phoenix

Join us to celebrate the launch of Future Tense Fiction: Stories of Tomorrow, a new anthology of science fiction from Future Tense, with award-winning fiction authors Paolo Bacigalupi and Maureen

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Max Headroom

A true 1980s pop-culture oddity, Max Headroom is a cyberpunk satire of the 21st century where the world is controlled by a cabal of shadowy, ruthless TV networks (example: “off”

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Star Trek: Discovery

The first Trek series born in the age of Prestige TV, Star Trek: Discovery presents a gritty, stubbornly weird, and ethically challenging take on Trek‘s spacefaring, post-scarcity future. Discovery asks

Announcing Future Tense Fiction: Stories of Tomorrow

by Torie Bosch, SLATE

Review: Future Tense Fiction

Kirkus Reviews

Frankenstein at 200

By Renee Anderson Lawfare

Future Tense Fiction: Zero in Babel

By E. Lily Yu

Future Tense Fiction: Stories of Tomorrow

An anthology of mind-bending science fiction short stories by some of the top authors in the field, drawn from our Future Tense Fiction project. How will living with scientific upheaval and technological transformation change the world–and us?

Facing the Pariah of Science: The Frankenstein Myth as a Social and Ethical Reference for Scientists

 Peter Nagy,  Ruth Wylie, Joey Eschrich, Ed Finn Science and Engineering Ethics

Character looks at an interface of AI

Should we make AI more human?

Patrick McGurrin

2019 Campbell and Sturgeon Awards Winners

Locus Magazine

Future Tense Fiction: Space Leek

By Chen Qiufan

ISLS logo, a circle arrow with a starburst of 3 lines over it, with the letters ISLS

Co-Design for Learner Help-Giving Across Physical and Digital Contexts

Ahmed, I., Girotto, V., Mawasi, A., Whitehurst, A., Wylie, R., & Walker, E.
International Conference on the Learning Sciences

A close up photo of a computer screen with unreadable numbers and words stack on each other and all different colors.

Investigating help-giving behavior in a cross-platform learning environment

Ahmed, I., Mawasi, A., Wang, S., Wylie, R., Bergner, Y., Whitehurst, A., & Walker, E
International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education

Starred Review:Future Tense Fiction: Stories of Tomorrow

Publishers Weekly

Monster algorithms: Ed Finn

by Athena Aktipis and Dave Lundberg-Kenrick, Zombified Podcast

Future Tense Fiction: No Moon and Flat Calm

by Elizabeth Bear

Approaches to Light

This biography of a dawn traces one particular sunrise through poetry, photography, and lived experience as it played out from four different vantage points on the San Francisco Peaks. This collection is inspired by James Turrell’s land art project at Roden Crater in Northern Arizona.

Future Tense Fiction: The Song Between Worlds

By Indrapramit Das

17 Writers on the Role of Fiction in Addressing Climate Change

by Amy Brady, Literary Hub

Five ASU affiliates who are using their art to make change in their communities

by Chelsea Hofmann, The State Press

ASU ebook ‘Weight of Light’ provides a vision of a solar future

by Nick Hedges, The State Press

Center for Science and the Imagination event puts the science in science fiction

by Endia Fontanez, The State Press

Climate Change Fiction for Students and Teachers

by Sarah Outterson-Murphy Morningside Center

The Scout Report: March 29, 2019

The Scout Report (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Big Rural (reprint)

by Cat Rambo, Motherboard – VICE

Logo for ASU Now: gold text against a white background.

Authors, artists explore solar futures in new anthology

by Joey Eschrich, ASU Now

Friday Field Notes 032219

Solar Cascade

Can Climate Change Fiction Build Consensus, Empathy?

by Brooke Ruth and Mark Sauer, KPBS (San Diego)

Science Fiction Frames: Black Mirror and the Search for True Love

Gr8estIdeaEver

A collection of science fiction stories, art… [Post about Weight of Light]

Solarpunks.net

Emerge 2019 celebrates invention

Ride an ornithopter, interact with robot marionettes and explore the theme of “Invention!,” celebrating human inventiveness on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci.

Mpendulo: The Answer

By Nosipho Dumisa

When ‘Everything’ Is Changing, Stories Have A Role To Play

by Jason Sheehan, NPR Books

How sci-fi could help solve climate change

by Zoe Sayler, Salon.com

We’re overdoing dystopian sci-fi. Can we please take a break?

by Gautham Shenoy, Factor Daily

How sci-fi could help solve climate change

by Zoe Sayler, Canada’s National Observer

Speculating on the Blockchain Beyond Cryptocurrencies

by Andrew Hageman, Los Angeles Review of Books

The Weight of Light: A Collection of Solar Futures

A collection of science fiction stories, art, and essays exploring human futures powered by solar energy, with an upbeat, solarpunk twist. What will it be like to live in the photon societies of tomorrow? How will a transition to clean, plentiful energy transform our values, markets, and politics?

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Emerge 2019: Invention!

Emerge is a festival of art, science, and technology devoted to creative imagination and experiences of tomorrow. Ride an ornithopter, interact with robot marionettes and explore the theme of “Invention!,”

How sci-fi could help solve climate change

by Zoe Sayler, Grist

How sci-fi could help solve climate change

By Zoe Sayler Grist

Logo for ASU Now: gold text against a white background.

In the face of climate chaos, writers find grief and hope

by Joey Eschrich, ASU Now

A New Cli-Fi Collection You Can Download For Free

by Amy Brady,  Chicago Review of Books

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Over the past 42 years, the Star Wars universe has grown beyond galaxy-spanning battles between an evil empire and acrobatic warrior monks to encompass a multitude of stories about diversity, resilience, courage,

Image of author Omar El Akkad, shoulders-up, in a black shirt, against the backdrop of a multicolored map of the United States.

The Story of the American War with Omar El Akkad

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019, 6:00PM | Ventana Ballroom, Memorial Union In this year’s annual Imagination and Climate Futures Lecture, Omar El Akkad talks about how he came to write his debut novel, American War – the events that inspired it, the references buried throughout the text and the places he visited to research the book.

Kamala Harris is wrong about science fiction

by Charlie Jane Anders, The Washington Post

Everything Change: An Anthology of Climate Fiction, Volume II

A collection of short stories by an international group of authors, drawn from our 2018 Everything Change Climate Fiction Contest, plus a foreword by our lead judge, Kim Stanley Robinson.

Get the book

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A free book of science fiction from around the world about climate change, introduced by Kim Stanley Robinson

by Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

Thoughts and Prayers

by Ken Liu

Literally, Stories of Climate Change

by Joey Eschrich and Angie Dell, iMPACT magazine

When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis

by Annalee Newitz

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Person of Interest

In just a few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has shifted from the stuff of futuristic dreams to a ubiquitous part of our daily lives. In a moment of dizzying change,

The Scientific Origins of Frankenstein

by Javier Yanes, BBVA OpenMind

Don’t Be Scared of Killer Robots

by Ed Finn The New York Times

Center for Science and the Imagination and Open Technology Institute Launch “AI Policy Futures”

“Science fiction stories exert a powerful influence on how we think about technology and the future. But if we spend all of our time looking over our shoulders for killer robots, that means we are not looking ahead to discern the outcomes we might actually want.”

