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Project Hieroglyph: optimism for the future


September 11, 2014

A story and video from BBC News profiles ASU's Project Hieroglyph, which brings together science fiction authors with scientists, engineers and other experts to create optimistic visions of the near-future, grounded in real science and technology. Project Hieroglyph published its first book, "Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future," on Sept. 9, with the publisher William Morrow/HarperCollins. The book features contributions from top science fiction writers, including Neal Stephenson, Cory Doctorow, Elizabeth Bear and Bruce Sterling, and from leading scientists, including ASU's Lawrence M. Krauss and Paul Davies.

The article focuses on how Project Hieroglyph represents a departure from the gloomy, dystopian visions of the future that pervade our popular culture. Hieroglyph strives to create "a more open, optimistic, ambitious and engaged conversation about the future," according to Ed Finn, director of Project Hieroglyph and coeditor of the anthology. Finn is also the director of the Center for Science and the Imagination and an assistant professor in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering and the Department of English.

A number of ASU faculty members collaborated on or responded to science fiction stories in the anthology, and several of them are featured in the BBC News piece, including Brad Allenby, President's Professor of Sustainable Engineering in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Lincoln Professor of Engineering and Ethics and Distinguished Sustainability Scientist at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability; Keith Hjelmstad, professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment; Sri Saripalli, associate professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration; and Ed Finn, director of the Center for Science and the Imagination, assistant professor in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering and the Department of English, and the director of Project Hieroglyph.

To read the full piece and watch the video segment, visit BBC News. To learn more about Project Hieroglyph and the anthology "Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future," visit hieroglyph.asu.edu.

Article source: BBC News

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