Once upon a time… but not so very very long ago… there were no electric cars. Or solar energy. Or websites about cool green technology.
Back then, there was a name for all that fanciful stuff: Science Fiction. And before the engineers began to make it all possible, the Science Fiction writers dreamed it up.
But today we DO have electric cars, and solar energy, and websites like this one. So what’s next? Ask the Science Fiction writers of today. From Wednesday through Sunday, they – along with publishers, editors, science fact writers, scientists, and fans – will be gathering in Reno, Nevada for “Renovation“, the 69th annual World Science Fiction Convention.
You can come, too. There will be panel discussions, readings from your favorite authors, film screenings… and there will be music, from the always-delightful Tricky Pixie and other bands. And parties. And drinking. And discussions over drinks. And arguments over drinks…
The guests of honor include Tim Powers, author of On Stranger Tides (recently mashed-up into the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film), and Anubis Gates (which is not about Bill Gates’ evil twin); Ellen Asher, who recently retired after 33 years editing the Science Fiction Book Club; and fantasy artist Boris Vallejo (best known for his mighty-thewed warrior men and women in brass breastplates).
Here’s just a smattering of the program offering, which ranges from the science-heavy to the downright silly:
- Green Chemistry
- A Trip to the Creation Museum
- Molecular Gastronomy: When You Have More Gadgets in Your Kitchen than Your Mom
- Have We Reached the Ecological Tipping Point? The Near Future of Earth’s Environment
- Are You as Smart as a Rat?
- The Psychogeography of Ideals
- People for the Ethical Treatment of Mars
- Where there’s a Will there’s a Way: Reproductive Technology, Medical Ethics and the Law
- The Amish Approach to Changing Technology: The Error of Presumed Neutrality of Technology
- Space and the Biological Economy
- Futuristic Fashion and Wearable Art
- Disasters, Crises, and Resultant Industrial Progress
- Online Networking Before Social Networks
- Trans-Species Sex, in Avatar and in Real Biology (12 and up only)
- The Hidden Monkey Wrench in Cloning
- Life, the Universe and Everything: A Dialog about Science, Science Fiction, and Religion
- So You Believe in Evolution… Or Do You?
- Anticipatory Anthropology: Study of Future Humans
- The Future of Cities
- The Year in Physics and Astronomy
- After the Shuttle: Our Next Spacecraft
- Urban Planning, SF&F, and the World to Come
- The Future in Physics: How Close Are We to Time Travel or
- Breaking the Light Barrier?
- Secrets and Privacy on the Internet
- Robot Apocalypse: War Machines and Unmanned Drones
- How Nanotechnology Makes Asteroid Resources Obsolete
- Man vs Robots: Who gets to Travel Space First
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