The History of the Future of Transportation

Joey Eschrich

Frankenstein at 200

by Jennifer Schuessler The New York Times

How humans fit into Google’s machine future

by Ed Finn and Andrew Maynard The Conversation

ASU Chamber Orchestra: ‘Frankenstein!’ at Mesa Arts Center

Buy tickets The Jeffery Meyer conducts the ASU Chamber Orchestra as they embark on a musical exploration of Frankenstein themes as part of the ASU Frankenstein Bicentennial Project. Concerts at

ASU Chamber Orchestra: Frankenstein! at ASU Gammage

Buy Tickets Frankenstein! Part of the ASU Frankenstein Bicentennial Project ASU Chamber Orchestra Jeffery Meyer, Conductor David Schildkret, Chansonnier The ASU Chamber Orchestra embarks on a musical exploration of Frankenstein

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Torchwood

The BBC’s Torchwood, a spin-off of Doctor Who, centers on a team of investigators working in secret, “outside the government, beyond the police,” to protect Earth from extraterrestrial and supernatural

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Battlestar Galactica

What are the challenges of sustaining a human society in space? How should we govern ourselves and endure political crises in an environment dangerously starved of resources? More importantly, how

We Have Always Died in the Castle

In this novella, award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Elizabeth Bear and artist Melissa Gay imagine a near future informed by visceral VR simulations to catalyze positive change.

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Phoenix will no longer be Phoenix if Waymo’s driverless-car experiment succeeds

By Ed Finn MIT Technology Review

Frankenbook

A collaborative reading experiment with Mary Shelley’s classic novel.

Logo for Boing Boing Blog. The letters “bb,” in lowercase white font, at a jaunty angle, against a bright candy red background.

Frankenbook: collective annotations on Mary Shelley’s 200 year old novel “Frankenstein”

By Cory Doctorow Boing Boing

200 Years of Frankenstein: Mary Shelley’s Masterpiece as a Lens on Today’s Most Pressing Questions of Science, Ethics, and Human Creativity

By Maria Popova Brain Pickings

What have we learned from science’s most infamous doctor-patient relationship?

Massive Science

Sci-Fi & Fantasy Short Fiction Roundup: April 2018

Maria Haskins
Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog

Imaginary Worlds: Living in Space

People have fantasized for ages about what it would be like to live in space. If Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos achieve their goals with Space X and Blue Origin,

Gardner Dozois Reviews Short Fiction: Lightspeed, Asimov’s, Analog, and F&SF

Gardner Dozois
Locus Magazine

A Year Without a Winter

A collection that brings together science fiction, history, visual art, and exploration, inspired by the literary “dare” that would give birth to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein amidst the aftermath of a massive volcanic eruption. Named one of the top art books of 2019 by the New York Times.

History of the Future: Demolition Man

Buy Tickets This summer, FilmBar and Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination are going back to the future. This second installment of The History of the Future

History of the Future: They Live

Buy Tickets This summer, FilmBar and Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination are going back to the future. This second installment of The History of the Future

History of the Future: Logan’s Run

Buy Tickets This summer, FilmBar and Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination are going back to the future. This second installment of The History of the Future

Pop Art-style image of a character from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode Sanctuary, featuring a woman in profile and a Starfleet insignia.

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

What would it be like to actually dwell in space? What challenges might bedevil us as we tried to live well in such a vast and inhospitable place? What opportunities

ASU creates interactive moon colony exhibit

Fox 10 News

There are wonderful holes in my brain

Jessie Rack

Explore a prototype moon colony this weekend at ASU

AZFamily.com

ASU Emerge to create a moon colony on campus

Mary Beth Faller ASU Now

Grey rectangles stacked on top of each other

The Enduring Influence of a Dangerous Narrative: How Scientists Can Mitigate the Frankenstein Myth

Bioethical Inquiry
Peter Nagy, Ruth Wylie, Joey Eschrich and Ed Finn

Science Fiction TV Dinner: The Jetsons and Other Classic Cartoons

Classic cartoons like The Jetsons, Huckleberry Hound, and Beany and Cecil powerfully shape our vision of the world around us, including the way that we understand science and technology. These series have enduring power

Several people's faces, separate from one another, against a white background, with an image of the Moon looming above.

Emerge: Luna City 2175

Emerge will transform ASU’s Galvin Playhouse into a rich, immersive experience grounded in space-science research and the inspirational vision of our Writer-at-Large, Kim Stanley Robinson. Come see, hear, touch and

Because the wolves are shot

By Jessie Rack “Coyote” by Jitze Couperus, licensed under CC BY 2.0 What do you really know about coyotes? Maybe you’ve heard the official line about the economic consequences of coyotes

Future Tense Fiction: Mother of Invention

A new short story by the author of Marvel’s Black Panther: Long Live the King, Nnedi Okorafor.

Maroon Square with a the word slate in the center of the square.

What Black Panther Could Mean for the Afrofuturism Movement

By Michael Bennett
Slate – Future Tense

Logo for Science Friday: the letters “sci” in white, and the letters “FRI” in gold, against a dark red background..

Farewell, ‘Frankenstein’

Ira Flatow and Christie Taylor
Science Friday

Bob Beard from ASU's Center for Science and the Imagination, in KJZZ's studios, making a roar face and wearing a lab coat.

It’s Aliiiiiive! Celebrating The 200th Anniversary Of ‘Frankenstein’

Steve Goldstein, Sarah Ventre
KJZZ

Grey rectangles stacked on top of each other

Footnotes to Frankenstein

Jon Turney
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Drawn Futures: Arizona 2045

A science-based comic book for 5th through 8th grade students. Created by award-winning comics authors and advised by ASU sustainability scholar Dr. Paul Hirt, this original story envisions the near future of Arizona’s energy systems.

A hand holds a revolver in front of the Westworld logo embedded in a mountain range.

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Westworld

Westworld examines timeless dilemmas about free will, individual identity, and the fundamental altruism or savagery of human nature through the lens of artificial intelligence and robotics. Building on motifs from a

Frankenstein game teaches kids about science

Erin Blakemore
Washington Post

James Whale directing Boris Karloff as the creature in the 1931 film Frankenstein.

Rummaging through the Queer Closets of James Whale’s Frankenstein Films

In 1931 and 1935, respectively, James Whale, classical Hollywood’s most openly gay filmmaker, directed Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, the two most famous, admired, imitated, and parodied films based upon elements of Mary

Digital cartoon drawn Image from the short story The Minnesota Diet. Four people watching a woman smash a whole into a wall with a hammer.

