I’m speaking at SXSW this week on a panel with Kevin Bankston, Malka Older, and Tim Fernholz where we’re going to discuss how fictional futures influence tech:
https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP86251
“What does it mean when many of the richest and most powerful people on the planet—like Elon Musk, Larry Page, and Jeff Bezos—think how they think and do what they do in large part because of the science fiction they read and watched when they were 12? What were the key sci-fi authors and ideas that most inspired them, and continue to influence them and Silicon Valley more broadly? Is that influence ultimately a good thing or a bad thing? And what can we all learn about innovation from science fiction? Join bestselling sci-fi authors Malka Older (“Infomocracy“) and Eliot Peper (“Bandwidth“) along with journalist Tim Fernholz (“Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race“) as they examine the tech industry’s long-running relationship with fictional futures.”
If you’re interested in the topic and want a sneak preview, I did an interview with a student journalist at Texas State University:
“Science fiction is the mythology of our age of acceleration. It reflects the fact that we are trying to make sense of living lives that are fundamentally different than our ancestors, it warns us of danger and inspires us to imagine how the world might be made better. Many technologists and entrepreneurs love science fiction not just because it’s a wellspring of ideas, but because by presenting plausible alternative realities, science fiction challenges readers to reexamine the status quo.”
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