https://nautil.us/does-science-fiction-shape-the-future-543468/
"Behind most every tech billionaire is a sci-fi novel they read as a teenager.
For Bill Gates it was
Stranger in a Strange Land, the 1960s epic detailing
the culture clashes that arise when a Martian visits Earth. Google’s Sergey
Brin has said it was Neal Stephenson’s
Snow Crash, the cyberpunk classic
about hackers and computer viruses set in an Orwellian Los Angeles. Jeff Bezos
cites Iain M. Banks’
Culture series, which unreel in an utopian society of
humanoids and artificial intelligences, often orchestrated by “Minds,” a
powerful AI. Elon Musk named three of SpaceX’s landing drones after starships
from Banks’ books, a tribute to the role they played in turning his eyes to the
stars.
Part of this makes sense. Science fiction widens the frontiers of our
aspirations. It introduces us to new technologies that could shape the world,
and new ideas and political systems that could organize it. It’s difficult to
be an architect of the future without a pioneer’s vision of what that future
might look like. For many, science fiction blasts that vision open.
Yet these tech titans seem to skip over the allegories at the heart of their
favorite sci-fi books. Musk has tweeted, “If you must know, I am a utopian
anarchist of the kind best described by Iain Banks.” Yet in Banks’
post-scarcity utopia, billionaires and their colossal influence are banished to
the most backward corners of the galaxy.
Recently, I interviewed six of today’s foremost science-fiction authors. I
asked them to weigh in on how much impact they think science fiction has had,
or can have, on society and the future."
Via Esther Schindler.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics