If it's July, it must be Comic-Con: Abusing Science on Fringe

I apparently was caught in a time vortex because all of a sudden I find that it's the last week of July. Where has the time gone?

Anyway, what shook me out of my lack of blogging was the realization Comic-Con had come and gone already. If you aren't familiar with Comic-Con, it's a massive annual convention in San Diego that started out focusing on comic books but has been embraced in recent years by Hollywood. That means movie previews and panels with TV stars along with comics and science fiction fare,

This year a panel on "Abusing the Sci of Sci-Fi" was moderated by Phil Plait (of Bad Astronomy), and included panelists*:

• Sean Carroll, a CalTech cosmologist who blogs at Cosmic Variance
• Kevin Grazier, a planetary physicist at JPL/NASA who has been a science consultant on TV show like Eureka and Battlestar Galactica, and who sometimes blogs at Science Not Fiction
• Jamie Paglia, writer and producer of the TV show Eureka
• Zack Stentz, producer of TV shows Fringe and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

 Now I am a fan of Fringe, so it's not a criticism when I say that it appears to have only a tenuous basis in any sort of real science.  I think that works because Walter Bishop (played by the excellent John Noble) is a mad scientist extraordinaire, who works his genius on the fringes of a wide range of scientific disciplines.  The crazy science on the show is no less believable than having a scientist who is a hands-on expert in astrophysics and microbiology and synthetic organic chemistry and mechanical engineering and everything in between. (And yes, I know they claim that the science on Fringe is based on "reality", but I don't see that.)

And on the panel Stentz confirmed that science plays second fiddle to "story" on Fringe as Eric Wolff reported at Science not Fiction:

“Sometimes you have to break the rules to tell the story you want to tell,” he said, and ran a Fringe clip in which Olivia and Peter realize that Bell has  extracted memories from Walter’s brain by removing actual pieces of Walter’s brain.

“He literally had his memories removed,” Stentz said. “We knew when we wrote it that memories aren’t stored in a discrete portion of your brain.”

That episode - "Grey Matters"  - was indeed especially silly science.  Wolff suggests that it's especially bad bad science because most people don't know it's bad science:

Everyone knows we can’t travel faster then light, so we accept a universe where we all agree that the technology exists. But the brains/memories plot device hinges on the audience being too ignorant to understand the inaccuracy. The rule-breaking isn’t based on the paranormal or on advanced technology. It’s based on the audience not knowing better. That seems like the wrong kind of rule-breaking to me.

When I saw the episode I knew it was ridiculous, but in a fictional universe where a person can be wired to a dead man's brain to retrieve his memories it didn't seem particularly out of place. But Wolff may be right that the way the story was presented most people might not have realized that it was as unrealistic as regular travel between parallel universes. Perhaps that has something to do with the average SF-watcher's knowledge of bioscience as compared to physics?

Apparently the scientists on the panel disagreed that science needs to bend for the sake of drama.

I'm hoping someone posts a video of the panel online, since it sounds like an interesting discussion.

Script PhD also has a write up of that and a few other science and science fiction-related Comic-Con panels.

* The panelists seem like an interesting and intelligent group, but they appear to embody the stereotypes that "science" is the realm of white men working in the physical sciences and that the science in "science fiction" is astronomy and physics.  And it perhaps provides a hint as to why the biosciences are portrayed so inaccurately on SF TV shows.

Biopolitics of Popular Culture Seminar

The Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies (IEET) will be hosting a seminar on the "Biopolitics of Popular Culture":

Popular culture is full of tropes and cliches that shape our debates about emerging technologies. Our most transcendent expectations for technology come from pop culture, and the most common objections to emerging technologies come from science fiction and horror, from Frankenstein and Brave New World to Gattaca and the Terminator.

Why is it that almost every person in fiction who wants to live a longer than normal life is evil or pays some terrible price? What does it say about attitudes towards posthuman possibilities when mutants in Heroes or the X-Men, or cyborgs in Battlestar Galactica or Iron Man, or vampires in True Blood or Twilight are depicted as capable of responsible citizenship?

