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Nike and Boeing Are Paying Sci-Fi Writers to Predict Their Futures

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Re: Nike and Boeing Are Paying Sci-Fi Writers to Predict Their Futures

#61

Post by rasz »

nostrademons wrote: post #57
joe_the_user wrote: post #38

Other posters have noted that this isn't new at all. One could almost say that what's been predicted by futurologists over time is what Sci-Fi can see. To me, what's interesting is the ways the lens of Sci-Fi can distort one's ideas. The flying car is the most classic, wrong science fiction prediction ever (even if it should come to pass). The way that the flying car fails is that ground motion doesn't translate dire…

One of the most incongruous anachronisms I've read in sci-fi was in Asimov's Second Foundation , Arkady Darrell is introduced writing in a diary with a device that (IIRC) telepathically reads your mind and converts it to text. She starts daydreaming, and as a result her daydreams are transcribed into the diary. Then she has to start the entry over again because it's ruined. It's ironic that 50,000 years in the future…

Its just ignorance. For example William Gibson revealed he had absolutely no clue about computers when he wrote Neuromancer.

Re: Nike and Boeing Are Paying Sci-Fi Writers to Predict Their Futures

#62

Post by bpiche »

ordinaryradical wrote: post #35

I've noticed these stories on The Verge and all I can think is that this is the most cyberpunk twist of all: the very texts that might inspire a cultural shift against these entities are instead repurposed and weaponized by capital to support their continued reign.

Extremely succinct way of putting it, there. That's David Foster Wallace's conclusion in E Pluribus Unam too.

Re: Nike and Boeing Are Paying Sci-Fi Writers to Predict Their Futures

#63

Post by AJ007 »

nostrademons wrote: post #59
curtis wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asimov's way of writing was very typewriter-centric, so maybe it's not surprising that he in particular would fail to imagine word processor-like technology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#Characteristics

Second Foundation also came out in 1949, before the stored-program computer was invented. Computers at the time were room-sized electromechanical devices used for codebreaking or artillery calculations; there were no more than a dozen or so in the world, the general population was unaware of them, they couldn't be used interactively, there were no plans to use them for text (a typical diary entry wouldn't have fit in…

Science fiction seems to resonate strongest when it introduces new ideas which are reachable. Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash seems to be particularly influencial. Sticking some plot line in the future isn’t enough.

I miss those moments I had when I was younger, reading Neuromancer, Snow Crash, and the Diamond Age for the very first time. Certainly they all played a driving role in orienting me toward what I ended up spending my life doing. The stories and the characters mattered, but the technology drowned it out.

Re: Nike and Boeing Are Paying Sci-Fi Writers to Predict Their Futures

#64

Post by lazyant »

nostrademons wrote: post #57
joe_the_user wrote: post #38

Other posters have noted that this isn't new at all. One could almost say that what's been predicted by futurologists over time is what Sci-Fi can see. To me, what's interesting is the ways the lens of Sci-Fi can distort one's ideas. The flying car is the most classic, wrong science fiction prediction ever (even if it should come to pass). The way that the flying car fails is that ground motion doesn't translate dire…

One of the most incongruous anachronisms I've read in sci-fi was in Asimov's Second Foundation , Arkady Darrell is introduced writing in a diary with a device that (IIRC) telepathically reads your mind and converts it to text. She starts daydreaming, and as a result her daydreams are transcribed into the diary. Then she has to start the entry over again because it's ruined. It's ironic that 50,000 years in the future…

In the Foundation series, at least the first books, people were smoking, using newspapers (as in physical paper) and coins; there are many things out of place in that universe.

Re: Nike and Boeing Are Paying Sci-Fi Writers to Predict Their Futures

#65

Post by Razengan »

They should check anime and games.

Like Dennou Coil [0] with a nice vision of what life might be like when AR glasses and a persistent global "AR space" are as commonplace as smartphones today.

Numenera [1] that's set a billion (!) years in the future where science is beyond even our wildest imagining of magic.

And many more. They may not be relevant to Nike or Boeing specifically, but there are lots of really cool ideas for all kinds of fashion and tech.

