Zócalo Public Square

What would happen if we created and used science fiction to solve our most intractable problems? How can this genre of literature stoke the ambitions of scientists, engineers, and inventors? These were the questions posed to science fiction writer Neal Stephenson, Arizona State University physicist Lawrence M. Krauss, and i09 editor Annalee Newitz at an event at MOCA Grand Avenue in Los Angeles co-presented by the Arizona State University Center for Science and the Imagination. Stephenson, Krauss, and Newitz, all of whom contributed to the anthology Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future, discuss whether science fiction can truly change contemporary science, and what the alternative futures we imagine mean for present-day innovation.