Is Hollywood reflecting a transhuman turn in popular culture, helping us imagine a day when magical and muggle can live together in a peaceful Star Trek federation? Will the merging of pop culture, social networking and virtual reality into a heightened augmented reality encourage us all to make our lives a form of participative fiction?

During this day long seminar we will engage with culture critics, artists, writers, and filmmakers to explore the biopolitics that are implicit in depictions of emerging technology in literature, film and television.

Sounds pretty interesting - and some of the confirmed speakers should be familiar to science fiction fans:

• David Brin, described as a "scientist, best-selling author, popular commentator on modern technological and political trends". I know him best for his "Uplift" novels.
• Richard Kadrey, novelist and tech writer. "Carbon Copy" his 1998 short tale of the first human clone went from the pages of Wired to form the basis of what Kadrey calls "one of the worst movies of 2001"
• Annalee Newitz, lead editor of io9 and freelance writer.
• Brian Cross, co-creator of Eclipse Phase, a post-apocalyptic transhuman conspiracy RPG.
  
• Jess Nevins, a reference librarian at UC Riverside who is well known for annotating comics (hopefully rescued from Geocities). He's the author of The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana and has a special interest in stempunk.
  
• PJ Manney, writer for fantasy series Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess, and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Humanity+. Humanity+ Executive Director Alex Lightman will also be participating.
• RJ Eskow, who writes about and (consults on) technology, health care and public policy. He blogs at the Huffington Post.
• And of course a number of IEET-associated individuals will be participating, including Natasha Vita-More "pioneer of transhumanist aethetics", writer Jamais Casicio, and J. Hughs, author of Citizen Cyborg.
  

You can check out all of the particpants at the official web site.

The seminar will be held on Friday, December 4th in Irvine, California. Click for details. If you register before November 15th, the cost is only $99 - $60 for students.

Saturday and Sunday, December 5th and 6th, the Humanity+ Summit will be held at the same location.
Tags:science fiction, biopolitics, movies

Science in SF at the WorldCon

The next big event on the summer convention schedule is the 67th World Science Fiction Convention - Anticipation - to be held in Montreal on August 6-10. Amidst the author readings, writing workshops, filk singing, costume crafting, there will be panels on many SF and fantasy topics, including science in SF.

The Master of Ceremonies is former biologist and SF author Julie E. Czerneda. Not surprisingly, Czerneda's novels have a strong bioscience basis. She is also the author of the non-fiction No Limits: Developing Scientific Literacy Using Science Fiction, which has suggestions for teaching science with SF, and runs the SciFiZone at ScienceNews for Kids, among other educational endeavors. Czerneda will be giving the keynote at the free Science Fiction in the Classroom workshop on Thursday August 6th.

I've listed below some of the panels I think sound interesting and have a strong "science in SF" component from the scheduled convention programming (pdf). If I was attending the con, I'd have a hard time deciding which panels to attend!

Thursday

12:30 1hr 30min: "Bio-Ethics"
Alison Sinclair, Judy T. Lazar, Laura Anne Gilman, Russell Blackford, Tomoko Masuda
Medical experiments, drug companies, cloning, insurance, bookies and you.

14:00 1hr 30min: "What is Consciousness?"
Pat Cadigan, Kim Binsted, Peter Watts
Studies of complex chemical systems, AI, neuroscience and MRI are beginning to find answers to this question. What are the results and what do they mean for our sense of self?

16:00 1hr "First Contact: Worldbuilding"
Julie E. Czerneda, Charles K. Bradley, Nina Munteanu, Eoin Colfer
Worldbuilding workshop: we'll discuss and create alien worlds and cultures.

Friday

10:00 1hr: "How to Effectively Talk about Science to Non-Scientists and Why it Matters"
Chad R. Orzel
Presenting one's ideas is ever more crucial for scientists. If we don't do it well, you can be certain someone else will do it badly.

