Introduction

I just read Science Fiction Prototyping: Designing the Future with Science Fiction by Brian David Johnson. Johnson is not only an author, professor, and consultant to many organizations, governments, and militaries, he was also a futurist at Intel where he developed his method of future foresight. Or as Johnson calls it, futurecasting, through the use of Science Fiction Prototyping (SFP).

The objective of SFP is to create science fiction based on science fact, to imagine the future and develop new technologies and products. SFP is typically composed of short stories, comics, or movies. To write compelling and realistic SFP, you need to understand the technology you will explore. The SFP needs to be based on research. Read research papers, scientific reports, and industry journals to understand the current state of the technology, how it is currently used, and how it can be applied in the future.

When writing SFP, you are developing a prototype, based on science fact. Most people think of a prototype as the first example of a machine or other industrial product, from which all later forms are developed – however, Johnson uses the term in a different way. He notes that:

Science fiction prototypes are not early versions of products or services to be eventually sold in the future. By contrast, they are short versions of science fiction creations — stories, movies or comics — about potentially engineerable technological prototypes that may or may not physically appear in the future.

Johnson defines a prototype as:

I believe that a prototype is really just a fiction. A prototype is a story or a fictional depiction of a product. The prototype is not the actual thing that we want to build; it is an example, a rough approximation of the thing we hope to one day build.

Prototypes are not the thing; they are the story or the fiction about the thing that we hope to build.

SF prototypes allow us to create multiple worlds and a wide variety of futures so that we may study and explore the intricacies of modern science.

SFP utilizes short stories, movies, and comics to communicate real-world implications and uses of future technologies today. SFP allows you to explore the ramifications of technologies, develop and test hypotheses, and find solutions. This is not with fictional technology, but based on scientific fact or theory. SFP allows you to draw on technologies, imagination, and creativity to build a vision of the future.

What it is

SFP utilizes short stories, movies, videos, and comics to see how technologies will impact science, engineering, business, politics, and society. Mixing forecasting and scenario planning, SFP empowers you to extrapolate technologies and trends from research and science to the future. You create science fiction which is grounded in existing technologies, science, etc.; by developing scenarios of how the technology, science, and trends will impact the future.

Johnson defines SFP as:

a short story, movie or comic based specifically on a science fact for the purpose of exploring the implications, effects and ramifications of that science and technology

He notes that the goal of SFP as:

to start a conversation about technology and the future.

SF prototypes let us imagine the future, to think through the ethical implications of technologies, play with possible benefits, explore possible tragedies and ultimately engage in a deeper conversation about science, technology and our future.

When creating an SFP, you need to think about robotics, telematics, photonics, dynamic physical rendering, and intelligent devices. However, the main purpose is to show that the future is about people, not technology. Remember, SFPs are short stories about how technology and people will interact.

For written stories, try and keep it under 10 pages, maybe double it for comics. For videos, strive for 5 minutes or less. These are just arbitrary guidelines, but keep it simple. The basics of good writing are short, simple words, sentences, and paragraphs. When writing, you are either writing or editing. Good writing is about the endless search to refine and reduce; editing and cutting out words ruthlessly. Shorten and simplify. Be specific, not vague and be brief and clear.

You are telling a story and need to keep the reader engaged (and know specifically who the audience is) and ensure your SFP is plausible. Think of the SFP as a generic story outline with a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning introduces the characters, the location of the story, and the problem. The middle is where the character(s) try to solve the problem but fail, and things typically get worse. And the end is where the story reaches a climax, and the plot finally comes together in a clear outcome. Johnson shares the following five-step process for creating an SFP.

