Come meet everyone on October 16: Info session about our new Worldbuilding academy!

I’d like to join!

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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 explore speculative futures in my writing, as well as (on a much smaller scale) in my daily work with big data technologies and analytics. On a personal level, I am very interested in how humans are adapting to our technological environment and passionate about solving the problems of those left behind or disabled by individual technological advancements.

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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 interested in Solarpunk futures and space exploration.
One thought that deeply troubles me when I hear the opinion expressed that we should ‘fix our own planet before we consider going into space or colonizing others’
I believe the opposite approach is key to solving all of our problems.
Mastering the technology to live on other planets is key to closed-loop living on Earth.
If we were to live on Earth in Mars-like colonies, climate change wouldn’t be an issue for two reasons:

  1. We would stop contributing to climate change when we are able to tightly control storage, use and emissions in energy, biomass and material using modern technology
  2. If climate change has passed the point of no return, human life on Earth is more likely to survive if we have planetary colonization technologies available to us.

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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:
Yes!

In 2008, I dropped out of a physics-philosophy-bioengineering triple major to focus on writing an urban fantasy novel with such speculative futures… I’d developed boxes and boxes of notebooks with backstories, mythos, economies… but ultimately, for financial reasons, I pivoted to building 3D augmented reality software. Some might say building future software, possible right now. I still often jot down random ideas for speculative sci fi economies. Might do something big with it soon :slight_smile:

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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:
Having authored several sci-fi short stories as well as science fiction novel, “Apex Five”, I am fascinated by humanity’s future in balancing overpopulation using solar energy. As a cyber security analyst at NASA, I am committed to studying the impact of advancing technology on humanity.

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Wow, @Sarit1046, this sounds amazing! I just bought your novel, very curious.

@danohu! What a nice surprise, and what a pleasure to reconnect!

Greetings, Alberto! Thank you so much, what an honor. I hope you are staying safe and well during these times.

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Same to you. :slight_smile: Hopefully see you at the information session.

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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:
Yes, I am interested in speculative futures—I am a published science fiction writer, among other genres, like Paradigm Shift Thrillers—and my own life has been lived exposed to different paradigms in education, health, economics, monetary design, among others. I was hired as a consultant by the Central Bank of Ecuador in 2010 to present and train personnel engaged in a national project (including the National and the Regional Banking Directors) for a different approach to help small and medium enterprises. The project, alas, never took off, due to other governmental interests.
I have also written a non-fiction book (Spanish) about monetary design (monetary engineering), and have been a pro-bono advisor to The Pachamama Alliance on the subject. I’ve also participated in real-life projects as well as discussions related to alternative/complementary currencies, and have given conferences and workshops on the subject of “Real Economy vs. Market Economy” in various countries, including Japan, Spain, and Ecuador.


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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:
Hello,
Yes I am interested. I was a Science Fiction Writer at the Energy Futures Lab 2020, organized by Overlap Associates and co-sponsored by The City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada ( Feb-June, 2020). The Lab imagined scenarios of Canada’s energy needs in the next 30 years then I and 7 other selected Writers synthesized our respective team’s deliberations into gripping creative narratives; the others wrote brilliant short stories, I wrote a hilarious sitcom script. Facts, ideas, nature, traditions, fantasies inspire my thought experiments. My interest originates from studying the human condition and pondering over the higher purpose of existence.

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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 have never taken part in an event such as this. To be honest, I had no idea anything like this existed, but I have been a long time believer in science fiction leading science technology.

I am a retail data scientist (PhD in Operations Research from Georgia Tech) by trade, and a science fiction author by passion. I am currently a VP at a small software company that creates SAAS applications using advanced data science and modern cloud computing technologies. I have decades of experience optimizing supply chains and managing inventory.

In a small way, I have personally been led by science fiction into fact. In 2004, I founded a software company with some colleagues, and we were inspired by Michael Crichton’s book Prey to include agent based systems and genetic algorithms in our supply chain models. (This was quite novel at the time).

My interest in this event originates with my distress at the world’s condition, and the development of advanced technologies that could alternately save or ruin us all. (My first novel centers around a secret society that plans to sterilize much of humanity using a retrovirus in order to save the planet – not that I’m espousing this solution :-). I also believe that small changes, such as minor reductions in carbon emissions, are not the answer. True change is disruptive and often comes from the outside. I am not an economist, and must confess that I have little confidence in mankind’s ability to make the required sacrifices to guarantee our future. But I would love to try.

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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’m particularly fascinated by the emerging field of indigenous science, because it helps decolonize science by showing us that science could have evolved very differently if developed by different cultures. Speculative fiction helps flesh this out by offering a glimpse at what our world could be like through alternative scientific frameworks.

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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’ve been covering the world of (digital) technology and how it affects our lives for more than 20 years - mostly as a radio/podcast producer. I also read a lot of scifi :slight_smile:
I am mostly conflicted and rather ambivalent, though - and this old quote is a favourite of mine: “Technology is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral.”
I must admit that I’ve mostly been working as a journalist, not doing “independent” exploration of future worlds or scenarios. But it’s definitely something I’d like to dive into. There’s no doubt were at a point in our history when something radical and very different needs to happen…

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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 have been exploring futures for ages now, though I have mostly done that within the purview of short stories.

Much like the industrial revolution in 19th and 20th century, that was not only dependent on technological innovation, but also financial - this sounds a great initiative to merge science and economics to come up with new models that are more inclusive.

Dreams inspire my though experiments, and currently I have been thinking of stock markets / commodities exchange in a socialist set-up and how that would work!

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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 grew up in Pasadena, CA. Did my first Co-op at JPL in 1972. Entered the Air Force in 73 and studied Electronics Engineering. I am the author of 11 books on science and science fiction and the host of X-Squared Radio, the nation’s #1 scientific talk radio program on Sunday nights. I am a multi-patented scientist with ideas for upgrading our current power generation process that will change the whole world. The Helim3 fusion technology is just waiting on the kitchen counter for us, just 2 days from here. It may be fiction right now, but I have ideas that will make it science reality within a half-dozen years.

I am also the inventor of the Global Telescope Network that will employ thousands of amateur astronomers to form a meteor detection fence that could save the planet from destruction. I will attend, but my latest book “Asteroid Mining: The future of energy” is worthy of earning me a seat as a presenter.

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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’m a consistent reader of speculative fiction in this space, with a particular interest in near-term alternative approaches to economics and governance. It’s clear that we need new stories about the economy to inspire and enable change from a cruel and damaging status quo under climate change, and science fiction is (to my mind) a critical part of generating and sharing those stories.

I generally try to blend speculative fiction with local efforts and think about what the impacts would be for my community in the Boston metro area, or in exurban Pennsylvania where I grew up.

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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:
My interest of the futures is coming around politics issues, environments and values because i understand that futures finally like a political space where is really important that anyone have voice to purpose and keep a good debate for create better futures for everyone.

Like designer my process is base in signals of disruptive technologies and how our behavior and context would be change and is a provocative speculative impact.

More of my works speculative desing here:
https://www.nahunsaldana.com/Bichoenelcubo.html

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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:
In my sci-fi writing I make a concerted effort to write stories of a future improved by technology and innovative ideas.

Observing bad behavior and the worsening of our climate and natural resources pushed me to show a better way.

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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 want to attend the video meeting, please email me at: tomer@serenno-med.com