Twee interessante toekomstscenario's

Putting these and other elements together–hi-tech, distributed communications, distributed energy and manufacturing, local sustainable food systems, appropriate technology and tactical urbanism among others–sets the stage for a future that looks quite a bit different than the present one. One might describe it as a kind of postmodern pastiche that looks neither like the antiquated futurisms we once imagined nor an idyllic return to preindustrial peasant society.
It’s a future that by current middle-class measures might look impoverished, but by other metrics is healthier, more resilient, more nourishing and more abundant in the ways that really matter.

Een intrigerende conclusie in deze bespreking van een discussie over catabolic colapse (ik kende de term ook niet) op City of the Future.

Sciencefiction als laboratorium

Microsoft, Google, Apple and other firms have sponsored lecture series in which science fiction writers give talks to employees and then meet privately with developers and research departments. Perhaps nothing better demonstrates the close tie between science fiction and technology today than what is called “design fiction”—imaginative works commissioned by tech companies to model new ideas. Some corporations hire authors to create what-if stories about potentially marketable products.

'How America’s Leading Science Fiction Authors Are Shaping Your Future' door Eilleen Gunn. Een fijn overzichtsartikel over de hedendaagse rol van sciencefiction met veel interessante uitspraken van bijna alle grote levende schrijvers. Die Hieroglyph: Stories and Blueprints for a Better Future bundel die later dit jaar uitkomt moet in de gaten worden gehouden.