Future Tense Fiction: The Minnesota Diet

A new short story from the author of the Nebula Award–winning All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders.

Logo for Boing Boing Blog. The letters “bb,” in lowercase white font, at a jaunty angle, against a bright candy red background.

Frankenstein 200: America’s science museums celebrate the bicentennial of Mary Shelley’s Frankestein with a free, amazing transmedia experience

BoingBoing

Ed Finn on the set of Horizon.

ASU’s newly-published collection of sci-fi stories has people talking about space

Horizon Arizona PBS

NPR Logo

Man as God: ‘Frankenstein’ Turns 200

Marcelo Gleiser NPR – 13.7 Cosmos and Culture

Logo for Science Friday: the letters “sci” in white, and the letters “FRI” in gold, against a dark red background..

Sci Fri Book Club: ‘Frankenstein’

Science Friday

Cast photo of the TV series The Good Wife.

Science Fiction TV Dinner: The Good Wife

The Good Wife is a legal drama with salacious political overtones and an unusually complex and thought-provoking approach to emerging technology and the law—in 2013, Wired magazine called it “the

Photo of Torie Bosch, and Cover for What Future. The year's best ideas to reclaim, reanimate and reinvent our future. 2017 Edition Edited by Torie Bosch and Roy Scranton. Cover photo of a tree in the jungle.

Workshop: “Writing to Change Minds” with Slate’s Torie Bosch

Stubbornness may be the defining characteristic of the moment we’re in. People seem increasingly reluctant to listen to other points of view or deviate from their tribe. So how can

Logo for the Wall Street Journal: the letters “WSJ” in black, all-caps against a textured beige background.

‘Frankenstein’ Has Become a True Monster

Ed Finn and David H. Guston The Wall Street Journal

Photo of the inside of a space station with a ship and planet being seen outside of a large window.

Arizona State University challenges experts, authors to imagine space futures

New research-based collection features narratives by top science fiction authors, essays by experts on future possibilities for exploring Mars, Asteroids, Low Earth Orbit, and Exoplanets.

Out of Control

Richard Holmes
The New York Review of Books

Space Is Not a Void

By Joey Eschrich and Ed Finn
Future Tense – Slate

Wired Magazine Logo

Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities: A Collection of Space Futures

Bruce Sterling
Wired – Beyond the Beyond

Cover for Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities: A collection of space Futures. Edited by Ed Finn and Joey Eschrich. Photo of the inside of a futuristic space station. A ship and planet can be seen outside the window.

Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities: A Collection of Space Futures

Why should we go to space? Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities takes on the challenge of imagining new stories at the intersection of public and private—narratives that use the economic and social history of exploration, as well as current technical and scientific research, to inform scenarios for the future of the “new space” era.

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‘Black Panther’ isn’t just another Marvel movie — it’s a vision of a future led by blackness

by Xavier Harding Mic

The Rightful Place of Science: Frankenstein

A collection of essays by scholars, journalists, scientists, and policy experts, taking the bicentenary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as an occasion to explore issues of scientific creativity and responsibility.

Drawing of Buffy holding a wooden stake, hiding slightly behind a wall.

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Joss Whedon’s cult-classic series Buffy the Vampire Slayer continues to fascinate feminists, genre aficionados, and those of us who are hopelessly nostalgic for the late 1990s. Join us for a special Halloween

Logo for KJZZ 91.5 radio station: black font against a white background, with a series of concentric semi-circles on the left side, in blue.

Climate Change Nurtures a New Genre of Science Fiction

Steve Goldstein
KJZZ 91.5

Margaret Atwood, Prophet?

Ed Finn
Slate – Future Tense

Drawn Futures: Arizona 2045

Drawn Futures: Arizona 2045 is a science-based comic book for 5th through 8th grade students. Created by award-winning comics authors and advised by ASU sustainability scholar Dr. Paul Hirt, this original story envisions the near future of Arizona’s energy systems.
Learn more…

An assortment of "glyphs" from the TV series Fringe: a cross-section of an apple, a frog, a handprint, etc.

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Fringe

Fringe is a police procedural tailored for a conspiracy-addled culture: a fever dream of near-future biotechnology research, Timothy Leary-esque 1960s counterculture, and the seemingly ineluctable creep of corporate governance. Created by

Cover for Overview Stories in the Stratosphere

Overview: Stories in the Stratosphere

A collection of science fiction, art, and speculative timelines exploring the near future of the stratosphere. From Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey to The Martian, great science fiction stories have shaped how we think about voyages into deep space—but what gripping confrontations and adventures might unfold in near space, above the clouds?

Ulises I

Ulises I is an art mission to space by the Colectivo Espacial Mexicano. This is a personal journal, photographic record, and collection of essays documenting the mission, by Juan José Díaz Infante and other collaborators. Note: This is a beta version of the Ulises I book.

Flatliners: Unexpected Frankensteins

Get tickets Frankenstein! Beyond green skin and neck bolts, what else comes to mind? Environmental degradation? The technological singularity? Vicious high school cliques? FilmBar and Arizona State University’s Center for

Her: Unexpected Frankensteins

Forget Alexa – here’s an artificial intelligence you can truly fall for. Join us Wednesday, July 19 at FilmBar Phoenix for Spike Jonze’s visionary “Her,” part of our Unexpected Frankensteins

Black and White photo of Cory Doctorow with black glasses

CSI Conversations: Cory Doctorow

Cory talks about his new novel Walkaway and his essay in the book Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds, a new critical edition edited by the leaders of ASU’s Frankenstein Bicentennial Project.

What Matters in Concept Mapping? Maps Learners Create or How They Create Them

Shang Wang, Erin Walker, Ruth Wylie International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education Nominated for Best Paper

Day One of the Imagination Economy

Corey S. Pressman

Balancing Student Needs and Learning Theory in a Social Interactive Postdigital Textbook

Erin Walker, Ruth Wylie, Andreea Danielescu, James P. Rodriguez III, Ed Finn End-User Considerations in Educational Technology Design, IGI Global

Frankenstein Book Cover Frankenstein written in angular typeface. Written by Mary Shelley. Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of all kinds. Edited by David H. Guston, Ed Finn, and Jason Scott Robert

Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds

This edition of Frankenstein pairs the original 1818 version of the manuscript with annotations and essays by leading scholars exploring the social and ethical aspects of scientific creativity raised by this remarkable story. The result is a unique and accessible edition of one of the most thought-provoking and influential novels ever written.

The Thing: Who is the disease, and who is the cure?

Robert Weisberg

Image of 7 white equally spaced and same size lines on a black background

The Serendipity of Semiautonomous Systems

The MIT Press Podcast

What Algorithms Want

RSVP here >> Algorithms tell us what to read, where to go, and whom to date…but do we really understand them? It’s easy to think of algorithms as magical beings,

“Readings in the Cthulhucene” – The Futures of Afrofuturism

More about this event >> Michael Bennett speaks at this symposium at the University of Tennessee.

