Sci-Fi preneurship

SciFi-preneurship is a new summer series from the All Turtles Podcast that examines how science fiction inspires people to create things that impact our lives today. In SciFi-preneurship, we’re using an expanded definition of entrepreneurship: we don’t just mean Silicon Valley startup founders; we’re talking to people who make things, especially things that are shaping our future. First up, Dan Novy, who earned his PhD from the MIT Media Lab, talks about H.P. Lovecraft and the impact of his writing.

The impact of the The Matrix on science fiction is difficult to overstate, but beyond the genre itself, it also deeply affected the viewers whose worldviews were made askew. Three of those viewers are featured in today’s episode to talk about their reactions to the film and the ways in which it contributed to the work they do now: writer/director Emily Dean, Partnership on AI research director Peter Eckersley, and MIT Media Lab’s Dan Novy.

In 2019, we’re 35 years beyond 1984; at this current juncture, we can see just how predictive George Orwell’s novel turned out to be, and which dystopian elements we’ve managed to avoid (so far). This seminal work of science fiction provided a road map of exactly where not to go when building the future, and on today’s episode, Emily Dean and Dr. Christine Corbett Moran explain how it impacted the work they do today to shape the kind of future they want.

In the Metaverse, a shared virtual reality space, a character wrestles with a computer-crashing virus that also causes harm in the real world. Thus begins Snow Crash, a Neal Stephenson novel that, when written in 1992, described futuristic systems that eventually became reality. Snow Crash’s impact is so significant that this episode has a record number of guests who wanted to discuss it: Dr. Christine Corbett Moran, Veronica Belmont, Peter Eckersley, Joe Betts-LaCroix, and Sophia Brueckner.

As technologists continue to build the future, what laws should govern the things they create? Ethical guidelines for technology are essential; Isaac Asmiov presented one version of what they may look like when he introduced the Three Laws of Robotics in his collection of short stories I, Robot. This work of science fiction inspired many, including the three guests on today’s episode: Emily Dean, Peter Eckersley, and Joe Betts-LaCroix.

Ursula K. Le Guin is one of science fiction’s most influential writers. Her science fiction philosophy is one that underscores the entire SciFi-preneurship series, which is that science fiction was is meant descriptive rather than predictive. Additionally, her writing tends to be more inclusive of different gender and sexual identity expressions than many of her contemporaries, allowing for a broader representation of characters with whom readers can identify.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s influence on science fiction is so significant that we dedicated two episodes of this series to her work, as we had so many guests who wanted to talk about her impact. Le Guin’s writing helped expand visions of what society could be, which provided meaningful inspiration for today’s guests, Dr. Christine Corbett Moran (cybersecurity engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab) and Dan Novy (postdoctoral associate at the MIT Media Lab).

Star Trek is one of the most iconic shows to ever grace television, not just for its contributions to the genre of science fiction, but also for its inspirational message about the potential for technology to build a positive future. There are many examples of technologies in the show inspiring actual tech that exists today. We dive into some of those examples (along with other illustrations of Star Trek’s impact) today on the podcast with Veronica Belmont and Joe Betts-LaCroix.

Dune, a novel set 20,000 years in the future, is a sweeping saga that touches on themes ranging from the consequences of AI (and the lack of AI) to the values of environmentalism. This is the last episode of SciFi-preneurship, so we’re closing out with a discussion reflecting on all the works we’ve featured. Thanks for joining our conversations about the works that have inspired people to build better futures.