Does Science Fiction Shape the Future?
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.
N.K. Jemisin is renowned for her groundbreaking works like The Fifth Season and The City We Became. She crafts narratives that explore themes of power, oppression, and resilience against the backdrop of intricate world-building, earning her global acclaim as a master of speculative fiction.
Andy Weir is best known for his debut novel The Martian, which was adapted into a hit movie in 2015. Weir’s works live firmly in the realm of hard science fiction, fusing meticulous scientific accuracy with gripping storytelling as he explores the ingenuity and resourcefulness of individuals facing extraordinary challenges in space.
is celebrated for her and having won four Hugo and two Nebula awards. She is a master of character-driven storytelling, weaving together themes of identity and the nature of leadership within richly imagined worlds that blend elements