Pick your science and build your world – figure out what science or technology you want to explore, main characters, where will the action take place, explore an explanation of the technology – be detailed and believable – you need to conduct a lot of research to understand what engineers and scientists are working on. Ask questions such as:
- What are the implications of the mass adoption of the technology?
- What is the worst thing that could go wrong and how would it affect the people and locations in the story?
- What is the best thing that could happen and how would it better the lives of the people and locations of the story?
- If this technology was in an average home, how would it actually work?
The scientific inflection point – what happens when the science/technology/topic is put into the real world, the effect it has on people and their lives, governments, systems, etc.
Ramifications of the science on people – knock on effects, lives made better or worse? Have people been able to adapt to the opportunities or problems it has brought about – where your plot gets interesting - we speculate on the future implications of the technology for the society at large. Is it improving or worsening people’s lives? are there any risks? is it solving current problems? is it creating new ones? are there solutions to such problems? etc.
The human inflection point – what do the characters need to do to survive, ramifications of the science, what has it caused, changes must be believable
What did we learn? - Step 5 gives you the space to explore each of the previous steps. How has your world changed? How have the people, society and systems changed? What could be done differently? What cautions do you need to pay attention to? What fears were unfounded? Step 5 gives you the space to explore what is next with the science. What should be different? What would you improve? What must stay the same? What ramifications have you uncovered by using the SF prototyping process and how has it changed your outlook? How could it improve your research? - We ask what could have been done differently to prevent the conflict in the story and thus what should we pay attention to, in the present, when we design and further develop such technology.

How to use

SFPs are great for product innovation, not just in technology-based industries (software, robotics, AI, etc.) but any product development or problem-solving project. Reimagine education, warfare, politics, and societal issues such as inequality, pollution, and homelessness. SFP is especially powerful for business. It can be used to understand the future of retail, transportation, employment, cashless societies, automation, work-from-home, robotics, artificial intelligence, and other possible changes to medicine, sports, entertainment, and housing.

SFPs are a powerful way to communicate and tell stories. Move beyond static PowerPoint presentations or boring white papers. Utilize the power of video or the differentiation of comics or graphic novels. The goal is to introduce innovations into science, engineering, business and socio-political systems, to gain the attention of leaders and provide a plausible future use of technology to create differentiation and new product success.

You are not looking to forecast the future, but creating potential scenarios of the future by extrapolating current trends and research to create new concepts, products, services, or experiences. SFP is about creating stories to provide a prototype to explore multiple futures.

Conclusion

SFPs are a great way to stimulate creative thinking and innovation; to reimagine the future of your business or community. SFPs are fun, challenging, and a great way to incorporate storytelling into proposals. Remember, the ultimate goal of the SFP process is collaboration, iteration and fueling your imagination to look at science and technology in new and exciting ways. The combination of technology, social context, and people, puts a real-world perspective into the storytelling.

Think of the current technologies prevalent in your industry, and then think of where your industry is going. Design scenarios to develop ideas for business and technology innovations, within social context in a future setting. As Hsuan-Yi Wu notes in his paper, Imagination Workshops: An Empirical Exploration of SFP for Technology‐based Business Innovation:

Technological innovation is strategic to future businesses as it both challenges business managers by introducing new types of products to sell, as well as changing business tools and models. Successful businesses of the future will be those that both anticipate such changes and area able to design new frameworks to efficiently support the change.

Wu recommends asking questions during disciplined imagination settings, such as:

What will the living environment be like?
What will people be like?
What kind of lifestyles will people have in urban and rural areas?
What technologies will be dominant in our lives?
What will business be like? (what new ways might be conducted?)
How will society evolve?

Unlike Johnson’s linear SFP model, Wu imagines SFP as a series of feedback loops within group workshops. Wu’s iterative evolutionary co-creative process also focuses on creating actual deliverables during these workshops. The goal is to create a collaborative environment for an iterative evolutionary co-creation process, resulting in a finished product. This takes Johnson’s model even closer to the real-world.

SFP is a great method to use fiction to imagine the future in a new way. It can be done individually or within a group to build a bridge from the present to the future, and to explore possibilities – imagination is the bridge between the present and future. So have some fun, improve your writing, and imagine what your industry will look like in 5, 10, and 20 years based on current technologies. Don’t let your competitors determine the future implications of technology on people and society, create SFPs to create your future and success.