All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt by Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)

All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt by Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
Buy All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt by Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors) at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Science Fiction
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Summary: A meaty, fictional look at what our future might hold with commentaries from the experts. Inspiring and worrying in equal measure, but highly recommended.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 330	Date: [[:Category:#|#]]
Publisher: Cybersalon
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-#
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[[Category:#]] Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.

I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.

I understand best through stories so I was delighted when All Tomorrow's Futures from Cybersalon Press landed on my desk. I was blown away when I read their last book and relieved that I wasn't the only one worried about the future turning out to be automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to track grandma rather than some of the more exciting products we'd been taught to expect.

The basis of the book is simple but unusual. Experts in their field have been asked to imagine what the future could hold. It's about the possibilities rather than the probabilities and it's foresight rather than forecasts or predictions. These experts were then invited to discuss their thoughts with selected authors who were asked to come up with a story to illustrate the point. It's daring - because the editors had no idea what they would get - or even if what they got would be useable. Fortunately, what emerged was a mixture of ideas that inspire and warn.

The subjects cover a wide spectrum: Police and Justice, Power and Energy, Finance and Digital Money, Health and Longevity and Learning and Education. After each group of stories, there are two commentaries, giving you the option of reading the story purely for the pleasure they give or revisiting them through the eyes of an expert. Like me, you might wonder why there's no reference to climate change but the truth is that climate change is now a factor which affects virtually everything. It's a thread which runs through just about every story.

Some stories are stronger than others but there are none which I would describe as weak. Each earns its place in the book. The book opens with Sophie Spargham's All Born Machines which demonstrates over-reliance on AI when a computer holds office. I laughed (initially) at Tehnuka's Updated Intelligence where a malfunctioning smart fridge reports a crime. The commentaries from Trevor Burke KC and Jayen Parmar look at what price we might be willing to pay to secure more convictions and the problems which arise when AI is trained on historical data.

I smiled at D J Cockburn's Milton Friedman's Heresy when a group of billionaires turned a cruise liner into a country. They see economic growth as the be-all-and-end-all - and the reduction in energy demands has disrupted the commercial models of vested interests. In Finance and Digital Money, Alex Buxton's Update Needed highlighted the disadvantages of a tokenised economy where 'little people' are having to feed belongings they don't really own. We're already seeing this trend emerge.

Some of my favourite authors have pieces in the book. Eva Pascoe, who is always excellent value, has two stories and I was delighted to read more from Wendy M Grossman. Her look at the contrast between old- and new-style policing confirmed a lot of my prejudices! My favourite story was Britta Schulte's Warning Signs. The idea that you could defeat ageing is superficially appealing but the reality could be very different. If you are going to live healthily until you are well over a hundred, what reason is there for you to retire? It doesn't mean that you will have more leisure - but rather that you will change jobs every twenty years or so because you're bored. Perhaps it is better to accept the ageing process but live healthily for as long as possible.

This isn't a quick read. I found my mind pushed into dusty corners, forced to re-examine my prejudices and assumptions. It was though, very enjoyable and I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

If you enjoyed 22 Ideas About The Future by Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors), this is meatier and more thought-provoking - and I thought 22 Ideas... was brilliant.

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