10:00 1hr "In Space Everyone Can Hear"
Chris Becker, David Stephenson, Jeanne M. Mealy, John Douglass, Christopher D. Carson
No they can't, unless it's a really neat special effects explosion. Is it possible to do hard SF on screen (big or small), or is a certain amount of dumbing down inevitable?

10:00 1hr "Is Science Used Differently in French-language SF?"
Eric Picholle, Jean-Louis Trudel, Michele Laframboise, Laurent Genefort
SF in English often prefers technology to science, but how does SF in French handle science?

10:00 1hr "Just how does Creationist Science Work?"
Edward James, Jay Lake, Leigh Ann, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Paul Chafe, Rev. Randy Smith
What stories are told in creationist science to explain things like fossils, dinosaurs, astronomy, geology and genetics?

10:00 1hr [Teen Programming] "First Contact: Extraterrestrial Life"
Charles K. Bradley, Geoff Hart
We'll discuss possible alien worlds, and the beings that might live there.

14:00 1hr 30min: "The Future of Gender"
Cheryl Morgan, Jason Bourget, Jeanne Cavelos, Veronica Hollinger
From contraceptives to computers, is technology undermining traditional gender roles andif so where is this taking us?

14:00 1hr 30min: "Getting it Right: Environmental Issues in Science Fiction or Fantasy"
Bob Sojka, Jason Tuell, Kristin Norwood, Nina Munteanu, Mike Gallaher
These panelists want to explain about using correct environmental details in science fiction (and fantasy): weather, green buildings; green processes and, yes, linoleum

15:00 1hr [Teen Programming]: "First Contact: Create and Design Aliens"
Carl Fink, Jane Carnall, Judy T. Lazar, Jean-Pierre Guillet, Dana MacDermott, Diane Kelly
A workshop conceptualizing other beings: What sort of biology are aliens likely to have? What might they look like? What personalities/behaviors? How will this affect our communications?

15:30 1hr 30min: "Are We Conscious and Does it Matter?"
Daryl Gregory, James Morrow, Kathryn Cramer, Peter Watts
What do we mean by consciousness? Has it become as much of a distraction as wondering whether there is a heaven? Would we act any differently if we didn’t think we were conscious? How important is the concept to fantasy and science fiction?

15:30 1hr 30min: "Anatomy for Writers, Heroes and Tavern Brawlers"
Darlene Marshall, Jetse de Vries, Sean McMullen, Kristen Britain
Author, karate instructor, fencer and first aid officer Sean McMullen provides a tour of how the human body can and cannot be damaged. Want to know where a hero can be punched without any effect? Worried about his vascular dilation? Curious about the real-life version of Mr Spock’s nerve pinch? Not sure whether a really long sword fight is three hours or seven seconds? Wondering why readers are laughing because your hero has microsecond reactions? Come along and find out in complete safety.

22:00 1hr: "Build a Better Astronaut"
David H. Brummel, Jeanne Cavelos, Nick Kanas, Steven Popkes, H.G. Stratmann
With rocket accidents, radiation, zero gravity, hard vacuum and long journey times is space travel just too dangerous for humans? And if so, how are we to reach the high frontier ourselves? What changes need to be made to the human body and mind to make it better suited for interplanetary and interstellar travel?

Saturday

9:00 1hr: "The Goldilocks Alien"
G. David Nordley, Judy T. Lazar, Geoff Hart
Many SFnal aliens come from worlds just like ours - not too hot, not too cold, not too radioactive. Is this realistic? Can't we do better than this? What if their evolutionary pattern was different?

10:00 1hr: "The Philosophy of Science"
Chad R. Orzel (blog post on the panel), Greer Gilman, James Morrow, Jeff Warner, Richard Crownover, DD Barant
To what extent does SF explore the meaning of science for scientists and create the ideas that our culture has of science?

19:00 1hr: "Panel in the Pool"
James Bryant (G4CLF), Kat Feete, Lindsay Barbieri, Seanan McGuire, Thomas A. Easton
What would dolphins do? What side of the road would cephalopods prefer? Do they make screwdrivers for right-handed octopuses? The panel, in the deep end with lead boots, discusses aquatic intelligences.

