Search
Science Fiction
Andy Weir’s novel blends humor, scientific rigor, and human ingenuity to make science fiction feel believable and thrilling.
Science fiction romanticized Mars as a place of adventure and future settlement; science tells a very different story.
Some sci-fi aliens are wildly implausible. Others aren’t so far-fetched.
Speculative evolution explores the strange paths natural selection might have taken — and what that means for humans.
The “dystopian” biotech imagined in these novels is now changing real lives for the better.
Reading isn’t just writing prep; together, reading and writing help writers think and generate original ideas through extended cognition.
19mins
David S. Goyer explains how paying attention to mystery, and not brushing it aside, became the foundation for the way he builds stories, characters, and worlds.
In post-apocalyptic fiction, imagined futures turn today’s political and cultural tensions into geography.
Before we can build the future, we have to imagine it.
Each of these stories rests on a foundation of great ideas that will scare you to death and make you think.
Why some of philosophy’s strangest scenarios are more than mental games.
13mins
"We've sent out one or two little messages, but we certainly aren't investing billions of dollars shouting out into the cosmos saying, "Hey, we are here. Come say hi.""
The ANITA experiment found cosmic rays shooting out of Antarctica. One interpretation claims "parallel Universes," but is that right?
The comedian and musician behind the viral hit “BBL Drizzy” shares the books that shaped his thinking and approach to art.
What happens when scientists "write what they know"? Some amazing science fiction stories.
8mins
"There is interesting ethical questions about how we should actually conduct ourselves in [a space colonization] exploration phase."
In this preview from "The Saucerian," author Gabriel Mckee explains how the combination of fantastical stories and obscure bureaucracy launched the “space age of the imagination.”
The latest season of the "Revolutions" podcast blends history with science fiction to tell the story of the Red Planet's rise.
We need more science fiction-inspired thinking in how we approach AI research, argues AI expert Gary Marcus.
If humanity lives in an otherwise barren Universe, we'll have to forge philosophy that fills the void.
The problem for galactic-scale civilizations comes down to two numbers.
“Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
3mins
Journalist Steven Kotler on digital immortality and the tech that could keep us “alive,” forever.
Six visionary science fiction authors on the social impact of their work.
“Dune: Part One” screenwriter Eric Roth spoke with Big Think about the challenges of bringing Frank Herbert's sci-fi epic to the big screen.
Since 1962, humanity has been sending messages into space with the intent to make contact with intelligent extraterrestrials. Are those efforts worth the risks?
Implanting machine components into human bodies, argues one scholar, could make for a better society.
Aliens are often portrayed in popular culture as humanoid. But in reality, intelligent extraterrestrials might take far stranger forms.
Step back from the AI maelstrom and explore Lem’s "Summa Technologiae" for a detached look at technology’s role in human evolution.
Some physicists are besot with the multiverse, but if we can't detect these other universes, how seriously should we take them?