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.

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?

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

A lot of ink and electrons have been spilled on the task of getting our machines to pass the Turing test. It is indeed an accomplishment of some proportion if a computer’s linguistic or artistic output can pass for human-generated. But does a passing grade really mean genuine awareness?

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?

Photo of the grand canyon on a cloudy day

Imagining Climate

Published as part of a series of short stories and essays over at Medium.com’s magazine Matter on climate change, climate fiction, and how to survive the future. Check out the

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.

Community Event: Phoenix Loves Sci-Fi celebrates imaginative short films on July 2

While Hollywood blockbusters thrill us with breathtaking escapist spectacles, short films present diverse and idiosyncratic stories across the spectrum of genres, from fantasy and science fiction to riotous comedy and

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.

Personalized expert skeleton scaffolding in concept map construction

Shang Wang, Erin Walker, Rishabh Chaudhry, and Ruth Wylie Artificial Intelligence in Education

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.

The cover of the book “The Water Knife,” by Paolo Bacigalupi. The title is shown in a water-like font, dripping down the cover, but the words “The Water Knife” are still clear and legible.

Author Paolo Bacigalupi to imagine Southwest water wars at ASU on Sept. 17

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