Frankenstein Book Cover Frankenstein written in angular typeface. Written by Mary Shelley. Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of all kinds. Edited by David H. Guston, Ed Finn, and Jason Scott Robert

“It’s Alive!” Frankenstein’s Lessons for Scientists and Creators

Get tickets here >> Two hundred years after its creation,  Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is still alive and well, continuing to shape how we imagine science and its

Future Tense Fiction: “Mr. Thursday,” by Emily St. John Mandel

“She’d seen the coat before in this moment, exiting this train, here. Every face in the crowd looked somehow familiar.” Read the full story on Slate.com

What Algorithms Want

In this book, Ed Finn considers how the algorithm—in practical terms, “a method for solving a problem”—has its roots not only in mathematical logic but also in cybernetics, philosophy, and magical thinking.

What Algorithms Want: Imagination in the Age of Computing

The founding director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at ASU presents his latest book, explaining the ties that connect algorithms and computing to human culture–past and present.

Side view of a open book.

Why Frankenstein is a Stigma Among Scientists

Peter Nagy, Ruth Wylie, Joey Eschrich, Ed Finn Science and Engineering Ethics Download article

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Occupied

The Norwegian thriller Occupied masterfully blends the Machiavellian ruthlessness and icy visual style of House of Cards with the existential threat of climate change. Masterminded by world-renowned crime novelist Jo

VIVORIUM. Ali Schachtschneider, photographed by Hiu Zhi Wei.

Emerge 2017: Frankenstein

EMERGE is an annual transmedia art, science and technology festival designed to engage diverse publics in the creative exploration of our possible futures. The festival’s 2017 theme is Frankenstein, a 200-year old

contour sketch of two faces and a most monster face. On a dark green background with lightening in the back ground

Science Fiction TV Dinner: The X-Files

When we think of The X-Files, we think of sprawling government conspiracies, eerie UFO sightings, cigarette-smoking men, and the compelling dynamic between the smoldering, occasionally unhinged Fox Mulder and the doggedly

Mark Siegel and Brian Miller discuss a storyboard

Science Comics Workshop

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

Author And Illustrator Discusses Impact Of Graphic Novels

KJZZ – The Show

Maroon Square with a the word slate in the center of the square.

How Frankenstein’s Monster Became Sexy

Joey Eschrich
Slate – Future Tense

Unexpected Frankensteins: Weird Science

Buy tickets today! Frankenstein! Beyond green skin and neck bolts, what else comes to mind? Environmental degradation? The technological singularity? Vicious high school cliques? Each month throughout 2017, we’re partnering

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Black Mirror

Black Mirror brings the breathtaking aesthetics, dystopian fervor, bracing social commentary, and eerie prescience of The Twilight Zone to the age of iPhones, Snapchat, and Snowden. The first season episode

Science Fiction TV Dinner – CSI: Cyber

In a moment of cyber-paranoia and cyber-crisis, there’s never been a cyber-time more cyber-appropriate for the overheated (and tragically, recently canceled) cyber-procedural, CSI: Cyber. Cybersecurity has never been more critical

Science Fiction Frames: The Repository

View at Medium.com

Cover for Everything Change An Anthology of Climate Fiction. Foreword by Kim Stanley Robinson. Interview with Paolo Bacigalupi. Edited by Manjana Milkoreit Meredith Martinez and Joey Eschrich

Everything Change: An Anthology of Climate Fiction

Features short stories from our 2016 Climate Fiction Short Story Contest along with a foreword by science fiction legend and contest judge Kim Stanley Robinson, and an interview with renowned climate fiction author Paolo Bacigalupi.

Logo for ASU Now: gold text against a white background.

ASU writing contest breathes new life into climate-change conversation

Arizona State University unveils climate fiction anthology

Book features authors from six different countries alongside science fiction luminaries Paolo Bacigalupi, Kim Stanley Robinson

Photo of the inside of a office building with a banner that reads Making a monster

Frankenstein at 200 Exhibit

Exhibit is on display from August 30 through December 10, 2016 No work of literature has done more to shape the way people imagine science and its moral consequences than

Logo for KJZZ 91.5 radio station: black font against a white background, with a series of concentric semi-circles on the left side, in blue.

It’s Alive! Frankenstein’s Influence 200 Years Later

By Sarah Ventre, KJZZ 91.5 FM

Science Fiction Frames: Moon and the Dream of Unlimited Energy

Sherryl Vint

Illustration of a woman with long hair, pronounced eyebrows, and full lips, against a red background.

Future Tense Fiction

In April 2016 CSI launched a new experiment with the Future Tense Channel at Slate: a regular writing series featuring original science fiction stories by well-known authors. We launched Future

NSF Transmedia Project

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a modern myth; a 200-year-old science-fiction story with themes of human creativity, societal responsibility and scientific ethics. Two centuries later, these themes continue to resonate in our technological age.  As

The Frankenstein Bicentennial Dare

Lighting expanding from one point over a light green background with a sketch of a human heart lightly visible

The Dare

Two centuries ago, on a dare to tell the best scary story, 19-year-old Mary Shelley imagined an idea that became the basis for Frankenstein. Mary’s original concept became the novel that arguably kick-started the genres of science fiction and Gothic horror, but also provided an enduring myth that shapes how our society continues to grapple with creativity, science, technology, and their consequences. Two hundred years later, inspired by that classic dare, CSI launched a series of creative challenges inspiring amateur and professional writers to reflect on questions of science, ethics, creativity, and responsibility.

Science Fiction TV Dinner – Star Trek: The Next Generation

September 8, 2016 is the 50th anniversary of the Star Trek universe. Celebrate with us by taking a journey to the final frontier, where Captain Picard and his stouthearted crew

Jason X, Snapchat, and the Double-Edged Machete of Nostalgia

Bob Beard

Science Fiction Frames: Interstellar and Dystopian Optimism

Samuel Arbesman

Stitching Together Creativity and Responsibility: Interpreting Frankenstein Across Disciplines

By Megan K. Halpern, Jathan Sadowski, Joey Eschrich, Ed Finn, and David H. Guston Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society

Star Wars Day: May the 4th Be With You

Our communications and public engagement strategist Bob Beard visited Phoenix’s NBC affiliate, 12 News, to discuss Star Wars Day and why science fiction fandom matters. Watch now…

Emerge 2016: The Future of Sport

What will sport look like in 2040? What would you like it to be? How can we steer the development of “sport” to answer our cravings for fun, adrenalin, competition and collaboration so common in our species?

Book cover for Robot Spirit Engine, robots speak into a megaphone

Cheering Artificial Intelligence Leader

At the festival, meet CAIL, the Cheering Artificial Intelligence Leader, designed by Director of Research and Collaboration for Emerge, Hannah Star Rogers, with Center for Science and Imagination staff Joey

Illustration of a woman with long hair, pronounced eyebrows, and full lips, against a red background.

