ISC Presents International Science Council

In this first episode, we speak to Kim Stanley Robinson, a New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Ministry for the Future. Listen to our conversation that covers many topics including the dangers of escapism, climate grief, and the myth of scientific objectivity.

Barbadian writer Karen Lord is an award-winning author of Redemption in Indigo, The Best of All Possible Worlds, and The Galaxy Game. Her latest book, The Blue, Beautiful World, was published in August 2023. We hear from her the lessons from the COVID pandemic, short-termism, and the power of literature to reach through time.

In this third episode, we invite Vandana Singh, a science fiction writer hailing from India, to speak about her views on the science and fiction intersection. She is also a transdisciplinary scholar of climate change and a professor of physics and environment. We discuss the limits of data, the power of narrative, and whether our conception of time could help us think about responsibility in science.

This fourth episode invites Fernanda Trías, an award-winning writer from Uruguay and an instructor of creative writing in Colombia. She has published a short story collection and four novels, including the English-translated book Pink Slime. We ask her whether horror can bring about change, and why there is the need to integrate the arts and sciences.

Qiufan Chen is an award-winning Chinese speculative fiction writer, author of Waste Tide and co-author of AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future. He is also a research scholar at Yale University and a fellow of Berggruen Institute. Our main discussion centres around artificial intelligence, how we can harness the power of this technology while avoiding the dangers it poses.

In this last episode, we invite Cory Doctorow, a science fiction author, activist, and journalist from Canada. He is the author of many books, most recently The Lost Cause, a solarpunk science fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency. Our conversation touches on digital rights management, social justice and sustainability in the digital world.