Are sci-fi stories the key to a better future?

This week’s episode of How We Future features Ruth Wylie and Ed Finn, co-directors of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University. For nearly 15 years, they've been running what might be the most unusual university center in the country, one that brings together science fiction writers, scientists, artists, and engineers to imagine hopeful, yet practical, futures.

Ruth and Ed describe how they turn imagination into practice: Kids building Scribble Bots and debating who deserves credit when a robot makes art. Commissioning writers worldwide to explore what human flourishing looks like in a warming world. Pairing speculative fiction with expert essays and original artwork, creating story packages that explore what might actually be possible down the line.

In this conversation, you'll learn:

• How collaborative worldbuilding helps experts ask each other new questions
• What happens when you pair exciting stories with science-backed facts
• Why reflecting on the futures you consume in media matters more than you think

Links from the Episode:

• Center for Science and Imagination
• Smithsonian Futures Exhibit

Book and Articles:

• Frankenstein at 200, Ed Finn, New York Times
• Step Into the Free and Infinite Laboratory of the Mind, Ed Finn, Issues in Science and Technology
• Collaborative Imagination: A Methodical Approach, Ruth Wylie and Ed Finn, Science Direct
• Climate Imagination: Dispatches from Hopeful Futures, edited by Joey Escrich and Ed Finn
• A Rewilded Mind, Corey Pressman, CSI Imagination Fellow
• When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis by Anna Lee Newitz

Exercises and Resources:

• Frankenstein Kit, Resources created by CSI
• Futures by Choice, Futures by Chance, CSI
• CSI Resources for Teachers
• Solar Tomorrow Resources, CSI (Great for Educators!)
• Postcards from the Future, Futures Exercise from CSI