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SciFutures Presents The City of the Future
Change is coming and it's going to affect humans right where we live. By 2050, city living is going to look very different from what we know today. Across the globe, cities are going green and getting smarter. Artificial intelligence is playing a bigger role in our lives every day and the nomad generation is redefining what 'home' is.
In these pages we explore future cities all over the world. In Nigeria, we see how students are making their cities smarter. In London, a charming AI wants to help you find love. In Australia, a drowned Dutch city finds a new home. And in California, charismatic cities don't need us to run them at all.
The future visions in this anthology come from nine of today's premiere science fiction writers and futurists. These examples are futurist storytelling at its finest, because they examine not only the technologies that will affect our future, but how people will learn and grow and interact with those technologies. Come, let's take a look at our future.
In these pages we explore future cities all over the world. In Nigeria, we see how students are making their cities smarter. In London, a charming AI wants to help you find love. In Australia, a drowned Dutch city finds a new home. And in California, charismatic cities don't need us to run them at all.
The future visions in this anthology come from nine of today's premiere science fiction writers and futurists. These examples are futurist storytelling at its finest, because they examine not only the technologies that will affect our future, but how people will learn and grow and interact with those technologies. Come, let's take a look at our future.
146 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 4, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 16, 2016
Nine stories imagining future cities around the globe. Each story is compact, interesting, and, most of all, positive about the direction of the future.
The cities on display look vastly different, which is part of the fun, but there are some intriguing through lines. Many stories show societies in which every object is tagged with metadata, usually resulting in the disappearance of privacy. There are a lot of A.I.s being trusted with the governance of entire cities and states. Oddly, there are also a lot of citywide weather systems designed to keep the rain off.
The best two offerings were "Houseproud" by Laurence Raphael Brothers, a comic adventure about a puppy-dog-ish house A.I. who is called upon to save his master from an earthquake, and "The Calculus of Trees" by Sofie Bird featuring a city with a huge biological computer made of Redwoods and lichen that has been hacked. While "Houseproud" struck me as the most realistic of all the pictures cities, "Calculus" presents the coolest one.
The cities on display look vastly different, which is part of the fun, but there are some intriguing through lines. Many stories show societies in which every object is tagged with metadata, usually resulting in the disappearance of privacy. There are a lot of A.I.s being trusted with the governance of entire cities and states. Oddly, there are also a lot of citywide weather systems designed to keep the rain off.
The best two offerings were "Houseproud" by Laurence Raphael Brothers, a comic adventure about a puppy-dog-ish house A.I. who is called upon to save his master from an earthquake, and "The Calculus of Trees" by Sofie Bird featuring a city with a huge biological computer made of Redwoods and lichen that has been hacked. While "Houseproud" struck me as the most realistic of all the pictures cities, "Calculus" presents the coolest one.
November 24, 2016
Fascinating
As stories, I really enjoyed how each one stayed human and personal, the primary focus on exploring and resolving deeply primal aspects of who we are. The whole scifuture vision is the foundation for the whole thing, and each story explores different concepts for a more interconnected and intelligent future.
Certainly worth a read to get a sneak peak of our probable futures in the developed first world, and also how we can improve the lifestyles and conditions of our brothers and sisters around the planet.
I especially appreciated how the visions are all grounded in a sense of ecological responsibility and awareness. More importantly than that is the refocusing away from the glitz of the tech and back toward what it means to be human, connected to other humans, and how technology is a background symphony rather than the medium defining our interactions.
As stories, I really enjoyed how each one stayed human and personal, the primary focus on exploring and resolving deeply primal aspects of who we are. The whole scifuture vision is the foundation for the whole thing, and each story explores different concepts for a more interconnected and intelligent future.
Certainly worth a read to get a sneak peak of our probable futures in the developed first world, and also how we can improve the lifestyles and conditions of our brothers and sisters around the planet.
I especially appreciated how the visions are all grounded in a sense of ecological responsibility and awareness. More importantly than that is the refocusing away from the glitz of the tech and back toward what it means to be human, connected to other humans, and how technology is a background symphony rather than the medium defining our interactions.
May 21, 2016
Powerful and thoughtful
Some unexpected takes on cities of the future, and strong writing across the board. While technological changes drive the plots, most of the stories focus on the psychological and social conflicts that result.
Some unexpected takes on cities of the future, and strong writing across the board. While technological changes drive the plots, most of the stories focus on the psychological and social conflicts that result.
May 22, 2016
if great sf is about great problem solving, then sofie bird's story nails it. holly schofield's story is also solid.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews