Creative Science Foundation

Useful Sources of Information

Books:

Book by Brian David Johnson "Science Fiction prototyping: A Framework for Design" published by Morgan & Claypool Publishers.
Brian David Johnson's book "Screen Futures: The Future of Entertainment, Computing And The Devices We Love".
Comma Press, a publishing house in Manchester, UK that is dedicated to the short story and has published some books that explore the relationship between the short story - as a vehicle for hypothesis, experiment and argument - and scientific thinking. In particular onebook exploring current research (When It Changed), and another looking at eureka moments and the history of modern science through fiction (Litmus).
Tor/Forge Books and Nasa have formed a partnership in which science fiction authors team up with Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Cente (with access to Nasa data, facilities and experts) to release a range of scientifically accurate and entertaining novels to inform current and future space agency missions and operations.
Designs for Life, by Paul Harrison, a book exploring the relationship between science and art (Published by the Dundee Press)

Articles, Papers & Blogs:

The "Bostanci" Creative Science Life Cycle
An interesting 'New Scientist article', "Can science fiction still predict the future?" by Andy Sawyer (Science Fiction Librarian
Special Collections and Archives, University of Liverpool Library)
The original SFP, 'Nebulous Mechanisms' by Brian David Johnson
Intel’s secret weapon - they can see the future! - a report by TG Daily on Intel's Sci-Fi Prototyping work.
A facebook thread by Hsuan-Yi WU that discusses Spiritual Computing (based on a CS'11 SF-Prototype, and related issues (including discussion of aspects of Brian Johnson's 'Nebulous Mechanisms' story).
There are a number of articles describing the Intel "Tomorrow Project" including a Bloomberg Business week and San Francisco Chronicle article.
The Quantum Pontiff - a blog run by Dave Bacon (University of Washington), a theoretical physicist that discusses (briefly) a talk by Brian David Johnson on Science Fiction Prototyping and the use of quantum physics in building robots that exhibit 'free will'..
BBC News - Intel recruits sci-fi writers to dream up future tech.
Ever wondered if we might be just chracters in an elaborate simulated world (eg a computer game)? Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom describes his Simulation Argument in a paper (2003) and a recent podcast (2011).
Digital legacy: The fate of your online soul - An article by the New Scientist's online editor, Sumit Paul-Choudhury, that explores the consequences of "us being the first people in history to create vast online records of our lives" and wondering "how much of it will endure when we are gone?".
A 'New Scientist' article discussing the Intel "Free Will" online competition, plus a related article that reports on an interview with Prof Stuart Hameroff (University of Arizona) who has been working with Prof Sir Roger Penrose (University of Oxford) on a quantum based biological model for consciousness.
A blog discussing an edited volume in the Springer Frontiers Collection called "The Singularity Hypothesis; A Scientific & Philisopical Asesment" exploring questions such as the intelligence explosion, acceleration, transhumanism, and whole brain emulation. The volume is edited by Amnon Eden, Johnny Søraker, Jim Moor, and Eric Steinhart.
In Japan, Prof Masaaki Kurosu (The Open University of Japan) has set up a Special Interest Group in Science Fiction (SIG SF) to discuss the relationship between science fiction and science fact.

Videos:

Interviews with Brian David Johnson at Intel Insiders Summit (in NYC), Intel UK (inhouse video), CES2011, SmartBits, GameAche & Digital Marketing Conference (video1 and video 2) about his "Screen Futures" book.
A video presentation (Part1 & Part 2) by Brian David Johnson at CUbicS Conference in 2010 on Futurecsting at Intel (using TV as an example)
A video (webcast) of Brian David Johnson presenting at Intel Developer Forum. in San Francisco, September 22 - 24, 2009 on the future of TV (called “Convergence is so Yesterday: The Future of Television”). Scroll down to Day 3 keynotes (boxes on right of window) and launch Justin Rattner’s (Intel CTO) webcast; Brian's section begins around 8:15 min in.
Viideo presentation from Brian David Johnson (Intel Corp., USA), given as part of the ShanghAI lecture series on the 29th of October 2009 <Brain Machines: Robots, Free Will and Science Fiction Prototypes>
Steampunk - with a strong element of fun, a cultural historian and a futurist ask what can Steampunk teach us about the future?
A website and film about a group that call themselves “Transhumanists” that enshirine notions such as our minds living on forever. This site presents a thought provoking film directed by Titus Nachbauer that presents the groups ideas.

