Ideas of the future affect the way it turns out

“Ideas about the future affect the way it turns out. So it is very important to have a positive vision of the future. The vison we have on a sustainable future tend to be gloomy and full of sacrifices. It doesn’t have to be that way! I am looking at the kind of changes of behavior and life style needed to reach a sustainable society.”

Sara Ilstedt, guest in Crosstalks on science and imagination is Professor of product and service design at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Imagining the possible – The submarine, the helicopter and the atomic power are all inventions that were in some way inspired by the fictional works of authors like Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Fiction can also be a way to explore future consequences and possibilities of scientific findings. But how important is this exchange of ideas for science? How does the way science is portrayed in popular culture affect the public perception of scientific research? And what could be some of the next big science leaps that we are imagining in popular culture today?

Guests in the studio:
Sabine Höhler, Physicist and Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies at KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Joakim Wrethed, Lecturer at the Department of English at Stockholm University
Sara Ilstedt, Professor of product and service design at KTH Royal Institute of Technology
On Skype: Chad Orzel, Author and Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Union College

Join the discussion on Twitter and Facebook!
Twitter: @crosstalkstv #Crosstalks #Invention #Sciencefiction
Facebook: Crosstalks

Crosstalks – Where great minds meet!
Crosstalks is an international academic talk show, broadcast once a month by two of Sweden’s top universities – KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University. It is a platform for discussions on global challenges in an open and on-going dialogue with viewers around the world. The tone of the programme is relaxed, with a twinkle in its eye: just like a good, engaging lecture.

You find all talks and more info at www.crosstalks.tv

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