The canonical smart city: A pastiche by Adam Greenfield’s Speedbird
Sorta sci-fi from Adam.
Consider this a shooting script for one of those concept videos so beloved of the big technology vendors.
Tags: sciencefiction
Science Fiction Film as Design Scenario Exercise for Psychological Habitability: Production Designs 1955-2009
A white paper that looks to sci-fi films as potential prototypes for habitats for humans in space, with an emphasis on dealing with the psychological issues involved.
There Was Once a Certain Kind of Cinema
A magnificent piece of writing from Michael, examining the influence of Sergio Leone on George Lucas.
Write The Future by Tom Hunter — Kickstarter
Now this looks like my kind of event:
A new micro-conference on science, technology, communication and fiction, organised by the Arthur C. Clarke Award.
Inside the Battle of Hoth: The Empire Strikes Out
A damning analysis of the Empire’s military strategy at the battle of Hoth, complete with illustrations. The comments are good too:
Guys, cut Palpatine some slack. He’s still in his first term as Emperor…
Interview with Lauren Beukes about Shining Girls
Lauren talks about The Shining Girls and the tools she uses to write with.
The paradoxes of time travel by David Lewis
A well-written white paper on time travel. Alas, it relies a bit too much on semantic nitpickery to offer any real insight.
The changing face of computers on screen
A look at the depiction of computer hardware and peripherals in sci-fi movies over time.
Olaf Stapledon
The out-of-copyright books of Olaf Stapledon are available to download from the University of Adelaide. Be sure to grab Starmaker and First And Last Men.
Squaremans | Gaming Culture Blog
Ostensibly about gaming (and written by Matt Colville who works in the games industry), this blog actually has a lot of interesting observations on sci-fi cinema. I like it.
Under Tomorrow’s Sky
Design Fiction at work, imagining a possible future city.
The Humble eBook Bundle (pay what you want and help charity)
This looks like an excellent deal: buy eight sci-fi books for as much money as you think is fair. Lauren Beukes, Paolo Bacigalupi, Cory Doctorow …all good stuff.
Sight on Vimeo
A well-executed sci-fi short film on augmented reality and gamification.
The Past 100 Years of the Future
This (free!) PDF looks like it could be a nice companion piece to Chris and Nathan’s recent book:
Human-computer interaction in science-fiction movies and television.
It’s a work in progress. You’ll notice a lot of placeholders where the images should be. That’s because the studios are demanding extortionate rates for screenshots.
Make it So | Interface Design Lessons from Sci-Fi
Chris and Nathan’s book is finally out. I’m going to enjoy reading through this.
Geeks, Swords and the Snow Crash Movie: Neal Stephenson in Conversation | Tor.com
A really enjoyable interview with Neal Stephenson.
Warren Ellis » How To See The Future
The opening keynote from Warren Ellis for this year’s Improving Reality. I’d like to walk into space with this man.
The Kitschies present… Beukes, Miéville and Ness
An evening with Lauren Beukes, China Miéville and Patrick Ness in London the week after dConstruct. Sounds like fun!
A Tall Tail by Charles Stross | Tor.com
A terrific little conspiracy theory short story from Charles Stross set at last year’s (very real) 100 Year Starship gathering.
Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury - Rachel Bloom - YouTube
In light of the recent death of Ray Bradbury, I think we should all honour his memory by revisiting this song (featuring some future-friendly headgear).
I’ll feed you grapes and Dandelion Wine and we’ll read a little Fahrenheit 69…
Welcome to Life: the singularity, ruined by lawyers - YouTube
A satirical parody of post-singularity existence by Tom Scott inspired by Jim Munroe’s Everyone in Silico and Rudy Rucker’s Postsingular.
Fictional magazine covers from Blade Runner - a set on Flickr
Magazine covers created by Tom Southwell for background scenes in Blade Runner.
Hull 0, Scunthorpe 3 | Christopher Priest, author
Oh, dear. Christopher Priest is being a bit of a cock.
Good writer though.
ARC 2012: The future is on its way - New Scientist
A new publication from New Scientist dedicated to future thinking. The first issue has articles and stories from Bruce Sterling, Margaret Atwood, China Miéville, and Alastair Reynolds.
2012 Shortlist | Arthur C. Clarke Award
Well, that’s my reading list sorted then.
Sci-Fi Airshow :: Home
I want to go to there!
This is what Photoshop is for. Be sure to watch the slideshow.
