Speculations, fabulations, incantations: Science fiction, contemporary futurology and how to change the world

Abstract

After giving a short insight into the ambivalent relationship between science fiction (SF) and futurology, this article sheds light on the current trend of what can be called science-fictional scenario writing, focusing on the publications of the Center for Science and the Imagination at the Arizona State University. The stories published in projects, such as Hieroglyph, the Climate Fiction short story contest Everything Change or the Tomorrow Project, are indistinguishable from conventional SF short stories. However, the frameworks of these projects share a certain futurological ambition. Also, they seek to enable the readers and writers of these stories to actively shape possible futures. In search for a label for this specific text form, Rebecca Wilbanks aptly coined the term ‘incantatory fictions’. This article explores the nature, the self-understanding und the practices of these speculations, fabulations and incantations by considering the metatexts of the afore-mentioned publications and by talking to people who work at the interface between SF and futurology.