Sunday

9:00 1hr: "Cloning Dos and Don'ts"
Birgit Houston, Jeanne Cavelos, Judy T. Lazar, Kat Feete, Paolo Bacigalupi
Cloning frequently comes up in SF, but how does it work in real life? And what happens when it goes wrong?

10:00 1hr "Science for SF Writers"
Julie E. Czerneda, Alison Sinclair, David Clements, David D. Levine
Where can you get crash courses on science for science fiction writers? Is it actually useful?

10:00 1hr "Realism in Science Fiction"
Chris Howard, kyle cassidy, Pascale Raud, Joel Polowin, Tobias Buckell
A lot of near-future SF novels duck the problems we read about in the news – climate change or energy shortage – in favour of problems which look more solveable. We all know that SF shouldn’t be pure prediction, but how much of a duty does it have to be based on realistic assumptions?

21:00 1hr "Legitimizing the Woo"
Margaret Ronald, Eoin Colfer, Peter Watts
It is an ongoing tradition of science fiction to rehabilitate overtly fantasy tropes (vampires, zombies, fairies, god) by soaking them in SFnal rationales. What are the rules for hijacking a trope from one genre and reprogramming it for another? And why bother?

Monday

10:00 1hr "A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing"
Amy Thomson, Carl Fink, Christopher Davis, Karl Schroeder
What happens when physicists try ot write biological SF; or when a writer's research goes badly wrong?

11:00 1hr "The Drake Equation and the Fermi Failure"
Ian Tregillis, Thomas Womack, Jordin Kare, Peter Watts
Recent discoveries have enhanced our estimates of the number of planetary systems in the galaxy; recent analysis suggest that the silence dominating the hydrogen band may be more an artifact of signal dissipation than evidence of an empty universe. Is there any real point in describing the frequency of technological civilizations using a 7-variable equation for which 5 of the parameters are completely unknown? Do we even know enough to *have* a reasonable debate?

12:30 1hr 30min; "Hard SF: Is it What You Do, or How You Do It?"
Amy H. Sturgis, Marc Schirmeister, Joël Champetier, Gabrielle Harbowy
Many critics – including David Hartwell – argue that hard SF is as much defined by an attitude (how you depict science in an SF story) rather than to do with detailed depiction of science. So a story, like Ted Chiang’s “Tower of Babylon” could be hard SF whilst being based in a completely imaginary scientific foundation. Is this a useful way to see things?

12:30 1hr: "Genetic Engineering Our Offspring"
Birgit Houston, John Wilson, Judy T. Lazar, Russell Blackford, Paolo Bacigalupi
Surgical modifications, perhaps with controlled re-growth. Cyborg technology. All standard SF tropes that are now just around the next corner but one. What will all these changes mean? To us as individuals? As a society? Will we try to postpone or control them? Will we succeed? Will we still be human and does it matter? And what reactions will there be from broader society?

14:00 1hr 30min: "Mundane SF vs Science"
Geoff Ryman, Henry Spencer, Karen Burnham, Mark Olson
Mundane SF aims to extrapolate from the science of today. But science doesn’t work like that. What’s happened to the paradigm shift?

And of course that's just the tip of the iceberg, programming-wise. I'm looking forward to seeing what people report back from the con. Maybe there will even be video (?)

If you are in the Montreal area, you should consider going, particularly since they are selling low-risk "taster" memberships at the door.

Tags:science fiction, biology, WorldCon, Anticipation

Summer Vaction-Style Random Thoughts

So my brother is currently in town on his annual post-Comic-Con visit (we're going to Disneyland, yay!), so my posting will be even lighter than usual this week.

I've been reading some old SF novels over the past few weeks, and here are some of my random thoughts (spoilers, although I'm not sure the warning is necessary for novels over 20 years old):

• Stranger in a Strange Land would have been much much shorter if in Heinlein's future America effective birth control had been invented before a manned expedition was sent to Mars. Also, if Michael Valentine Smith had been raised by wizards instead of Martians you could place it squarely into the Fantasy genre without having to otherwise change the plot (sufficiently advanced technology looks like magic etc. etc. ).

