Abstract
Storytelling, in particular, science fiction, has a fundamental role to play in creating other possible worlds. Consequently, science fiction can be expected to engineering through education, culture, and research. One effort to create new worlds based on science and technology is found in the literature, particularly utopian Sci Fi. Emerging aesthetical and philosophical genres within Sci Fi are questioning technology creation and use. The text aims to unravel the relationship between science fiction and engineering, specifically in the education, cultural, and applications domains. Solarpunk and Afrofuturism as Sci Fi sub-genres are interested in promoting new emergencies for collective well-being. These overcome the capitalocene and its roots in the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels and social inequality. These emerged at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century due to the dystopian pessimism of other creative endeavors. These movements are characterized by speculative worlds where social ecology, democratic technology, solar, wind, and tidal energy are crucial elements. The ethos of engineering needs to be comprehensive and plural, facing the future challenges of humans and living beings.
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This work was developed thanks to the Art, Technology, and Ancestry 2020 Research Grant from the Instituto Distrital para las Artes, IDARTES of the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá, Colombia; and the support of TRAJECTS Senior Research Fellowship at Technische Universität Berlin in 2022.
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Reina-Rozo, J.D. (2023). Science Fiction and Engineering: Between Dystopias, (E)Utopias, and Uchronias. In: Fritzsche, A., Santa-María, A. (eds) Rethinking Technology and Engineering. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 45. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25233-4_17
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