by Jens Durke
"I didn't say people want to smell corpses all the time, but every once in a while it's healthy, and there are folks out there paying good credits for experiences like that. It's really off the charts with augmentation apps and, believe me, there's shit to smell in virtual realities no real nose could comprehend. Bestselling shit, no less. It's called ‘benign masochism.' Look it up, Karyn."
An Augmented Reality can be understood as a digitally-produced “layer” or “display screen” interposed by specialized hardware between you and the physical world. The potential of this emerging technology to enhance the ease and quality of life is enormous, and it will affect nearly everything in the coming informational age. Story excerpts from “Dork Knights of Harohbakh” by Shawn Koch, and “The Master Key” by L. Frank Baum.
by Tod Foley
Bots swish quietly up and down the sterile halls of the New Citizen In-Processing Office. As a newly-approved immigrant to Union City you've been scanned, digitized, analyzed and treated to a wide range of innoculants via an injection of nanobots now swarming around within your bloodstream. You've never felt healthier in your life.
A look at the uses of Science Fiction to predict and influence the future, featuring insights from Yuval Harari, Berit Anderson, Douglas Rushkoff, Pat Cadigan and Stephen Oram. Story excerpt from "The World Set Free" by H.G. Wells.
SOURCES & LINKS
by Levi Kornelsen
I'm here with Jason Wright, the leader of the Federalist party. Jason, your new book is titled “The Evitable City,” which I and no small number of my readers find a little baffling. Could you start with that?
Happy to, Mrs. Ruis.
Oh, call me Maria, please.
A discussion with writer and interactive media consultant Michael Utvich, examining the future of labor, employment, identity, and Capitalist Realism, in the age of advanced automation.
SOURCES & LINKS
by Jens Durke
6:00 am.
You know you have a hard day ahead of you when they shoot at you on your way in. We were on the outskirts of Cerillis, right near the border of the Kaishi industrial complex, and the constant plong noises of the bullets ricocheting off the car were starting to get on my nerves. Jeremy was a bit edgy, he didn‘t believe in the protection our staff hovercar offered.
A look at 3D Printing, examining its history, the current state of the art, and the far-reaching implications of its future in the coming century. Includes excerpt from Murray Leinster's "Things Pass By."
by Adrian McCauley
Her apartment complex, as with much of this part of Midoru, was owned by Nutrex. A tall plascrete tower underlit by green lights, advertisements for NBP scrolled around the building. Bespoke elements within the adverts quickly updated, and soon the entire building seemed to be speaking directly to Nerita.
The walls in the corridor were also one large, rotating advertisement for NBP. “Invest in Nutrex. Grow your future with us.” It looped scenes from the algae farms, showing workers smiling while maintaining the bioreactors, administrators laughing in front of holoscreens, then parading various food, drugs, biofuels and merchandise they produced.
What is Fractopian Fiction, and why do you write it? An in-depth chat with Fractopian Fiction writers Antony Copeland, Adrian McCauley and Shawn Koch.
Part 2 of this episode is available to Patreon subscribers at https://www.patreon.com/fractopia
