Rewiring the machine
An essay written for the Fabian Society on making machine learning, renewables and other new technologies work for the collective good.
Science Fiction
Red Moon, Red Earth: the radical science fiction of Kim Stanley Robinson
An essay for New Socialist on the political science fiction of Kim Stanley Robinson, with a focus on his most recent novel Red Moon.
Designing the future: a review of Economic Science Fictions
A little over a century ago, there was an expectation that the future was ours to map and manage. An excerpt from a review for New Socialist of Economic Science Fictions, edited by Wiliam Davies.
A future Solar System economy: thoughts on Michio Kaku’s The Future of Humanity
We seem to be entering a new golden age of space exploration but with so many national and commercial players its hard to know what to believe. I take a long look at The Future of Humanity, a new book by Michio Kaku that offers valuable insight into the likely infrastructure of a future space economy.
Heavenly palaces and space junks: China’s quiet space revolution
China now occupies the role once played by the Soviet Union when futurists and science fiction writers imagine the Earth’s political tensions extending into a new era of interplanetary conflict. A brief article for The Norwich Radical in which I try to discern the vector of China’s accelerating space programme.
21st century monsters: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Artificial Intelligence
Mary’s Shelley’s great novel, published 200 years ago this month, retains a peculiar relevance, resonating with today’s hopes and fears for the possibilities opened by artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic biology.
Seeking Aurora: on interstellar arks, deep space and desire
For some the possibility of space exploration offers an escape from our sublunary cares. But as Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel Aurora warns, space may simply be too big to make a home beyond this world.