Center for Science and the Imagination | Applied Sci-Fi | Ep. 1: The Sci-Fi Feedback Loop: Mapping Fiction’s Influence on Real-World Tech @imagineASU | Uploaded May 2022 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
The Applied Sci-Fi Project at Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination is an event series and research project that brings together science fiction writers, futurists, scholars, and technologists to survey how science fiction narratives can shape the development of real-world technologies.
In this first panel in the series held on May 12, 2022, "The Sci-Fi Feedback Loop: Mapping Fiction’s Influence on Real-World Tech", we explore the past, present and future of sci-fi's influence with experts Michael Bennett, Tim Chang, Cory Doctorow, Malka Older and Sherryl Vint, moderated by Kevin Bankston.
Our Speakers:
Michael G. Bennett (@MGBennett) serves as Director of Student Experiential Learning Programs for the Discovery Partners Institute at the University of Illinois, where he is responsible for overseeing the institute’s growing portfolio of academic and informal learning programs, and leading a team that implements and manages them. He has extensive experience in curriculum development, with a particular emphasis on anticipatory governance, future scenarios, Afrofuturism, and science and technology policy.
Tim Chang (@timechange) co-leads Mayfield’s Consumer investment practice and is an experienced investor and global executive. He has been twice named to the Forbes Midas list of Top Tech Investors and received the Gamification Summit award for Special Achievement. Tim’s venture capital experience includes leading investments at Norwest Venture Partners and Gabriel Venture Partners. His operational experience includes working in product management and engineering across Asia for Gateway, Inc., and General Motors. Tim holds an MBA with honors from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and an MS and BS in Electrical Engineering/System Engineering from the University of Michigan. Tim is an accomplished musician, a reformed biohacker, and passionate about Body/Mind/Spirit wellness. He serves on the non-profit boards of Reimagine Death and Gray Area Arts.
Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently Radicalized and Walkaway, science fiction for adults; How To Destroy Surveillance Capitalism, nonfiction about monopoly and conspiracy; In Real Life, a graphic novel; and the picture book Poesy the Monster Slayer. His latest book is Attack Surface, a standalone adult sequel to Little Brother; his next nonfiction book is Chokepoint Capitalism, with Rebecca Giblin, about monopoly and fairness in the creative arts labor market (Beacon Press, 2022). In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
Malka Older (@m_older) is a writer, aid worker, and sociologist. Her science-fiction political thriller Infomocracy was named one of the best books of 2016 by Kirkus, Book Riot, and the Washington Post. The Centenal Cycle trilogy, which also includes Null States (2017) and State Tectonics (2018), was a finalist for the Hugo Best Series Award of 2018. She is also the creator of the serial Ninth Step Station and author of the short story collection …and Other Disasters (2019). Named Senior Fellow for Technology and Risk at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs for 2015, she has more than a decade of field experience in humanitarian aid and development. Her doctoral work on the sociology of organizations at Sciences Po Paris explores the dynamics of post-disaster improvisation in governments. Malka is also a faculty associate at ASU's School for the Future of Innovation in Society.
Sherryl Vint is Professor of Media and Cultural Studies and Chair of the Department of English at the University of California, Riverside, where she directs the Speculative Fictions and Cultures of Science program. She was a founding editor of Science Fiction Film and Television and is an editor for the journal Science Fiction Studies and the book series Science in Popular Culture. She has published widely on science fiction, including, most recently, Biopolitical Futures in Twenty-First Century Speculative Fiction (2021) and Programming the Future: Speculative Television and the End of Democracy (2022, co-authored with Jonathan Alexander).
Kevin Bankston, @KevinBankston
Kevin Bankston is a Fellow at ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination, where he researches the relationship between sci-fi and real-world innovation. Kevin is also an accomplished executive leader in the arena of technology law and policy, having spent nearly 20 years working in the public interest sector as an attorney and advocate at organizations like the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Center for Democracy & Technology, most recently serving as the Director of the Open Technology Institute at New America. He is now a Director of Privacy Policy at Meta Platforms, Inc., where he leads Meta’s AI Policy Team in developing policies and processes for ensuring responsible AI development.