Future Tense Fiction: “Mika Model,” by Paolo Bacigalupi

“The girl, the robot … this thing—I’d seen her before, all right. I’d seen her in technology news stories about advanced learning node networks…”

Futurist Brian David Johnson on The Gist Podcast

Listen to our Futurist in Residence Brian David Johnson on The Gist podcast with the inimitable Mike Pesca!

Equilibrium movie poster, depicting Christian Bale and Taye Diggs dressed all in black, looking stern and holding handguns.

History of the Future Film: Equilibrium

This summer we’re proud to present a film series examining gripping cinematic visions of the future emanating from different moments in recent history. Join us at FilmBar in Downtown Phoenix

Poster for The Lawnmower Man, depicting a man pushing a lawnmower in the foreground, and a man suspended in a cybernetic brace inside of a huge eyeball floating in the sky.

History of the Future Film: The Lawnmower Man

This summer we’re proud to present a film series examining gripping cinematic visions of the future emanating from different moments in recent history. Join us at FilmBar in Downtown Phoenix

Poster for the film Outland, featuring Sean Connery in a spacesuit and a futuristic city in the background.

History of the Future Film: Outland

This summer we’re proud to present a film series examining gripping cinematic visions of the future emanating from different moments in recent history. Join us at FilmBar in Downtown Phoenix

Poster for the film Westworld, depicting a robotic Western gunslinger.

History of the Future Film: Westworld

This summer we’re proud to present a film series examining gripping cinematic visions of the future emanating from different moments in recent history. Join us at FilmBar in Downtown Phoenix

Justice Scalia: Minor Philosopher of Technology

Michael G Bennett

Cover for Slow Catastrophes, Uncertain Revivals. Edited by Michele Speitz and Joey Eschrich Designed by Ariel Shamas. Blurred photo for tree branches.

Slow Catastrophes, Uncertain Revivals

A collection of research-based “fiction with footnotes” short stories about environmental futures, created by students in Dr. Michele Speitz’s course “Slow Catastrophes, Speculative Futures, Science & Imagintion” at Furman University in South Carolina.

The Adventures of Buckminster Fuller and the Dymaxion Car: A Book Excerpt

Jonathon Keats

Talking Science Fiction and Game Design with James L. Cambias

Joey Eschrich

Algorithms Are Like Kirk, Not Spock

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.

People sitting in a waiting room, cautiously eying a zombie that sits next to them, in regular street clothes.

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Zombies from the U.K.

What happens after the zombie apocalypse ends? We’ve managed to survive and fend off the ravening hordes, but how do we rebuild our communities? The award-winning BBC series In the

The Crab and the Butterfly: Semicolon Services in the 21st Century

Corey S. Pressman

Image of the B-9 robot from the TV series Lost in Space

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Lost in Space

Running alongside Star Trek‘s original series at the dawn of the Space Age, Lost in Space presented a strikingly different vision for the future of human exploration in space. Lost

Building Visions of Humanity’s Climate Future – in Fiction and on Campus

Unhooked: Wonder in the Digital Age

Corey S. Pressman

Logo for Boing Boing Blog. The letters “bb,” in lowercase white font, at a jaunty angle, against a bright candy red background.

Intel futurist Brian David Johnson heads to ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination

Futurist Brian David Johnson talking with students about futurism and robotics at Mater Christi School in Burlington, Vermont.

Futurist Brian David Johnson leaves Intel, joins Arizona State University

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.

What Algorithms Want

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.

Image of a man in a cowboy hat and a woman in a button-up shirt, from the TV series The Starlost.

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Starships from the 1970s

From Star Trek to Interstellar, starships have long held a special fascination for science fiction storytellers. The ships function as surrogate Earths, providing safety, sustenance, and a sense of home

Clockwork Conversation: Not Everything Could Be Half of Something

Corey S. Pressman

The Internet of Slow Things

Higher education is obsessed with 3-D printing. Makerspaces and fab labs are sprouting like extruded weeds on college campuses, and everyone from business school deans to librarians are asking how 3-D printing and fabrication can be implemented in teaching.

Overlooking an ocean, a fictional piece of land resembling an island appears to be levitating. Long, ropy vines connect the floating island to other pieces of the mainland. On the floating island, we see a small mountain, a forest, and rocky terrain below.

Contest challenges writers to imagine futures shaped by climate change

The Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative at Arizona State University invites writers to submit short stories that explore climate change, science and human futures for its first Climate Fiction Short Story Contest. The submission deadline is Jan. 15, 2016, and contest entry is free. The contest will be judged by science fiction legend Kim Stanley Robinson.

Star Trek, "The Trouble with Tribbles" illustration

Science Fiction TV Dinner – Star Trek: The Original Series

Reception: 4:30 – 5:15pm / Doors Open: 5:15 / TV Dinner: 5:30 Star Trek’s original series remains perhaps our most influential and beloved vision of the future. It continues to

Short Fiction Contest: Ocean Trash Write-Away

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.

September 17: Paolo Bacigalupi to imagine Southwest water futures at ASU

In Paolo Bacigalupi’s most recent science fiction novel, The Water Knife, Phoenix is dried up and California and Nevada are not too far behind. The millions of people who rely on the Colorado River to survive are not only thirsty, but fighting for their lives. It’s a compelling story that captures a not-so-distant future. Will Phoenix eventually collapse? Will the river dry up?

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Robots from the 1980s

Featuring TV’s Small Wonder, futurist Brian David Johnson, and digital humanities scholar Jacqueline Wernimont Small Wonder rewires the classic American sitcom with hilariously awkward circuitry, dropping an adorable humanoid robot,

The book cover for Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future

Hieroglyph anthology earns futurist award

Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future, an anthology of ambitious, technically-grounded science fiction visions of the near future curated by the center, has been honored with an award for Most Significant Futures Work by the Association of Professional Futurists.

Poetry by Robots for Robots

Corey S. Pressman

Margaret Atwood, by Jean Malek

Margaret Atwood, ASU collaborators explore climate futures

What might a world without oil look like? How will human societies cope with massive changes in the Earth’s climate? How will we adapt to survive the future? And how can storytelling and art — alongside science and technology — help us confront the challenge of climate change?

Jonathon Keats, Thousand Year Photo

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.

Ed Finn and Project Hieroglyph on Arizona Horizon

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.

Apocalypse Moon: Neal Stephenson on his new novel, Seveneves, and the future of humanity

An interview with Neal Stephenson about his new novel, Seveneves, humanity’s resilience, and more.

Emerge 2015 Highlights

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.

Maroon Square with a the word slate in the center of the square.

Take a picture. It’ll last longer

An experimental philosopher’s project to document 100 or even 1,000 years of change with a single photograph.
Joey Eschrich
Slate – Future Tense

Headshot of Jonathon Keats

A Crazy Experiment Attempts to Document Change With a Photo Taken Over 1,000 Years

A new project by experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats at Arizona State University involves creating simple, incredibly durable pinhole cameras that will slowly create a single image over the course of a century or a millennium.

