Out of this World: Science Fiction but not as you know it.

Earlier this evening Mrs Scifiward and myself went to a fascinating talk at the British Library entitled ‘Who owns the Story of the Future?’

The chat was about Science Fiction and the future. One of the panelists was William Gibson, author of Neuromancer and the man who coined the term ‘cyberspace’. A bloody legend in other words. The talk was really interesting and reminded me of why I like living in London and love Science Fiction. The full panel (in case you have heard of them) were: Jon Turney (The Rough Guide to the Future) economist Diane Coyle (The Economics of Enough), technology and SF writers Cory Doctorow, William Gibson, and Mark Stevenson (An Optimist’s Tour of the Future).

The talk was going to be the title of this entry but as it now exists solely in the past, I thought I would mention something that is still happening. Apparently this is good SEO or something. This particular talk was the first of a series of talks going on at the British Library. There are still several more to go and they all sound superb. Here is some blurb from the BL website:

Part of Out of this World: Science and The Future: A short series of discussions exploring the cutting edge thinking and scientific research and ideas that may determine the kind of future we will have on earth. This is the thinking that may seem like science fiction but will be revolutionary in our lifetimes; although it is not without controversy. Leading scientists, theorists and writers share their thoughts.

There is also an awesome Science Fiction display called (you probably guessed by now):’Out of this World: Science Fiction but not as you know it.’ This is on until the 25th of September and is well worth a visit if you like Scifi and are lucky enough to be in London. It’s a sort of mishmash homage to Scifi. There are lots of books, the occasional comic (like Sandman), films (such as Metropolis), magazines (Astounding Tales, etc) and lots more. There’s even a slightly dull robot and a lifesize fully working TARDIS! I assume it worked although I didn’t go in.

So there you go. If you like Science Fiction, the British Library in cosmic Londontown is the place to go this week. Mrs Scifiward agrees, so it’s not just a male nerdy thing.