Interactions - September/October 2009

This changed about 10 years ago when I read Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, a book that took the ideas of right now (or right then) and played with them, taking some notions to a slightly parodic extreme—the protagonist, Hiro Protagonist, delivers pizza for the Mafia while the CIA has been privatized as the Central Intelligence Corporation. At the same time, Stephenson maintained a clear line back to the current world of the reader. From my lengthy history with science fiction, this novel was a sea change.

But where’s that balance between author as visionary and author as storyteller? I tried to read Charlie Stross’s Accelerando a couple of years back, but I felt the story served only as a carrier for the torrent of ideas/social commentary he wanted readers to think about. It was fun for the first 50 pages, trying to keep up with it all. After that, it started to get annoying, then ultimately untenable. I hurled the book across the room in frustration, giving up on ever finishing it.

Obviously, much of this has to do with how I’m engaging with the world when I come across these stories. Comments or ideas about culture are obviously more resonant now than when I was 10. But I wonder if this is how science fiction was always read and written, or if the landscape has changed?

Similarly influenced by exposure to science fiction in his formative years, Greg Breit of Qualcomm Incorporated had this to say: “My Cold War childhood was dominated by messages of unbridled optimism about what society could accomplish through

science and technology ( monorails, moon landings, jetpacks, etc.). Seeing time travel on “Star Trek” illustrated that a seemingly insignificant event in the past could have unforeseeable catastrophic consequences in the future. Although my employer pays me to innovate without considering the societal implications of my work, I strive to remain aware of all sides of the story. Without a doubt, my favorite science fiction themes engrained that habit in me.”

Nicolas Nova, user experience researcher for Liftlab in Switzerland, further explains, “Sci-fi is beyond technology forecasting. I love the genre as a sort of ‘gedanken’ experiment; a story that explores the implications of a certain phenomenon (e.g., the release of a new technology, the burst of a social trend, etc.). I like to read sci-fi alongside sociology/ anthropology and try to draw parallels. Cyberpunk/postcy-berpunk stories (Bruce Sterling, William Gibson) are great material for to me to explore the derivative uses of technologies in avenues that I would not have thought about.” Nova is no doubt highly entertained by what he reads, but he’s also actively seeking inspiration and new perspectives, and is spot on with his connection of sci-fi to social science.

Of course, thinking about the future of thinking about the future is nothing new. Back in 1961, Philip Roth wrote, “We now live in an age in which the imagination of the novelist lies helpless before what he knows he will read in tomorrow morning’s newspaper.” I had a similar reaction when I watched John Thackara speak at IxDA’s Interaction 09 (http://vimeo.

com/3869828). He described the ecological challenges facing people around the planet and the ways that different individual groups were responding (e.g., Rainwater HOG modular tanks; Landshare’s social network to match up people with land with gardeners; or Bricolabs’ movement to hack, mash up, and repurpose electronics and other hardware). The third installment of the Intuit Future of Small Business Report detailed that “using CAD and desktop manufacturing systems provides even an individual the ability to create complex product designs that can be efficiently turned into products by a third-party manufacturing firm.”

It’s hard not to feel like we are seeing elements of the future happening today, that we are living in a sci-fi world.

Note: for more examples, and a significantly more in-depth analysis, check out Julian Bleecker’s essay; http://www.nearfuturelaboratory. com/2009/03/17/design-fiction-a- short-essay-on-design-science-fact-and-fiction.

Note again: What are your favorite science fiction books, stories, movies, scenes, and what about them do you find inspiring or relevant? Email me at steve@portigal.com and I’ll post them on our blog at www.portigal.com/ blog. And keep watching the skies!

[ 2] Arrington, M. “Grok This: Forget the Business Books, Go Sci-Fi to Stoke Your Imagination.” TechCrunch, April 5, 2009. www.techcrunch. com/2009/04/05/grok- this-forget-the-busi-ness-books-go-sci-fi-to-stoke-your-imagination.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Steve Portigal is the founder of Portigal Consulting, a boutique agency that helps companies discover and act on new insights about themselves and their customers. He is an accomplished instructor and public speaker, and an avid photographer who curates a Museum of Foreign Grocery Products in his home. He blogs regularly for All This ChittahChattah, at www.portigal.com/blog.