• I think it's a bummer that Asimov decided to tie together his series of Foundation novels and Robot stories by making the humanity's expansion onto many worlds, the creation of the Galactic Empire and its replacement by the Foundation ultimately due to the meddling of a couple of mind-reading, mind-influencing robots. I'd like to think that we'll conquer the universe without the nudging of telepathic robot nannies. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for more magic-with-a-thin-veneer-of-science after reading SiaSL.

(Also, I wonder about the Foundation movie in development - how will they successfully adapt the original trilogy which covers a lot of time and has a lot more talking than action? Also, why not film the robot novels, which have movie-friendly Earthman/robot sidekick solve-a-mystery plots?)

• I've also just read Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time. I'm putting together a post on it, since advanced biotechnology plays an important role, but I wanted to mention that there is going to be a discussion about it starting tomorrow on sajbrfem's journal as part of a "Women in Science Fiction" reading club.

• Every so often an article like this comes up on my newsreader:

". . . it’s what technology ethicist Paul Root Wolpe, director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University says during the piece that, for me, delivers an equally big (if not bigger) impact:

“It’s what I always tell my students that there is no science fiction anymore. All the science fiction I read in high school, we’re doing.“

And I wonder to myself what sort of mundane SF Wolpe read in high school. Do we have regular space travel or colonies off of the Earth? Nope. Have we found life on other planets (never mind sentient life)? Nope. What about human genetic engineering or cloning? We're approaching that ability, but it's still highly experimental. Can we upload our minds into a computer? Not yet. Time travel? Uh uh. Telepathic robots? Not even. Most of that fun stuff isn't going to happen in the near future if at all. We are living in the future, sure, but it's not the one of most science fiction novels.

• Also I've updated my posts about the Darwinism panel at Readercon and the science in SF-related panels at Comic-Con with attendee reports.

Anyway, that should hold you 'til I'm back.

Tags:science fiction, biology

Science in Science Fiction at Comic-Con

Update: Script PhD has a transcript of the Mad Science panel! Some of the topics of bio-interest include brain scanning, legal issues regarding the children of clones, where they get their science ideas and the role of science advisors.

There's also this quote from Fringe writer Glen Whitman on why they like to base their plots on biology:

Fringe is a horror show, partly. Creepy and gross is easier with biology and virology, than astrophysics, usually.

Update 2: Science Not Fiction has the scoop on the Unlocking Arkham panel.

Update 3: I've embedded video of the Mad Science panel below. There are more recaps linked here.
==========

For those of you willing to brave the crowds at Comic-Con (and lucky enough to have been able to purchase a ticket before they sold out) you might be interested in the Mad Science: Science of Science Fiction panel on Thursday, from 6pm-7pm:

... explore science as a double-edged sword – it's ethically and morally neutral in and of itself, but science depends on who wields it and how. [. . . It will be ] a lively and fun discussion on science used for good vs. evil."

• The moderator is Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy
  
• Jaime Paglia — co-Executive Producer of Eureka
• Kevin Grazier — Battlestar Galactica and Vituality science advisor. From his bio: "Grazier earned B.S. degrees in Computer Science and Geology from Purdue University, and a B.S. in Physics from Oakland University, as well as M.S. degrees in physics from Purdue and Geophysics and Space Physics from UCLA. He did his Ph.D. in Planetary Physics at UCLA." Grazier currently is a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
  
• Jane Espenson — major scifi writer/producer: Firefly, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek: The Next Generation and many other shows
  
• Rob Chiappetta and Glenn Whitman — writers for Fringe
• Ricardo Gil da Costa — cognitive neuroscientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and consultant for Fringe

The panel is co-sponsed by Discover Magazine and the Science and Entertainment Exchange.