Headshot of Jonathon Keats

Documenting the next millennium of Tempe urbanization in history’s slowest photograph

Boasting two interstate freeways and one of Arizona’s largest shopping malls, the city of Tempe has been selected to represent the evolution of world civilization over the next thousand years.

Jad Abumrad holding a light bulb

ASU invites community to help redesign the future at Emerge 2015

Radically new visions of the future will be showcased as part of Arizona State University’s Emerge 2015 – a one-day event featuring visionary Jad Abumrad, host of the award-winning show Radiolab, and 10 spellbinding “visitations from the future,” including theatrical performances, improvisation, games, dance and hands-on opportunities to design and build the future.

An Interview With Margaret Atwood

Climate fiction, or “cli fi,” can be a dreary genre. Storytellers like to make a grim business of climate change, populating their narratives with a humorless onslaught of death, destruction, drowned monuments, and starving children. Margaret Atwood is the conspicuous exception, somehow managing to tackle the subject, including these familiar elements, with deadpan wit and an irreverent playfulness, making it both more interesting and believable. The flood is coming, her MaddAddam trilogy promises, but there is hope.

Star Trek: Voyager Ship

Science Fiction TV Dinner – Star Trek: Voyager

Set in the 24th century and produced in the 1990s, Star Trek: Voyager reflects upon and updates Star Trek‘s hopeful vision for an intergalactic human future, its philosophical explorations, and

Evoke: Human Trafficking

A short comic book about the challenge of human trafficking, and how we might address this crisis. Created in collaboration with the World Bank’s Evoke project.

5 Burning Questions: Astrid Atkinson and Bridget Kromhout

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.

Cover of Science and science fiction. An interview with Paul Davies. Statement reads Ed Finn sat down to discuss project Hieroglyph with physicist and cosmologist Paul Davies, director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University.

An Illuminated Manuscript About Space Exploration, Science Fiction, and Physics

You just don’t see many illuminated manuscripts these days. There’s a good reason why: They take a long time to make. I learned this recently when I set out to commission a thoroughly modern illuminated manuscript: not a religious text, but an interview with theoretical physicist and cosmologist Paul Davies, a professor at Arizona State University and the author of books like How to Build a Time Machine.

5 Burning Questions: Dawn Gilpin

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.

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Highlights

Event Date: October 8, 2014 Location: Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, ASU Episode: “Intervention” (Season 5) Speakers: Bridget Kromhout, tech operations engineer; Astrid Atkinson, senior engineering manager, Google; Dawn Gilpin, associate professor of public relations and social media, ASU; Nina Miller, design strategist, Center for Science and the Imagination

Science Fiction TV Dinner: House, M.D. – Highlights

Event Date: September 30, 2014 Location: Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts Episode: “Cane and Able” (Season 3) Speakers: Dr. Cathy Seiler, scientific liaison at ASU’s Biodesign Institute; Dr. Kenneth S. Ramos, associate vice president of precision health services and professor of medicine at the Arizona Health Sciences Center of the University of Arizona; Joey Eschrich, editor and program manager, Center for Science and the Imagination

Watercolor painting, with a green background. Daffy Duck is shown pointing a ray gun at Marvin the Martian.

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Warner Bros. in Space

This Science Fiction TV Dinner (at lunchtime) is part of the Chandler Science Spectacular, a festival for all ages celebrating and exploring invention. We’ll screen a series of classic Warner

Future Tense: Can We Imagine Our Way to a Better Future?

On October 2, 2014, Future Tense and Issues in Science and Technology hosted an event in Washington, DC inspired by Project Hieroglyph.

Project Hieroglyph Book Launch: Phoenix, AZ

Launch event for Project Hieroglyph’s first anthology, Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future (HarperCollins, 2014) at the Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix, AZ on October 22, 2014.

Water painting for the show The Dollhouse

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Dollhouse

Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse imagines a future where neuroscience enables human personalities to be uploaded, reconfigured, and downloaded into brains…or erased entirely. The series wrestles with the ethical implications and technical

Cover of Emerge 2014 Ethics Report. A blond woman in VR glasses smirking at the camera. Under her face is the title - The Future of Me.

Emerge 2014 Ethics Report

Edited by Joel Garreau and Ed Finn
Emerge 2014 Ethics Report

Talks at Google: Project Hieroglyph

On September 10, 2014, Project Hieroglyph visited Google in Mountain View, California for an event as part of their Talks at Google series.

Project Hieroglyph in Seattle: Cory Doctorow and Neal Stephenson

On October 26, Hieroglyph contributors Cory Doctorow and Neal Stephenson and CSI director Ed Finn appeared at Town Hall Seattle, in an event titled “Reigniting Society’s Ambition with Science Fiction.”

SciFiTV Podcast: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Event date: October 8, 2014 Location: ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication Speakers: Bridget Kromhout, tech operations engineer; Astrid Atkinson, senior engineering manager, Google; Dawn Gilpin, associate professor of public relations and social media, ASU; Nina Miller, design strategist, Center for Science and the Imagination

Science fiction tv dinner Logo

SciFiTV Podcast: House, MD

Event date: September 30, 2014 Location: Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts Episode: “Cane and Able” (Season 3) Speakers: Cathy Seiler, scientific liaison, ASU Biodesign Institute; Kenneth S. Ramos, associate vice president of precision health services, Arizona Health Sciences Center; Joey Eschrich, editor and program manager, Center for Science and the Imagination

Recap: Science Fiction TV Dinner, Buffy

What happened The Center for Science and the Imagination crew hosted a Science Fiction TV Dinner series event at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism centered around an episode of

House, M.D. image by Nina Miller

Recap: Science Fiction TV Dinner, House, M.D.

What happened At this Science Fiction TV Dinner event on September 30 at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, we screened “Cane and Able,” of the hit medical drama

Enough With Dystopias: It’s Time For Sci-Fi Writers To Start Imagining Better Futures

Project Hieroglyph on Slate’s Future Tense Channel

Slate magazine’s Future Tense channel is running a series of stories inspired by and excerpted from Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future, exploring about the connections between science fiction storytelling, scientific discovery, public policy,

Maroon Square with a the word slate in the center of the square.

Innovation Starvation, the Next Generation

Humankind has lots of great ideas for the future. We need people to carry them out.
Neal Stephenson
Slate – Future Tense

Maroon Square with a the word slate in the center of the square.

Don’t Diss Dystopias

Sci-fi’s warning tales are as important as its optimistic stories.
Ramez Naam
Slate – Future Tense

Logo for the Wall Street Journal: the letters “WSJ” in black, all-caps against a textured beige background.

Book Review: ‘Hieroglyph’ edited by Ed Finn and Kathryn Cramer

Maroon Square with a the word slate in the center of the square.

The Dystopian City and Urban Policy

Science fiction has inspired scientists and political activists, but it should be an inspiration for municipal governments too.
Annalee Newitz
Slate – Future Tense

Maroon Square with a the word slate in the center of the square.

