Many researchers acknowledge the role that science fiction has played in triggering their interest in science and inspiring breakthroughs. Indeed, there are many examples of fictional technologies ...

AlphaGo, fake news, cyberwar: 2017 has felt science-fictional in the here and now. Space settlement and sea-steading seem just around the bend; so, at times, do nuclear war and pandemic. With ...

Science fiction (SF) influences everything in this day and age, from the design of everyday artifacts to how we—including the current crop of 50-something Silicon Valley billionaires—work. And that’s ...

For the past decade, a group called the Future of Life Institute has been campaigning for human welfare in public conversations around nuclear weapons, climate change, artificial intelligence and ...

There are well understood terms of engagement between the people who write for publication, on one hand, and the academics and critics who discuss it, on the other. Writers write. Then the academics ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I cover aerospace, astronomy & hosted The Cosmic Controversy Podcast. As the recent Worldcon 2025 Convention here in Seattle ...

The current cultural fascination and frustration with artificial intelligence is nothing new. As far back as the 1921 Czech play R.U.R. — the workers-rights story that first coined the term “robot” — ...

The power of words Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, which begins with a form of sci-fi, led to the ban on DDT in agriculture, showing how sci-fi can influence real-world science. (Courtesy: ...

The translator Ken Liu has done more than anyone to bridge the gap between Chinese science fiction and American readers. Ken Liu outside his home in Stoughton, Mass.Credit...Amani Willett for The New ...

Mike Ryder does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

Esther Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

Sci-fi is exactly like rock music. Depending on who you ask, different people believe different definitions of science fiction apply. For most, concocting the secret formula for "real" science fiction ...