Science Fiction Prototyping

Brian David Johnson is a Futurist, Author, and Professor of Practice at Arizona State University’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society. In his private practice he works with governments, militaries, trade organizations, and startups to help them envision their future. He has over 40 patents and is the author of a number of books of fiction and nonfiction, including The Future You, War: Wizards and Robots, Humanity and the Machine: What Comes After Greed?, and Vintage Tomorrows. His writing has appeared in publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal and Slate to IEEE Computer and Successful Farming, and he appears regularly on The BBC, Bloomberg TV, PBS, Fox News, and the Discovery Channel. He has directed two feature films, and is an illustrator and commissioned painter. He was working as a futurist at Intel Corporation when this book was written.

• Preface.- Foreword.- Epilogue.- Dedication.- Acknowledgments.- 1. The Future Is in Your Hands.- 2. Religious Robots and Runaway Were-Tigers: A Brief Overview of the Science and the Fiction that Went Into Two SF Prototypes.- 3. How to Build Your Own SF Prototype in Five Steps or Less.- 4. I, Robot: From Asimov to Doctorow: Exploring Short Fiction as an SF Prototype and a Conversation With Cory Doctorow.- 5. The Men in the Moon: Exploring Movies as an SF Prototype and a Conversation with Sidney Perkowitz.- 6. Science in the Gutters: Exploring Comics as an SF Prototype and a Conversation With Chris Warner.- 7. Making the Future: Now that You Have Developed Your SF Prototype, What’s Next?.- 8. Einstein’s Thought Experiments and Asimov’s Second Dream.- Appendix A: The SF Prototypes.- Notes.- Author Biography.