Meeting My Protagonist

When I wrote a novel about a Nigerian space program, I didn’t expect it to be so close to the truth.
Deji Bryce Olukotun
Slate – Future Tense

Maroon Square with a the word slate in the center of the square.

Project Hieroglyph Story: “The Day It All Ended”

A short story from Hieroglyph, a new science fiction anthology.
Charlie Jane Anders
Slate-Future Tense

Maroon Square with a the word slate in the center of the square.

Only Science Fiction Can Save Us!

What sci-fi gets wrong about income inequality.
Lee Konstantinou
Slate – Future Tense

Blue logo for Robohub

Project Hieroglyph: Science fiction for better futures

Joey Eschrich
Robohub

Maroon Square with a the word slate in the center of the square.

Forget the Tricorder

Why gadgets aren’t the coolest part of science fiction.
Joey Eschrich
Slate – Future Tense

Maroon Square with a the word slate in the center of the square.

Project Hieroglyph Story: “Covenant”

A short story from Hieroglyph, a new science fiction anthology.
Elizabeth Bear
Slate – Future Tense

Logo for Nature magazine, an international weekly journal of science: red lowercase serif font spelling out “nature” against a solid white background.

Q&A: The sci-fi optimist

By Zeeya Merali, Nature

The book cover for Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future

Hieroglyph: Stories & Visions for a Better Future

Inspired by New York Times bestselling author Neal Stephenson, an award-winning anthology of stories, set in the near future, from some of today’s leading writers, thinkers, and visionaries that reignites the iconic and optimistic visions of the golden age of science fiction.

Logo for BBC News

Project Hieroglyph: Fighting society’s dystopian future

By Debbie Siegelbaum, BBC News

Logo for Boing Boing Blog. The letters “bb,” in lowercase white font, at a jaunty angle, against a bright candy red background.

What will it take to get us back to the Moon?

By Jekan Thanga, Boing Boing

Drawing of Buffy holding a wooden stake, hiding slightly behind a wall.

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Technology, identity and vampires.

Annual Report 2013-14

Our center’s progress for the year 2013-14.

House, M.D. image by Nina Miller

Science Fiction TV Dinner: House, M.D.

Our Science Fiction TV Dinner series is a launch pad for new conversations about science, technology, art and society. Enjoy dinner from local food trucks, then watch a screening of

Margaret Atwood, by Jean Malek

Author Margaret Atwood to discuss creative writing, science at ASU

This article originally appeared in ASU News. Internationally renowned novelist and environmental activist Margaret Atwood will visit Arizona State University this November to discuss the relationship between art and science,

Images from the EVOKE pilot graphic novel

CSI partners with World Bank on science fiction, gaming and social innovation

The Center for Science and the Imagination is partnering with the World Bank to create a series of stories and artwork to integrate into an online game, EVOKE, designed to get young people in the developing world involved in social innovation and civic engagement.

ASU Foresight Initiative

ASU, NGA to address national security risks of climate change

Arizona State University was selected for a competitive, five-year award of $20 million by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to launch a research partnership, effective June 1, to explore approaches for anticipating and mitigating national security risks associated with climate change.

Farscape

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Farscape

Co-sponsored by the Arizona Science Center Free Event, Registration Required; Learn more and RSVP at the Arizona Science Center website  Living starships. Super-soldiers. Sentient plants. Intergalactic empires. Wormholes. Animatronic puppets. Join

Smithsonian Logo

How America’s Leading Science Fiction Authors Are Shaping Your Future

To the Best of Our Knowledge

CSI and Imagining Possible Futures on Public Radio

This article originally appeared on ASU News Ed Finn, director of ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination, and an assistant professor in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering and

5 Burning Questions: David Rothenberg

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

An Aerialist, Two Clowns, and a Robot Walk Into a Carnival …

In his 1984 film The Terminator and its sequels, James Cameron imagines a dystopic future in which armies of intelligent robots move with startling suddenness from positions of servility to utter and violent dominance, destroying civilization and driving humankind to the brink of extinction.

This, of course, is pure science fiction. There’s little reason to believe things will unfold that way. First, they would take all our jobs and wreck our economy.

This is the nightmare narrative of our future with robots and artificial intelligence. The utopian version of this tale—one accepted by many powerful people in industry and government—involves a …read more

Frankenstein Bicentennial Project

Researchers receive NSF grant to lead Frankenstein Bicentennial Workshop

This item was originally published by ASU News. Three Arizona State University researchers have received a grant from the National Science Foundation to lead a workshop to build a global,

Confess Your Digital Sins

A voice cries out in the desert:

“Know thyself, not thy selfies!”

“Digital media will not save you!”

“The zero is not whole and the one is not The One!”

Technically, we’re not in the desert—we’re in a dusty parking lot in downtown Phoenix. And the voice is not coming from the Prophet Isaiah, but from professor Ron Broglio, whom I’ve ordained as a Minister of the Digital Tabernacle. As people wander into the massive circus tent at Arizona State University’s Emerge: Carnival of the Future, they are greeted by a pair of shifty evangelists preaching the analog Word. (Disclosure: …read more

How to Make Music With Drones

The good thing about performing music with drones is that they always show up for rehearsal on time. The bad thing is that they might suddenly drop out of the air and onto your head.

I learned all this while putting together a piece called “Drone Confidential” for Arizona State University’s Emerge, a “Carnival of the Future” that was held in Phoenix recently. Emerge is an annual circus of cool new technologies in performance, dedicated to showing how artists and machines can work together to create something awesome. …read more

A close up photo of a computer screen with unreadable numbers and words stack on each other and all different colors.

What if Computers Know You Better Than You Know Yourself?

I recently read about the launches of both an “ultrasecure” mobile phone for protecting privacy and a clip-on camera that takes a picture of everything you do at 30-second intervals. Our cultural relationship with data is more complicated and contradictory than it has ever been, and our debates on the subject almost always center on privacy. But privacy, the notion that only you should be able to control information about yourself, cloaks a deeper tension between information and meaning, between databases and insights.

Science Fiction TV Dinner: The Walking Dead Highlights

Check out the discussion that followed the Science Fiction TV Dinner screening of the first episode of The Walking Dead. Adam Chodorow, the Willard H. Pedrick Distinguished Research Scholar at ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, challenges the definitions of life and death in U.S. legislature and questions the applications of tax laws regarding zombies, avatars, and vampires.

Art of Launching a Satellite

Juan José Diaz Infante, the director of the Mexican Space Collective, visited Arizona State University to tell the story of how he brought together a team of artists, scientists and engineers to build a satellite, Ulises I, and launch it into space.

Project Hieroglyph Trailer

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.