The Applied Sci-Fi Project at Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination is an event series and research project that brings together science fiction writers, futurists, scholars, and technologists to survey how science fiction narratives can shape the development of real-world technologies.
In this first panel in the series held on May 12, 2022, "The Sci-Fi Feedback Loop: Mapping Fiction’s Influence on Real-World Tech", we explore the past, present and future of sci-fi's influence with experts Michael Bennett, Tim Chang, Cory Doctorow, Malka Older and Sherryl Vint, moderated by Kevin Bankston.
Our Speakers:
Michael G. Bennett (@MGBennett) serves as Director of Student Experiential Learning Programs for the Discovery Partners Institute at the University of Illinois, where he is responsible for overseeing the institute’s growing portfolio of academic and informal learning programs, and leading a team that implements and manages them. He has extensive experience in curriculum development, with a particular emphasis on anticipatory governance, future scenarios, Afrofuturism, and science and technology policy.
Tim Chang (@timechange) co-leads Mayfield’s Consumer investment practice and is an experienced investor and global executive. He has been twice named to the Forbes Midas list of Top Tech Investors and received the Gamification Summit award for Special Achievement. Tim’s venture capital experience includes leading investments at Norwest Venture Partners and Gabriel Venture Partners. His operational experience includes working in product management and engineering across Asia for Gateway, Inc., and General Motors. Tim holds an MBA with honors from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and an MS and BS in Electrical Engineering/System Engineering from the University of Michigan. Tim is an accomplished musician, a reformed biohacker, and passionate about Body/Mind/Spirit wellness. He serves on the non-profit boards of Reimagine Death and Gray Area Arts.
Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently Radicalized and Walkaway, science fiction for adults; How To Destroy Surveillance Capitalism, nonfiction about monopoly and conspiracy; In Real Life, a graphic novel; and the picture book Poesy the Monster Slayer. His latest book is Attack Surface, a standalone adult sequel to Little Brother; his next nonfiction book is Chokepoint Capitalism, with Rebecca Giblin, about monopoly and fairness in the creative arts labor market (Beacon Press, 2022). In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
Malka Older (@m_older) is a writer, aid worker, and sociologist. Her science-fiction political thriller Infomocracy was named one of the best books of 2016 by Kirkus, Book Riot, and the Washington Post. The Centenal Cycle trilogy, which also includes Null States (2017) and State Tectonics (2018), was a finalist for the Hugo Best Series Award of 2018. She is also the creator of the serial Ninth Step Station and author of the short story collection …and Other Disasters (2019). Named Senior Fellow for Technology and Risk at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs for 2015, she has more than a decade of field experience in humanitarian aid and development. Her doctoral work on the sociology of organizations at Sciences Po Paris explores the dynamics of post-disaster improvisation in governments. Malka is also a faculty associate at ASU's School for the Future of Innovation in Society.
Sherryl Vint is Professor of Media and Cultural Studies and Chair of the Department of English at the University of California, Riverside, where she directs the Speculative Fictions and Cultures of Science program. She was a founding editor of Science Fiction Film and Television and is an editor for the journal Science Fiction Studies and the book series Science in Popular Culture. She has published widely on science fiction, including, most recently, Biopolitical Futures in Twenty-First Century Speculative Fiction (2021) and Programming the Future: Speculative Television and the End of Democracy (2022, co-authored with Jonathan Alexander).
Kevin Bankston, @KevinBankston
Kevin Bankston is a Fellow at ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination, where he researches the relationship between sci-fi and real-world innovation. Kevin is also an accomplished executive leader in the arena of technology law and policy, having spent nearly 20 years working in the public interest sector as an attorney and advocate at organizations like the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Center for Democracy & Technology, most recently serving as the Director of the Open Technology Institute at New America. He is now a Director of Privacy Policy at Meta Platforms, Inc., where he leads Meta’s AI Policy Team in developing policies and processes for ensuring responsible AI development.
