Dystopian sci-fi novels are my kryptonite.
As a kid, I devoured 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, Cat’s Cradle, The Giver, Ender’s Game, and many more. As an adult, I breezed through the trilogies, The Three-Body Problem and Red Rising within a month.
I’ve always been a huge fan of science fiction whether in books or movies, in anyway that I could lose myself for days at time. I loved to explore new worlds, go on adventures, and meet new beings. I largely contribute my desire to pursue a career in STEM to my vociferous reading of sci-fi novels as a kid.
So of course, I attended the panel titled, “Science Fiction or Future Science?” on the first day of SXSW. Hosted by acclaimed author and afrofuturist Ytasha Womack, the panel featured Margaret Weitekamp from the National Air & Space Museum, Karina Perez from the Aerospace Industries Association, and Mark Cherry from Boeing Phantom Works. They discussed how both fields work together to inform and drive innovation in the other.
Session image courtesy of SXSW
Creators of sci-fi are often readers of speculative science, and scientists are often readers of sci-fi. They influence one another. For example, Star Wars is the major reason why scientists haven’t given up on lasers. And Star Trek influenced the development of automatic sliding doors.
Sci-fi also offers this opportunity of limitless storytelling through being able to deconstruct time, space, and even reality. Through this lens, difficult current issues can be explored. In this panel, I learned about the definition of afrofuturism, which is a cultural aesthetic and epistemology that explores past and current issues of the African diaspora through science fiction.
Sci-fi’s serve as metaphors and thought experiments. In Star Trek, race issues were explored through intergalactic species. In iRobot, and other Isaac Asimov novels, the idea of sentient androids served as a metaphor for slavery. Most often in these novels, androids have no control over their bodies, and are not thought of as sentient. But what happens, when they do become sentient, or had been sentient all along? How do we then react as a society?
Prior to the 80s, sci-fi was a land of opportunity. But entering the 80s and 90s, during the cyberpunk era the idea of dystopia began to form in almost every sci-fi novel. In this dystopia, writers questioned: are we bringing our best selves to the future? Or are what we currently are? And who will we become?
While I’ve always loved sci-fi for the layered world building, I had never considered sci-fi as a way to explore modern day issues. This panel opened my eyes to the intricate layers of meaning that have been hidden in these books that I’ve been reading all my life. And again, how important sci-fi is not only to inspiring new science, but also to having conversations about tough topics.
After setting the bar really high at this panel, I attended another session in the afternoon featuring women from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Heather Doyle, Carolina Martinez, Courtney O’Connor, and Alice Wessen discussed their outreach work on behalf of NASA.
Martinez shared her work on the Mars Roadshow, bringing NASA along the California border and reaching people through a relatable topic: seismology. The roadshow brought along touchables, instagrammable moments, and a jump seismometer as a few things to highlight the launch of the first seismometer to Mars. With this roadshow, I loved how NASA found a way to be relatable to the community through a phenomena that they often experience: earthquakes.
Mars Roadshow van at the Exploratorium. Image courtesy of NASA.
O’Connor discussed her work organizing a NASA Dome at Arroyo Seco Weekend, the music festival sister of Coachella for adults who have phased out (and have children). Their slogan was “Come for the Shade, Stay for the Science.” Taking advantage of the hot weekend, NASA set up a dome themed around their retro-futurist “Visions of the Future” campaign, complete with selfie stations and scientists/engineers to talk to guests. The dome became a meeting point for guests, and way for them to figure out what the public knows/doesn’t know about NASA. As a huge music fan myself, I love the juxtaposition of NASA being at a music festival; it’s not something that you would expect, but with their smart theming and thinking of what people want at music festivals (shade and selfies), it was actually a great fit. This event is exactly the type of work that I hope to be doing in the future: bringing science to unlikely places.
NASA at Arroyo Seco Weekend 2018. Image courtesy of NASA.
Doyle shared her work with the Solar System Ambassadors, local grassroot gurus who tell NASA stories in their community. These chosen ambassadors host four events a year. From “Wakanda Wearables,” an event that highlighted women NASA engineers through relating to Shuri from Black Panther to “Story Time from Space,” books read to children from astronauts in space. I love how in this program, NASA outsources its event planning to local ambassadors who are not only passionate about NASA’s work, but also better informed on what their community needs are.
Solar System Ambassador spread across the country. Image courtesy of NASA.
This panel opened my eyes to the breadth of work being done to reach new audiences. NASA recognizes that people typically self-select to attend NASA events (myself included). Their goal is to figure out how to reach the audience members who typically do not attend NASA events. The reasoning being that it’s their responsibility to the taxpayer to see what their money is going towards. I particularly was drawn to how NASA has seriously considered context in the planning of these events.
But this was only Day 1 of SXSW! Stay tuned for more reflections to come...