Technology, Craft and Spirituality: Building a Gyroscopic Mandala

Our friend Thad Trubakoff, an MFA student in Woodworking at ASU and a contributor to our recent Cautions, Dreams and Curiosities anthology, just let us know about a cool new project, which he calls “Gyroscopic Mandala.” Check out the demo video and read Thad’s guest post about the project below. To learn more about ASU and Mandalas, which have been popping up around here a lot recently, visit our Emerge 2014: The Carnival of the Future website: http://emerge.asu.edu.

Emerge

Emerge is a creative, playful and challenging approach to the future world we want to make.

Wonder Dome

The Wonder Dome: Embodied, Interactive Stories in an Immersive Environment

Humans tell stories; how we tell them changes.  Wonder Dome is a touring performance platform that brings traditional storytelling into the 21st century by inviting audiences of all ages into

ASTC 2013 Keynote – A Conversation with Neal Stephenson

Ulises I satellite

The Art of Launching a Satellite

When it comes to exploring space, why should scientists and engineers have all the fun? How can we use creative and artistic experiments to better understand our place in the

Quantum Leap

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Quantum Leap

Join the Center for Science and the Imagination for our first Science Fiction TV Dinner of 2014 with Quantum Leap, an early 1990s classic that blends science fiction, actual science,

Book cover for "The Future of Publishing" Volume 1. Subtitle "The Future of the Book" Contributing authors, Arial Bogle, Joey Eschrich, Jane Friedman, Dan Gillmor, Lee Konstantinou, Charlie Stross, Corey Pressman. Edited by Ed Finn

Sprint Beyond the Book: The Future of Publishing

Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt, Germany

Straight Out Of Sci-Fi: Cyberpunk Author Plans Tallest Skyscraper Ever

5 Burning Questions: Bruce Sterling

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.

Science Fiction Evening Snack: Interfaces and the Future of Design

Make It So with Nathan Shedroff Interfaces in sci-fi serve a primarily narrative purpose. They’re there to help tell the story of how a character disables the tractor beam, or

Red Dwarf logo image

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Red Dwarf

Location: Cottonwood Hall, Room 101/103 Map: http://goo.gl/oHnSRU Blast into the distant future with the Science Fiction TV Dinner series and BBC’s classic science fiction comedy, Red Dwarf! Join us for

Lego zombies attack another Lego person holding an axe

Science Fiction TV Dinner: The Walking Dead

This event is presented by ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination and Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. The Science Fiction TV Dinner series has been reanimated for a

Countering Dystopian Science Fiction’s ‘Wet Blanket Effect’ on Innovation

Annual Report 2012-13

Download the 2012-13 Annual Report

Is There a Difference Between Necessary and Unnecessary Bad Science?

Bruce Sterling creates 21st century Petroglifs at CSI

During Emerge 2013: The Future of Truth this spring, CSI Visionary in Residence Bruce Sterling was hard at work with a team of collaborators at Arizona State University testing the limits of our rapid prototyping and fabrication facilities. The result of this whirlwind of creativity is an original exhibit of 21st century Petroglifs carved into native Arizona rock with laser cutters.

Event Recap: Former Intel CEO Craig R. Barrett on the Future of Moore’s Law

By Sarah Rothbard This post originally appeared on Zócalo Public Square. Zócalo Public Square is a partnership of the New America Foundation and Arizona State University; Future Tense is a

Doctor Who

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Doctor Who, “The Shakespeare Code”

Celebrate William Shakespeare’s birthday with Doctor Who! Join us for a screening of the episode “The Shakespeare Code” and a conversation about time travel, the Elizabethan era, TARDIS, Time Lords

Logo for Slate.com.

Help Neal Stephenson Engineer the Weird and Create a New World of Sci-Fi

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Van Gogh’s Role in Space Exploration and Other Great Tales of Science

By Torie Bosch Science panels don’t normally involve a striptease, even a G-rated one. But on Saturday, March 30, Neil deGrasse Tyson took off his shirt to prove a point

Bruce Sterling in Laser-Cut Hoodie

Bruce Sterling Talks Emerge and CSI at SXSW Interactive

Each year at SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX, science fiction author, design critic and CSI Visionary in Residence Bruce Sterling delivers an epic state-of-the-planet rant, challenging the tech industry and

Bruce Sterling in Laser-Cut Hoodie

Bruce Sterling sports laser-cut ASU hoodie at SXSW

CSI Visionary in Residence and Emerge provocateur Bruce Sterling delivered the closing remarks at the SXSW Interactive festival in Austin, TX last night, and we were proud to see him sporting his

Are Cyborg Humans (and Animals) Still True Life Forms? A Future Tense Panel Recap.

By Adam Sneed Cyborgs have arrived on Earth, but there’s no reason to worry. They’re nothing like the cold machine-men from The Terminator. Cybernetic technologies that integrate with the human

Maroon Square with a the word slate in the center of the square.

Is It Time To Take Cyborg Rights Seriously? A Q&A With Neil Harbisson.

Torie Bosch Slate – Future Tense

Introducing CSI Visionary in Residence Bruce Sterling

This month CSI welcomes science fiction legend Bruce Sterling, our inaugural Visionary in Residence. Bruce is currently hard at work with collaborators from ASU’s Design School, using digitally-controlled laser cutters to inscribe futuristic petroglyphs on native Arizona desert rock.

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Twilight Zone

Room: Cottonwood 101/103 Join us for a screening of the classic Twilight Zone episode “Number 12 Looks Just Like You” and a conversation about biotechnology, ethics and the connections between

The art of the hashtag

Twitter Verses We hear you. We see you. Tell us your story. On Feb. 28 – March 2, you will be part of a larger story. Emerge 2013 Tweet us a fragment of a story. The story must be true. Send as many fragments as you can. Tweet these at #emergeTV

Celebrate National Science Fiction Day by Learning To Live in the Future

By Ed Finn It’s 2013, people—we are living in the future. Since the news is still awash with problems we created for ourselves decades or centuries ago (the permanent fiscal crisis, gun control, the political powder-keg that is the Middle East), it may have escaped your notice that today is also National Science Fiction Day.

Bionic Woman lunchbox!

Science Fiction TV Dinner: Valentine’s Day Edition

Join Micah Lande and Angela Sodemann of the College of Technology and Innovation to watch and discuss the 2007 version of The Bionic Woman, science fiction, cyborgs, design and the

FBI badges of Mulder and Scully

Science Fiction TV Dinner: The X-Files

Join Gregg Pascal Zachary and Retha Hill of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Ed Finn of the Center for Science and the Imagination to watch and discuss The X-Files, science fiction and the search for truth.

Science Fiction TV Series: Jetsons edition

Science Fiction TV Series: The Jetsons Tuesday, November 27, 6:00 – 7:30 pm Memorial Union 242 (La Paz Room), ASU Tempe campus RSVP at http://asujetsons.eventbrite.com Since 1962, The Jetsons has

How tall can we build?

One of our Hieroglyph collaborations.

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Sci-fi writers help scientists bridge gap between fantasy and reality

How Neal Stephenson’s 20-Kilometer Space Tower Could Change Everything