Thinking About Futurism | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine
A collection of articles on the tricksy art of Futurism from—amongst others—Bruce Sterling, Annalee Newitz, and Matt Novak, creator of the Paleofuture blog.
Innovation Starvation | World Policy Institute
A rallying cry from Neal Stephenson for Getting Big Stuff Done.
Gavin Rothery - Directing - Concept - VFX - Gavin Rothery Blog
This blog by the visual effects supervisor on Moon is packed full of wonderfully geeky sci-fi movie stories.
Science fiction, fantasy, design and cultural invention | Design Culture Lab
Asking what the difference is between science fiction and design fiction. The answer may be …usefulness.
THE COSMONAUT
A crowd-funded, creative commons licensed sci-fi film currently in production.
Terry Bisson’s “They’re Made Out of Meat” on Huffduffer
A classic (very) short science fiction story that posits an interesting solution to the Fermi paradox.
Will Wright working on game based off Bruce Sterling short story, Maneki Neko | Joystiq
One of the greatest games designers in the world is making a game based on one of my favourite science fiction stories. I hope this turns out as well as I’m fantasising it could.
Out of this World: China Miéville: what if?
China Miéville gives a rundown of some underrated classics of the alternative history subgenre …including Richard Curtis’s Notting Hill.
Out of this World events
There’s a whole series of sci-fi related events going on at the British Library.
Starpunk | booktwo.org
James Bridle is my favourite Blogpunk author.
A History of the Future in 100 Objects | Mssv
Adrian Hon’s Kickstarter project has already reached its goal. I can’t wait for the podcasting to start.
Dark Star, sweded
A production of the Brighton Speculative Fiction group. It was simply wonderful.
MODERN TIMES on Vimeo
A gorgeous sci-fi short film with some fine interface porn.
Modifiable Futures: Science Fiction at the Bench by Colin Milburn
The influence of science on science-fiction and the influence of science-fiction on science. Or rather, how science-fiction mods science, and how science (and software) mods science-fiction.
Yet even as it has become ever more familiar and commonplace, this mash‐up of the word “science” with the word “fiction” still seems to insist on a certain internal incoherence, as if the tiny typographic space inside the label of “science fiction” were to signify a vast chasm, a void between alien worlds.
Near Future Laboratory » Blog Archive » Designing Fiction in Volume Q.
Julian Bleecker explains design fiction in the context of science fiction using the examples of gestural interfaces and virtual reality.
YouTube - paleofuture.tv [episode 00000: food]
The Paleofuture blog, that excellent trove of past visions of the future, has a corresponding video channel. The first episode is all about food.
Flowers for cyberpunk « Adam Greenfield's Speedbird
A personal ode to cyberpunk.
George Lucas Stole Chewbacca, But It’s Okay « Binary Bonsai
A fantastically detailed look by Michael at the evolution of the design of Chewbacca.
STASIS on Vimeo
A great sci-fi short story—yours to watch online.
Blade Runner: Hades Landscape | Douglas Trumbull - Immersive Media and Visual Effects
Douglas Trumbull reveals the secrets of the opening scene of Blade Runner.
Abyss & Apex : Fourth Quarter 2007: Wikihistory
An oldie but goldie: time travel in the age of the internet.
How to Access the Internet (A Guide from 2025)
An entertaining missive from the future.
Design at the End of the World, by Ben Fullerton - Core77
Designing for the apocalypse.
In praise of the sci-fi corridor - Den of Geek
This is wonderful, just wonderful; an in-depth piece on corridors in science fiction movies. Swoon!
Rules for Time Travelers | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine
How to ensure consistency in time travel narratives.
Near Future Laboratory » Blog Archive » Design Fiction: A Short Essay on Design, Science, Fact and Fiction
Download the PDF of this essay from the Near Future Laboratory and wallow in the sci-fi/tech/design goodness.
concept ships
An online animated spaceship and experimental aircraft art magazine. Gorgeous.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Bruce Sterling - Prophet and loss
I know this sound uncharitable but there's a good chance that the reason why Bruce Sterling's books aren't selling is because he's just not a very good writer. And I say that as a big sci-fi fan. I mean, really... have you read Distraction? I tried ...and failed.
SpaceCollective
I'm not entirely clear what this is all about but I don't care. There's some imaginative stuff in here.
A Few Notes on the Culture
A great 1994 newsgroup posting by Iain M Banks that gives us a peek behind the scenes of the Culture: fascinating and fun.
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town
Cory Doctorow's new novel is out. Buy the dead tree version or download and enjoy, it's your choice.