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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

#71

Post by needle0 »

One of the issues I see with looking at science fiction for inspiration is that they are stories first, predictions second - they seem to gravitate towards ideas that make dramaturgical sense. Future technological or societal developments that would not make for interesting or relatable stories tend to get much less attention than those that do, regardless of how likely they are to actually happen.

For instance, character death still seems to be treated as a huge deal in a large number of popular science fiction franchises due to their usefulness as a storytelling device; despite their worlds being vastly technologically advanced than ours, death carries the same finality and graveness. Worlds where death has been engineered down to a mere inconvenience aren't unheard of, but seem to be pretty uncommon outside of very "hard" Sci-Fi. On the other hand, "robots" and "AIs" that think and talk at a level indistinguishable from humans (but the rest of the world being disproportionately un-advanced) seem to be all-too-common in popular franchises, again due to how handy they come in when telling stories.

I understand it's difficult to write relatable stories with a setting that aren't necessarily friendly with good storytelling, but we should at least be aware of the bias.

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

#72

Post by HNLurker2 »

drb91 wrote: post #37
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.

For more along this train of thought, I recommend "Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?" by Mark Fisher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalist_Realism:_Is_There_N... I also highly, highly recommend "K-Punk" by the same author (now deceased, RIP): https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/mark-fishers-k-p...

R.I.P Mark Fisher. I am still shocked to see people die like that out of no where. (Presumably suicide)

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

#73

Post by chilukrn »

rhacker wrote: post #10
chilukrn wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. May be have good documentation, engineering practices and don't oversell a new model claiming "works exactly like the earlier model"?

Lol, I actually want shoes that don't have a manual, tbh.

Ok, my comment was in the context of airplane control systems/sensors/UIs, but yeah, more generally, things should fail softly

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

#74

Post by jayalpha »

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…

"It's ironic that 50,000 years in the future, when humanity is spread across the Galactic Empire,"

The chance for this is not very big. In fact, there is a good chance that we live more like savages on a very low technological level or don't exists at all anymore.

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

#75

Post by Razengan »

needle0 wrote: post #70
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.

Even Adventure Time is pretty cool with futuristic fashiontech/techfashion.

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

#76

Post by mcv »

penagwin wrote: post #48
jpm_sd wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That all seems right in line with your typical sci-fi dystopian worldview, though

Are you suggesting that we should have exploding shoes and nose-diving planes to avoid a dystopia? :P

Your shoes and planes are safe, citizen. Ignore the lies by the treacherous Opposition.

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

#77

Post by rkuykendall-com »

nostrademons wrote: post #69
lazyant wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, now everybody smokes out of a USB stick.

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

#78

Post by awhitty »

ggggtez wrote: post #39
e12e wrote: post #8

I wonder how solicited sci-fi stacks up to unsolicited sci-fi, like: "The Revolution, Brought to You by Nike" by Andrea Phillips: https://firesidefiction.com/the-revolution-brought-to-you-by...

I assume the writing quality would be the same. But it's not necessarily going to be output in the same type of format. For example, game designers are known to have been hired by government agencies and corporations to create games that will help them understand side effects of policy proposals (especially complicated ones). But you probably wouldn't just box it up and sell it afterword. In the sci-fi case, they nee…

Do you have an article in mind about the game designers hired for policy proposals? I’m curious to learn more about the practice.
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