Which sci-fi future — corporate dystopia or post-scarcity society — are we headed toward? Which is the most worth striving for?
Special Edition: Exploring Futures Through Science Fiction
October 28, 2025
From Blade Runner’s corporate dystopia to Star Trek’s optimism, science fiction has created a plethora of competing visions for what our world might one day become. These stories haven’t just shaped our imagination, but our technological and scientific ambitions. The ideas present in many science-fiction novels, movies, and TV shows, including space travel, robotics, technology, and the futures of warfighting, have, in many ways, shaped how we design technology, cities, and ourselves.
Today, technology is advancing rapidly, from artificial intelligence to biotechnology and modern space exploration, begging the question: Which sci-fi future are we headed toward? In this symposium, we seek to explore which of these futures seems not just most likely—but most worth striving for.
To read all of the articles in this symposium, go here.
Science Fiction Won’t Kill You, but the Terms of Service Will
by Ali Crawford
From Black Mirror to Her to Cyberpunk 2077, science fiction reveals that our real threat isn’t killer robots—it’s the corporate systems quietly rewriting what it means to be human. Read it here.
Our Real Space Odyssey: Governance, Competition, and the Age of AI
by Kallysta Jones
2001: A Space Odyssey imagined progress through technology. Today, AI and lunar competition demand a smarter, more cooperative space policy. Read it here.
When Science Fiction Collides: Building the Future of Autonomous Systems and AI
by Rick Hubbard
As AI and autonomous warfare advance, our future mirrors a collision of Minority Report, Star Wars, The Fifth Element, and Idiocracy—demanding innovation with safeguards and clear global engagement. Read it here.
We are Living in Their Science Fiction
by Savar Suri
We are living in the worlds imagined by Elon Musk and Sam Altman—realities shaped by Foundation, Her, and We Are Legion, where science fiction becomes strategy. Read it here.
Lessons from Person of Interest for the Age of AI
by Manisha Singh
Person of Interest offered more than entertainment—it foreshadowed today’s AI dilemmas of surveillance, control, and human judgment in an age of intelligent machines. Read it here.
