Science Fiction Prototypes as a Method for Discussing Socio-Technical Issues within Emerging Technology Research and Foresight

This position article introduces science fiction prototyping as a thought-provoking method for arousing discussion within and between emerging technology research and foresight. The article introduces the method by demonstrating how it has already been employed within the emerging technology research domain, and how it has encouraged researchers to create science fictional stories that are based on extensive amount of research, relating mostly to their particular field of expertise. The article briefly deliberates the manner of how future studies, foresight and organizational research has already taken up and employed this method. Thereafter the article proceeds with a consideration on how foresight could further advance the future-oriented method to the unexplored fields of research that focus on the wider social, technical and economic areas of the emerging technologies.