Science fiction often concerns itself with grand technological systems and nifty scientific innovations in future worlds far from our own. But speculative fiction can be a full-service “laboratory of the mind”—as useful for imagining alternate social, political, and community structures as it is new gadgets and their time warps. Social science gives us a lens to understand whether speculated futures are aspirational or ominous, and to determine the values and visions we want to prioritize.
In this conversation, editors of the new anthology We Will Rise Again: Speculative Stories and Essays on Protest, Resistance, and Hope and guests will discuss the role of social science in science fiction and how social scientists, advocates, and policymakers can use fiction to blueprint the futures they want to work toward.
This event is presented by Issues in Science and Technology, Future Tense, and the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University.
Start Date: December 4, 2025
Start Time: 10:00am
Location: Virtual
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Panelists:
-Karen Lord, sociologist and speculative fiction author
-Annalee Newitz, science journalist and speculative fiction author
-Malka Older, humanitarian aid worker and speculative fiction author
-Craig Calhoun, University Professor of Social Sciences, Arizona State University
-Ed Finn (moderator), founding director, Center for Science and the Imagination, Arizona State University