Sounds like it should be interesting and entertaining. Maybe someone will post video? Here's the video:



There are a few other events of science in SF interest on the Thursday schedule:

5:30-6:30 The Physics of Hollywood Movies— Join physics instructor Adam Weiner (author of Don't Try This at Home! The Physics of Hollywood Movies) for an interactive presentation employing basic physical principles and a sense of humor in analyzing scenes from favorite Hollywood science fiction, superhero, and action movies, from Iron Man to 2001: A Space Odyssey, and actually learn the physics behind them—both good and bad!

6:30-7:30 The Anthropology of Star Trek – Daryl Frazetti (Department of Anthropology, Lake Tahoe Community College, where he teaches a course by the same name), Ian Morris (UCSB student), John Stivers, Jacob Hurd, and Kanan Miller (Lake Tahoe Community College students) discuss the anthropological themes in the Star Trek universe. Select themes include such topics as politics, religion, identity, technology, the cultural role of the individual, and the anthropological concept of "race." A brief discussion on the subculture of fandom is also included, along with the cultural impact of Trek. Audience participation is encouraged. This presentation spans the franchise and explores the relationship between Star Trek and society throughout the past four decades.

6:30-7:30 Unlocking Arkham: Forensic Psychiatry and Batman's Rogues' Gallery – Arkham Asylum holds some of Gotham City's most disturbed criminals. But do they truly belong there? From the vantage point of a forensic psychiatrist utilizing real-world psychiatric diagnostic criteria, panelists explore the mental disorders of the Dark Knight's Rogues' Gallery, with in-depth analyses of The Joker, Two-Face, Riddler, The Ventriloquist, Mad Hatter, and Mr. Zsasz, among others. Learn as three psychiatrists explain the meaning of such terms as "psychotic," "not guilty by reason of insanity," and "psychopathy." Bring your questions, and join the fun as experts unlock Arkham Asylum and possibly set free some of its "inmates"! Panelists include H. Eric Bender, M.D., University of California, Los Angeles; Praveen Kambam, M.D., University Hospitals/Case Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio; and Vasilis K. Pozios, M.D., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Tags:science fiction, biology, Comic Con

Science Online '09: Science Fiction on Science Blogs

Blogging can be a lonely thing. I get a few comments and some feedback, of course, and I comment on other people's blogs too, but it's not really the same as having a face-to-face conversation. That's why I'm excited I'm going to be attending ScienceOnline09, an annual science blogging conference that meets in January at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

Speculative fiction writer Stephanie Zvan and I will be co-moderating a session on "Science Fiction on Science Blogs". We are in the early stages of hammering out what exactly we'll be talking about, and suggestions are welcome. If you are interested, you can add to the discussion of our session on the ScienceOnline'09 wiki.

I hope I get to meet some of you there! (See who else is attending)

You can read some of Stephanie's fiction here.

Tags:ScienceOnline '09, blogging

Convergence08: Nanotech Meets Biotech

The Convergence08 Unconference plans to be a free-wheeling discussion about nanotechnology, biotechnology, and other world-changing technologies. What makes it an "unconference" is that it's largely unstructured. Each day will begin and end with a debate on "controversial Nano-Bio-Info-Cogno topics", including synthetic biology, longevity and artificial intelligence. The rest of the agenda is set by the participants. Of course, the success of the conference is highly dependent on the participants. The list of "debators" makes it look like it will be quite interesting:

Synthetic Biology Debate

• Dr. Chris Anderson, bioengineering professor at UC Berkeley
  
• Denise Caruso, executive director of Hybrid Vigor Institute
• Dr. Gregory Benford, physics professor at UC Irvine, founder Genescient [not to mention the author of a few science fiction novels]
• Andrew Hessel, consulting biologist and author

Artificial Intelligence Debate

• Dr. Ben Goertzel, CEO of Novamente, chair of AGIRI
• Dr. Peter Norvig, director of research at Google
• Dr. Steve Omohundro, founder and president of Self-Aware Systems
• Dr. Barney Pell, founder of Powerset, search strategist at Microsoft

Longevity Intervention Debate

• Dr. Bruce Ames, biochemistry professor at UC Berkeley, founder of Juvenon
• Dr. Aubrey de Grey, chairman of The Methuselah Foundation
• Terry Grossman, MD, co-author, Fantastic Voyage
• Dr. Chris Heward, president of Kronos Science Laboratories

I can envision the discussions delving into topics that are more fiction than science. Very cool.

