Future Tense Archives - Center for Science and the Imagination

Future Tense

Future Tense is a partnership between ASU, the New America Foundation and Slate magazine to explore emerging technologies and their transformative effects on society and public policy. Future Tense hosts events and public conversations, and publishes original content from policymakers, scientists, humanists and journalists, including many ASU scholars, on Slate

An illustrated background in bright colors of blue, magenta, and gold, showing rockets, cranes, ladders, and other technologies reaching up to create a busy, futuristic scene.

Science Fiction/Real Policy Book Club: All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Online)

Science fiction can have real policy impacts, and comes rife with real-life commentary. For the next gathering of our Science Fiction/Real Policy Book Club, we have selected All Systems Red

Science Fiction/Real Policy Book Club: Infomocracy by Malka Older (Online)

Science fiction can have real policy impacts, and comes rife with real-life commentary. For the third gathering of our Science Fiction/Real Policy Book Club, we have selected Malka Older’s novel

A copy of Neal Stephenson's novel Termination Shock, standing up against a white background.

Neal Stephenson, Termination Shock (Online)

With his string of bestselling novels, Neal Stephenson has carved out a space at the forefront of contemporary fiction, exploring and shaping our cultural imaginary about the future and how

Governing for the Future (Online)

How do we govern for the long haul? Humans are manipulating the planet in ways that will play out for centuries, but our decision-making is often myopic and localized. The

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