The big news is that I’ve just signed a book deal with the publisher Mango! The working title for the book is The Moviegoer’s Guide to the Future (Update: the final title is Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies), and it’s going to be a roller coaster ride through emerging technologies, societal risks and benefits, responsible innovation, the fourth industrial revolution, and learning how to not only survive, but thrive in this technologically complex world we’re creating — all through the lens of twelve kick-ass movies!
The aim is for the book to be out early next year, but you can follow my progress here (and on Facebook and Twitter). Most importantly, some teaser info:
What’s the book about?
The Moviegoer’s Guide to the Future aims to provide readers with an essential guide to successfully navigating a future that’s increasingly dominated by complex and powerful new technologies. The book threads together author Andrew Maynard’s love of science fiction movies with his expertise on emerging technologies to engage and entertain readers, while introducing them to new ways of thinking about the relationship between science, technology, and society. The book is grounded in transformative advances in science and technology that are changing what we are able to achieve, yet have the potential to impact our lives in ways that we often struggle to predict or understand. It draws on the imagination and creativity that run through science fiction movies to introduce readers to the profound capabilities presented by new and emerging technologies, and the complex personal and societal challenges they present.
Each movie in the book provides the starting point for exploring key technologies and trends, from genetic engineering (Jurassic Park) and brain-enhancing drugs (Limitless), to human augmentation (Ghost in the Shell – 1995 version!), and artificial intelligence (Ex Machina). These are woven together with emerging ideas on technological convergence and responsible and ethical innovation, to provide a sweeping and authoritative perspective on where our technologies are taking us, and how we ensure this is where we want to go.
The twelve movies are carefully curated to take readers on a progressive journey through the worlds of biological and genetic manipulation, human enhancement and cyber technologies, and nanotechnology, while opening up a broader understanding of the power of technological convergence, and the complex relationship between science and society. The movies intentionally cover a mix of old and new; and familiar and unfamiliar. In addition to the narrative arc they create, they are bound together by three over-arching criteria: together they provide a solid foundation for exploring new and emerging technologies; they reflect a diversity of styles, topics and characters; and they are entertaining!
What are the movies in the book?
- Jurassic Park
- Minority Report
- Never Let me Go
- Limitless
- Elysium
- Ghost in the Shell
- Ex Machina
- Transcendence
- The Man in the White Suit
- Inferno
- The Day After Tomorrow
- Contact
Why on earth did you choose those movies?
That’s a story for another day (watch this space), but there is method to this madness!
Where can I find out more?
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