| Andrew Maynard | Andrew Maynard | <div class="ExternalClass8F6C571C730F461094FDD324F15A55C3"><h2>
<em>Future Rising: A Journey from the Past to the Edge of Tomorrow</em> by Andrew Maynard</h2><p><a href="https://phoenix.overdrive.com/phoenix-phoenixpl/content/media/5233559" target="_blank">eBook</a><br><a href="https://phoenix.overdrive.com/phoenix-phoenixpl/content/media/5563468" target="_blank">eAudiobooks</a></p><p>Dr. Andrew Maynard is a scientist, author, and leading expert on the responsible development of new and emerging technologies. For over twenty years he has worked closely with experts from around the world on the opportunities and challenges presented by technologies ranging from nanotechnology and genetic engineering to artificial intelligence and self-driving cars. His books include
<em>Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies</em>, and
<em>Future Rising: A Journey from the Past to the Edge of Tomorrow</em>. Andrew has a PhD in physics from the University of Cambridge in the UK, is a professor in Arizona State University's School for the Future of Innovation in Society, and watches more science fiction movies than any sane person should!</p><h3>
Q + A</h3><h4>
What inspired you to write this book?</h4><p>
A little under three years ago I was having coffee with a friend and chatting about where I might go with my next book. As we batted various ideas around, he asked "why don't you write about the future as an object?"</p><p>
I thought it was a crazy idea at the time—the future most definitely isn't an object in the usual sense—but I humored him. The thing is though, I couldn't get the idea out of my head. And the more I thought about it, the more I began to see how this might work as the basis of a unique book about our relationship with the future, and how this impacts our decisions and actions in the present.</p><p>
This might have been as far as I got with the concept though, had it not been for two other factors. The first was my work around the challenges of building a more vibrant and promise-filled future in an increasingly complex and stressed world. I'd been looking for new ways of pulling together my thinking here, and the concept of approaching the future as an object began to look like it might be just what I needed. But the real catalyst was reading the book
<em>High Heel</em> by Summer Brennan.</p><p>
Brennan builds up her unique high heeled shoes-inspired exploration of sexual identity through a tapestry of short reflections and essays that, together, are greater than the sum of the whole. And it was this that inspired me to explore something similar around how we individually and collectively think about and understand the future.</p><p>
And so
<em>Future Rising</em> emerged as a series of sixty short reflections (almost meditations) on different aspects of our relationship with the future—sixty of them to denote the passing of time. These weave together to provide a deeply personal and timely perspective on where we're heading, and our responsibility to future generations</p><h4>
What attracted you to this genre?</h4><p>
I must confess that, by preference, I read fiction. So it's ironic that I write non-fiction! But I'm passionate about drawing on my work and expertise to help people better-understand the world they live and how they can be part of creating a better future. And in this context, writing a non-fiction book about the future made sense.</p><p>
However,
<em>Future Rising</em> doesn't really fall into any one genre beyond being non-fiction. In telling a complex story about our relationship with the future it weaves together science, art, the humanities, social responsibility, reflection and meditation, and even what it means to be human. The result is a book that isn't easy to categorize. But to me, the message has always been more important than the labels it comes with—and the message that threads through
<em>Future Rising</em> is most definitely an important one if we care about a future that's better than the past.</p><h4>
What book are you currently reading?</h4><p>
I'm currently reading
<em>Alexander at the World's End</em> by Tom Holt. It's a wickedly alternative, deeply insightful and utterly compelling account of Alexander the Great's rise and influence as seen through the eyes of a Greek philosopher whose fictitious life briefly intersected with Alexander's.</p><h4>
Are you writing anything now? If so, when will it come out?</h4><p>
I have a couple of ideas in the works and will be working on my next book over the next couple of years. Its theme could go a number of ways, but I'm currently spending a lot of time thinking about what it will mean to be human a hundred years from now if we imagine where emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, genetic engineering and human augmentation will take us</p><h4>
If you weren't a writer, what would you do?</h4><p>
Ha—my main work is as a scientist, thinker, and professor, and I'll not be giving this up any time soon! But writing is how I get stuff out of my head and into the heads of my readers, and so this will always be a part of what I do.</p><h4>
Do you use your local library? If so, which library is it and what do you do there?</h4><p>
I'm really embarrassed to say that I don't, but only because I have access to everything I need as part of my job as a professor at Arizona State University. When I was younger though, our local library was my life—it was where I got to read and learn about stuff I would never have had access to anywhere else. It was the same for my kids when they were younger. And as I type this, I realize I really should spend more time in the library—Tempe Public Library, here I come!</p><br></div> |
