Hi, Alberto! Yes, “philosophy of science” is exactly what I had in mind. To a certain extent, we already see this kind of “what if” speculation in steampunk etc. but I think it’s worth exploring from a non-Western perspective.
What might number systems and, by extension, computers and computer interfaces be like had these been developed by other cultures?
Hell yeah. Okrafor does this a bit, no?
Are you interested in exploring speculative futures or have even done so before? Tell us what inspires your thought experiments and where your interest originates:
I am a published science fiction author so topics like this fill my brain daily.
I’d like to be included on the details of the info session! Already submitted to the Worldbuilding Academy by email.
Wow, so much interest, thank you everyone! I hope most of you will stay connected to the Worldbuilding academy, even if you can not all go to Messina for the residency (for now).
First of all, let me welcome you properly, @olliebm, @waeljebri, @ThomasOsdoba (we have met elsewhere, I believe! 
), @nicoalcala, @Hazemasif, @Professorsanjayrout, @goraisundip, @andrewcox, @dani (great perspective on “those left behind”!), @Jon_Nutzati, @yosun, @LeonardoWild (impressive resumé!), @dustii, @anders, @VismayHarani,
@melofrances, with the Worldbuilding Academy we are doing a bit of these two, so you are right on target.
That sounds a bit like William Gibson’s Jackpot. Right on the money, welcome!
Wow, this is an impressive testimony, @LMWhitaker, welcome 
We discussed it a bit on Twitter, I believe, where we called it “philosophy of science fiction”. Should be naturally close to economics, which after all emerged from moral philosophy in the 18th century. Welcome!
There may be a misunderstanding here, @Visionofficer. As far as I know, this is not a conference with presentations, but simply a Q&A session about a small writers’ residency we are helping organize (infosheet).
Also welcome to @nahun, @JCCannon, @Lark, @ereese15, @Davide, @Christa, @lidiazuin, @asifh, @poietic!
Makes plenty of sense, Alexander, both from a narrative point of view and from an economic-theoretical one: we want our macro structures to be founded on micro behavior!
Looking forward to the info session on this Friday! 
Are you interested in exploring speculative futures or have even done so before? Tell us what inspires your thought experiments and where your interest originates:
I think about it all the time as I specialise in business model innovation.
How did it all start? HG Wells or Robert Heinlein
I would like to join!
Are you interested in exploring speculative futures or have even done so before? Tell us what inspires your thought experiments and where your interest originates:
“Moon” was my first word (“Ya-Re-Akh” in Hebrew). My mom tells me I was 7 months old, on the Tel-Aviv beach promenade and I was looking excitedly at the night sky, pointing at the Moon. That was my first step in a journey of exploration, inspiration and awe.
The second step was a foray into the world of Star Trek (age 5, to this day) and then all manner of science fiction, soon thereafter came a fascination with space, scientific research, tech innovation, alongside history, philosophy, ethics, politics, speculative creativity and utopian thinking.
Over time fascination transformed into professional occupation.
At Utopia, Israel’s International Festival for Science Fiction and Fantastic Film (which I co-founded and direct), we merge an international film festival (established in 2005) with an events program emphasizing the mutual inspiration between science and science fiction and the social and philosophical impact of speculative thought – academic conferences, public science talks, tech meetups, workshops, art exhibits etc. More about Utopia here, or on the Utopia Festival website.
Utopia introduced me to more and more amazing thinkers and doers in a myriad of disciplines. Over time a community of like-minded “Futures Practitioners” has emerged, and I am proud to be associated with the many smart and savvy friends and colleagues of this “Future/s” emerging community.
Would like to participate the 16th of October
Kind regards,
Lene Rachel Andersen
Are you interested in exploring speculative futures or have even done so before? Tell us what inspires your thought experiments and where your interest originates:
The current economic models I barely understand …actually I don’t, but what I understand even less is the end game of the people that are supposedly winning at this global economic game: the biosphere is deteriorating to possibly irrecoverable levels, the science is been long warning us, so what’s the point of the techno-plutocrat for pressing on with business as usual?
To attempt to answer to this question, and possibly a lot more, maybe a year or so ago I started creating an answer for myself. I am no writer, nor a scientist, nor dungeon master (I was always on the other side or role playing, but I see the commonalities of this world-building task…), but I quite liked the idea of laying out some questions and digging up some answers; I mostly ended up opening cans of worms and exposing my ignorance to the complexity of the world we live in. But it’s fun to draw maps and timelines, and even though I am not planning to apply for the residency, I thought it will be very interesting to hear from other world-building people that are actually doing this more seriously than I.
For tonight, I just registered through Eventbrite, maybe I should let you know here too?
PS: @alberto, how the heck is it possible that so many weird things I love or tinker about, are living topics, with expert knowledge, within the Edgeryders community?! 
I love this place!
hi all, is this happening now?
I had registered on Eventbrite yesterday, last minute, but didn’t get any zoom detail…
Same here, I can’t see the link. What are we missing?
Hello @moe, did you get the link in the end?
The event just concluded. You can find the informations about the residency here:
you can post any questions you there as well.
hey @MariaEuler,
yes I got it, thank you. I also read through the main information already but, much like @Alessandro, I was more interested in lurking a bit, as I won’t be able to take 2 weeks off from work unfortunately.
It was good to hear that there’s an option for us to follow the project anyway, though, even if not actively participating in the residency.
I will try and attend the next webinar as well but it’ll be trickier for me, time-wise. It would be nice if next time you could record the session.
Great initiative, as usual, BTW
Heads up, everyone: following a question asked at the information session of October 16th, we added a paragraph about intellectual property rights to the information sheet. Thank you to @LeneRachelAndersen for raising the issue.
I saw you in the call, Stefano… good to see you, as always!