2.3: Thinking Technology - Assessment
- Page ID
- 248571
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Introduction
“Science fiction isn’t just thinking about the world out there. It’s also thinking about how that world might be—a particularly important exercise for those who are oppressed, because if they’re going to change the world we live in, they—and all of us—have to be able to think about a world that works differently”
― Samuel R. Delany, Paris Review (2011)
“It’s not speculation, it’s true! Mobile phones, laptops, tablets, the Internet, all were predicted and dreamed up in science fiction first. Science fiction writers speculate when they write. I don’t just make random things up. I consider the world around me. I live in it. I experience it. I love it. I hate it. I worry about it. Then I imagine what’s to come”
― Nnedi Okoroafor, Ventures (2015)
“Any time we try to envision a different world--without poverty, prisons, capitalism, war--we are engaging in science fiction. When we can dream those realities together, that's when we can begin to build them right here and now”
― Walidah Imarisha, The Nation (2015)
As the voices above attest, science fiction—while often cast aside as stuff for the nerds, geeks, and other fantastical fanatics—provides an exceptional platform through which to consider, make sense, and investigate technological change. This short activity looks to have you think science fictionally, in an effort to showcase the importance of critically-examined technologies, as well as the power of speculative fiction in exploring them.
In Octavia Butler’s short story “The Book of Martha,” a Black novelist, Martha Bes, is given the power to realize one fundamental change to the human species that would re-shape humanity for the better. Martha eventually settles on vivid dreams, with the thought being that if humans could experience their greatest joys each night, they might be less compelled to make them manifest during the day (which often leads to much pain and suffering).
Assessment
This is a speculative exercise that invites you to dream as Butler suggests we should in "The Book of Martha,” asking you to share your vision of future change and imagine the technologies necessary to make it a reality. Please write a short response to each of the following questions:
- If you could change one thing about humanity that would ensure that we all survive and thrive in the future, what would it be and why? '
- How might current and/or future technology help us realize this change?
- What quote from today’s class best speaks to your change?
- How might you address potential challenges to this vision?