Jimmy, the intelligent robot and companion from Brian David Johnson's "Egerton Stories"

Current CSf Activities:

3rd Conference on Creative Science (to be announced)
Call For Papers for a special issue of the FUTURES journal, published by Elsevier, Amsterdam on "Exploring Future Business Visions Using Creative Fictional Prototypes". The deadline for submission is the 29th February 2012.
Screen Futures (Essex University, Mon 14th Nov 2011)
Forest of Stories (to be announced)
Tomorrow; London (to be announced)
iWorlds - Searching for Free Will (online competition - to be announced)

Previous CSf Activities:

1st Workshop on Creative Science (Kuala-Lumpur July 2010)
2nd Workshop on Creative Science (Nottingham, UK, July 2011)

CSf Education:

Universities using SF-Prototyping (and Brian David Johnson's book) to support teaching include the University of Washington where Tadayoshi Kohno uses it to teach computer security (see a paper he wrote about this) and Sarah Pérez-Kriz who uses to teach HCI (see a brief course summary). Also, Denisa Kera in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at The National University of Singapore uses the book to support design oriented programmes and projects (in 2011/12 a 2nd year module on “Interactive Media Design: Theory” and 3rd year level module on Critical Design), In addition Marc Tuters at the University of Amsterdam uses it to teach HCI.
Creative tool kit to build embedded-computing, or "internet of things" products <paper> <video>
The BBC reported Google chairman Eric Schmidt as saying the UK needed to reignite children's passion for science, engineering and maths. He suggested the UK needed to bring art and science back together (as it had in the "glory days of the Victorian era" when Lewis Carroll wrote one of the classic fairy tales, Alice in Wonderland, and was also a mathematics tutor at Oxford).
An example of a SF-Prototype story that has led to real research and collaboration with a company to bring the vision to life.
Faculty-Copperative - a forum to promote open collabortion between university researchers and teachers.

Related Activities:

The Original Intel "Tomorrow Project"; SciFi stories by professional authors, commisioned by Intel, which paint amusing and thought-provoking scenarios of future technology. See "Morrow Project PDF eBook and mp3 audio book.
The current Intel Tomorrow project. This new venture has a number of instances, the first being the Tomorrow Project Seattle hosted by the University of Washington, which included 7 videos made by Intel that describe future possibilities of technology. Future plans include a "Tomorrow Rio de Janeiro" to be hosted by the Museum of Tomorrow in Brazil and a "Tomorrow London project.

Miscellaneous:

The Singularity Institute - an organisation that looks forward to the time when technological creations become smarter-than-human intelligence!
Cafe Scientifique - a forum for debating science issues, not a shop window for science. Meetings take place in cafes, bars, restaurants etc (ie not a traditional academic context).
British Science Association - seeks to advance the public understanding, accessibility and accountability of the sciences and engineering in the UK.
earth:NOW:- features work created by artists Valentin Manz & Christine Cynn inspired by Church Farm Ardeley over a 16-month collaboration with the high-welfare, ecological farm.
Scientific Theatre - Art, performance, and creative work are, in general, subjective which makes them very risky as a business. However, they are powerful tools, capable of influencing and affecting peoples' views, mind, life, and the future. This international workshop explored the complex relationships between the arts and technology with a view to finding synergy that would lead to more interesting outcomes for people.

Some Related Quotations:

What is now proved was once only imagined -William Blake (1757-1827)
The scientist needs an artistically creative imagination - Max Planck (1858 – 1947)
Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination - John Dewey (1859-1952)
To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
The task is not to see what has never been seen before, but to think what has never been thought before about what you see everyday - Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961)
Art and science, it is clear, are neither new partners nor new antagonists; they are inextricable elements of the same historical quest for and understanding of life. Paul Liam Harrison (from the Book "Designs for Life")

Sponsors:

Creative Science Foundation

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