[0] https://myanimelist.net/anime/2164/Dennou_Coil

[1] https://numenera.com

Re: Nike and Boeing Are Paying Sci-Fi Writers to Predict Their Futures

#66

Post by zaphirplane »

joe_the_user wrote: post #38

Other posters have noted that this isn't new at all. One could almost say that what's been predicted by futurologists over time is what Sci-Fi can see. To me, what's interesting is the ways the lens of Sci-Fi can distort one's ideas. The flying car is the most classic, wrong science fiction prediction ever (even if it should come to pass). The way that the flying car fails is that ground motion doesn't translate dire…

I don’t understand the point you are trying to make. FTL is significantly harder than a rocket,creating worm holes are significantly harder that well a lot of things, teleportation, AI vs recognising cats in a photo and the list goes on. Nothing special about flying cars if anything it is more possible/closer

Re the ground motion, again I don’t understand planes do that.

No attack intended

Re: Nike and Boeing Are Paying Sci-Fi Writers to Predict Their Futures

#68

Post by _cs2017_ »

nostrademons wrote: post #57
joe_the_user wrote: post #38

Other posters have noted that this isn't new at all. One could almost say that what's been predicted by futurologists over time is what Sci-Fi can see. To me, what's interesting is the ways the lens of Sci-Fi can distort one's ideas. The flying car is the most classic, wrong science fiction prediction ever (even if it should come to pass). The way that the flying car fails is that ground motion doesn't translate dire…

One of the most incongruous anachronisms I've read in sci-fi was in Asimov's Second Foundation , Arkady Darrell is introduced writing in a diary with a device that (IIRC) telepathically reads your mind and converts it to text. She starts daydreaming, and as a result her daydreams are transcribed into the diary. Then she has to start the entry over again because it's ruined. It's ironic that 50,000 years in the future…

I wouldn't consider it a mistake if Asimov predicted that by year 2000 we'd have flying cars or general AI. I don't see any clear argument available in 1950 about why this cannot happen.

However, not imagining that technology could fix mistakes in a document without discarding it, is a major blunder. I think if Asimov understood the world around him well and was good at analyzing how it evolves, he could have avoided it.

Sadly, I've seen many such mistakes in every sci-fi book I read; and given how little I know about the world, I probably see only a fraction of the mistakes that would be obvious to someone else.

Perhaps people who are good at thinking about the future rarely become sci-fi authors. Or perhaps I have been unlucky with my book selection -- if anyone can recommend a sci-fi novel where the world is well thought out, I'd be grateful.

Re: Nike and Boeing Are Paying Sci-Fi Writers to Predict Their Futures

#69

Post by nostrademons »

lazyant wrote: post #64
nostrademons wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the most incongruous anachronisms I've read in sci-fi was in Asimov's Second Foundation , Arkady Darrell is introduced writing in a diary with a device that (IIRC) telepathically reads your mind and converts it to text. She starts daydreaming, and as a result her daydreams are transcribed into the diary. Then she has to start the entry over again because it's ruined. It's ironic that 50,000 years in the future…

In the Foundation series, at least the first books, people were smoking, using newspapers (as in physical paper) and coins; there are many things out of place in that universe.

As a teenager reading it in the mid-90s, I didn't find any of those all that incongruous. Back then there were still smoking sections in most fancy restaurants; I read the (physical paper) newspaper every morning; and my parents would frequently dig for loose change in their pocket at the supermarket cashier.

Shows how far we've come in just ~25 years.

Re: Nike and Boeing Are Paying Sci-Fi Writers to Predict Their Futures

#70

Post by needle0 »

Razengan wrote: post #65

They should check anime and games. Like Dennou Coil [0] with a nice vision of what life might be like when AR glasses and a persistent global "AR space" are as commonplace as smartphones today. Numenera [1] that's set a billion (!) years in the future where science is beyond even our wildest imagining of magic. And many more. They may not be relevant to Nike or Boeing specifically, but there are lots of really cool i…

Dennou Coil definitely deserves more attention. Way more down to earth than Ghost in the Shell.
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