ASU Center for Science and the Imagination

ASU Center for Science and the Imagination We create visions of the future that are imaginative, inclusive, and inspiring. Newsletters: https:

The Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University engages in research, outreach, and radical collaborations to reinvent our relationship with the future. From writers, artists, and teachers to scientists, engineers, and technologists, we bring diverse intellectual practices together to reignite humanity’s grand ambitions for innovation and discovery. The center serves as a net

work hub for audacious ideas and a cultural engine for thoughtful optimism through programs like Project Hieroglyph, a public community of science fiction authors, scientists, and researchers, and the Frankenstein Bicentennial Project, which explores science in society through a modern myth of creativity and responsibility. We provide a space for productive collaboration among the humanities, arts, and sciences, bring human narratives to scientific questions, and explore the full social implications of cutting-edge research.

Join Future Tense Fiction and Monica Byrne for a live conversation about worldbuilding in speculative fiction. We’ll dis...
06/02/2026

Join Future Tense Fiction and Monica Byrne for a live conversation about worldbuilding in speculative fiction. We’ll discuss how Monica thinks about the social, scientific, and policy dimensions of her fictional worlds, and the tools she uses to create them. Bring your questions—this is a casual, participatory chat.

is a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter, and the author of “Golden Rule”, our most recent , and “Parasocial,” published in as a part of Future Tense Fiction.

Live event page posting: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/219899
Monica's substack: https://monicabyrne.substack.com/
Future Tense Fiction's substack: https://futuretensefiction.substack.com/

06/02/2026

This week's essay is "The Purpose of Punishment" by Randy McDonald in response to 's "Golden Rule" from

McDonald relates the fundamental principles established by ancient philosophers to the justice system established in "Golden Rule". He also uses the story as a lens to find parallels with our current attitudes towards institutional correction, drawing on its characters to provide insight and critique on the deep-seated inclination towards retribution. Read here: https://issues.org/futuretensefiction/criminal-punishment-mcdonald/

05/29/2026

This week's is 'Golden Rule' by . In an alternative legal system built on the concept of “an eye for an eye,” if you commit a crime, your punishment is that someday a network of state agents will perpetrate the same crime against you. These ministers, themselves survivors of violence, follow the principle of “commensurate severity.” When one such minister is assigned to a kidnapping case, she’s forced to determine what justice really looks like. Read here: https://issues.org/futuretensefiction/fiction-golden-rule-monica-byrne/

Our latest issue of Imaginary Papers, our quarterly newsletter about science fiction worldbuilding, futures thinking, an...
05/28/2026

Our latest issue of Imaginary Papers, our quarterly newsletter about science fiction worldbuilding, futures thinking, and the imagination is out now!

In this issue, writes about the video game “Mutazione,” gardening, and forging community after catastrophe; Jason Nabi revisits Isaac Asimov’s 1942 short story “Runaround” and the Three Laws of Robotics in the era of LLMs; and Vandana Singh reports on An Educator’s Guide to Climate Science and Colonialism. Read here: https://mailchi.mp/asu.edu/imaginarypapers26-may2026

If climate fiction sparks your imagination, join Tory Stephens, founder of imagine 2200, in a conversation digging into ...
05/27/2026

If climate fiction sparks your imagination, join Tory Stephens, founder of imagine 2200, in a conversation digging into how speculative storytelling shapes what futures feel are possible, featuring Vandana Singh, , and through . The event is free on Zoom at 11:00am (ET), on June 10. RSVP link here: https://luma.com/19l5xgr9

05/23/2026

What happens when imagination is built into an infrastructure?

This week’s is “Three-World Cantata” by Vandana Singh, part of the “Climate Imagination: Dispatches from Hopeful Futures” collection. Singh introduces us to three manifestations of our current reality, pairing realistic questions with idealistic concepts for healing the climate. In each, readers see reflections of cultural biases in our attempts at mending our Earth, and in what we legitimize as sustainable growth. Read more here: https://www.climatealmanac.org/pub/ud2xkkx1/release/4

The Veterans Imagination Project (VIP) is returning this fall! Our initiative to improve the transition from military se...
05/19/2026

The Veterans Imagination Project (VIP) is returning this fall! Our initiative to improve the transition from military service to civilian life, using the tools of design thinking and strategic narrative foresight, is offered at no cost to all veterans in Arizona, and paid research opportunities are available for eligible volunteers ages 18 and older. Learn more and join the interest list at csi.asu.edu/veterans/apply.

VIP is presented with support from the Office for Veteran and Military Academic Engagement () and the Pat Tillman Veterans Center ().

In mid April, speculative fiction magazine@strangehorizonsmag published a review of "Climate Imagination: Dispatches fr...
05/18/2026

In mid April, speculative fiction magazine@strangehorizonsmag published a review of "Climate Imagination: Dispatches from Hopeful Futures". Writer Sullivan reflects on the diversity of outcomes and adaptations relating to anthropogenic climate change across the world, which he metaphorically refers to as puzzle pieces. He goes on to reference a few of the fiction 'puzzle pieces' included in the "Climate Imagination", analyzing the various literary and tonal approaches voicing the cause, effect, and key of climate change in their respective regions through the short-story medium. Read more here: https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/climate-imagination-dispatches-from-hopeful-futures-edited-by-joey-eschrich-and-ed-finn/

05/15/2026

This week’s is “Notes for Adda” by guwe, part of the “Climate Imagination: Dispatches from Hopeful Futures” collection. People from all walks of life grapple with the friction of readjusting to life after a contagious parasite shakes the community. As everyone seeks to find stable ground between health and economic prosperity, we see how far a common goal for the common good can go when that hope is shared. Read here: https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edited-volume/6060/Climate-ImaginationDispatches-from-Hopeful-Futures

We’re wrapping up another marvelous semester of events and projects here at CSI and we couldn’t have done it without the...
05/15/2026

We’re wrapping up another marvelous semester of events and projects here at CSI and we couldn’t have done it without the brilliant contributions of our student workers. Congratulations to our new graduates, Eliza DelaPaz(), Laura Hechel, and ! Thank you for imagining with us. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for each of you!

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1140 E Baseline Rd
Tempe, AZ
85283

Website

http://twitter.com/imaginationASU

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