Convergence08 will be held November 15-16 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Early bird registration rates are available until October 20th.

Tags:Convergence08, biotechnology, nanotechnology, transhumanism

First National Discussion of Science Fiction in Varanasi, India

Arvind Mishra has posted a notice for the "First Ever National Discussion of Science Fiction: Past, Present, Future" in Varanasi, India. The conference will be held November 10-14, and is jointly sponsored by the National Council of Science and Technology Communication, the Indian Science Fiction Writers' Association, and the Indian Association of Science Fiction Studies.

The discussion is aimed at focusing on various aspects of science fiction and its role in communicating science and technology related issues to the common people and children .The goal of the five-day exercise is to prepare a draft for “Benaras Document 2008”. The programme would also examine as how science fiction input could be enhanced and successfully employed in various science communication modules currently in vogue in India.

[snip]

Following 5 sub themes are incorporated in 5 technical sessions. However, the discussion on a particular theme or topic may continue informally beyond the stipulated session until the final conclusions are drawn, reviewed and finalized.

i) Science Fiction - Historical Perspective : The programme shall begin with analysing the development and evolution of science fiction in India vis-à-vis in the world with comparative and analytical accounts on evolutionary trends.

ii) Understanding Science Fiction - A Cognitive Approach : A number of definitions and theories are prevalent across the world when it comes to understanding science fiction. The session will try to redefine various forms such as science fantasy, story, fiction, tale, etc., with pedagogical and cognitive enrichment.

iii) Current Trends in Science Fiction : This shall examine many contemporary issues on science fiction currently debated. It may present an overview on possible cultural influences on the genre, emerging trends, changing styles and characteristics of science fiction.

iv) Science Fiction for Science Communication : This session shall emphasize on various formats and styles suitable for presenting different contents and concepts using mass media, such as drama, theatre, puppetry, tableaux, novel, cartoon strip, film, etc.

v) Science Fiction : Future Perspective : The discussion shall focus on whether science fiction could be made better by making it more like mainstream fiction. The future scope and possibilities of science fiction in development of science and technology would also be explored. The session will also try to understand whether insinuation of science fiction or fantasy into serious mainstream literature is detrimental to hard science fiction!

I hope Arvind plans to blog about the discussions.

Conference schedule and registration information (pdf).

Tags:science fiction, India

SFRA and Campbell Conference

Next weekend - July 10-13 - the University of Kansas at Lawrence is hosting the Science Fiction Research Association's 39th Annual Conference in conjunction with the Campbell Conference. Not only will the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (best science fiction novel of the year) and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award (best short SF story of the year) be presented, there will also be presentations on this year's topic "Teaching Science Fiction".

Among this year's guests is science fiction writer and biology professor Joan Slonczewski, who will be giving a presentation on The Microbial World. Other guests include Karen Joy Fowler, Paul Kincaid, Maureen Kincaid Speller, and James Van Pelt.

The conference schedule (pdf). Registration information.

Tags:science fiction, biology

Science in Science Fiction Panel at Comic-Con

It's like the return of the swallows to San Juan Capistrano, only with better costumes: the last weekend in July tens of thousands of comic and science fiction fans will descend on San Diego. Yes, it's Comic-Con, one of the largest comic book and science fiction & fantasy conventions anywhere. This year they are convening a panel after my own heart: science in science fiction. So far the confirmed panelists are Phil "Bad Astronomy" Plait and Jaime Paglia, creator and executive producer of Eureka. There are also some "special guests" who have yet to be announced - ideally there will be at least one with a biology background. And I hope that someone out there records the panel for those of us who will be staying home that weekend.

Tags:science fiction, Comic-Con