AN MMU scientist has teamed up with a leading publisher to bring to life the high-tech world of tomorrow in a collection of short stories.
Professor Martyn Amos has co-edited a new science-into-fiction collection, which explores what life will be like in 2070 when radical computer technologies and artificial life lives side by side with humans.
In scenes reminiscent of Hollywood Sci-Fi blockbusters, authors and scientists explore an exciting world where DNA computers and intelligent robots make medicines, construct buildings and tackle challenges in energy, the environment and changing demographics.
Prof Amos, an unconventional computing expert, both co-edited the book with Ra Page of Comma Press and teamed up with two writers, as part of 19 collaborations between scientists and top literary authors.
“It’s fascinating to wonder what the future will look like and what role new technologies will play in addressing the issues that the world will face in 2070,” said Prof Amos, from the School of Computing, Mathematics and Digital Technology.
“Will drones be cleaning the oceans? Will robots care for relatives? Will computers develop our medicines? We want to explore what can be done, and teaming up with authors allows us to portray a vivid literary landscape by using knowledge grounded in current scientific thinking.
“And the book is a brilliant way of opening up science and engaging a wider audience to make it accessible.”
The project began in Autumn 2013, with a meeting of authors and scientists at the European Conference on Artificial Life.
The collection includes stories from leading authors, including Frank Cottrell Boyce, who wrote the screenplays for Welcome to Sarajevo and 24 Hour Party People, as well as the script for the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, Adam Marek, winner of the 2011 Arts Foundation Short Story Fellowship, and Stuart Evers, winner of the London Book Award.
The collection will be published later this month by Comma Press. For more details, please see http://commapress.co.uk/books/beta-life.
