What if an AI could end a war—but only by lying to everyone involved? And what if science-fiction writers were helping governments prepare for futures like this?

In this episode of Alternate Futures, I talk with a Coventry University lecturer-researcher, BSFA director, composer, science-fiction author, game writer and researcher Allen Stroud about the connections between storytelling, video games and real-world futures research. From building the universe of Elite Dangerous to working on Phoenix Point and Baldur's Gate 3, Allen shares his experiences creating believable fictional worlds and explains why great worldbuilding isn't just about what writers reveal—it's also about what they leave to the imagination. We explore the creative process, the importance of learning from failure, and why some of the best ideas begin as bad ones.

We also discuss what happens when science fiction moves beyond entertainment and into government strategy as Allen shares his experience with the UK's Ministry of Defence on the Creative Futures project, where science-fiction writers help researchers and policymakers explore possible futures and the human consequences of their decisions. We consider why storytelling can reveal things that statistics cannot, whether science-fiction authors really predict the future, and what happens when an AI achieves its objectives through deception. And Allen shares his approach to composing music for fictional worlds, the challenges of balancing creativity with everyday life, and why imagination might be one of our most valuable tools for navigating an uncertain future.

Books of his we discuss: Anti-State (The Fractal Series)

alternatefutures.substack.com

alternatefutures.co.uk

What if climate change made you a refugee in your own country?

In this episode of Alternate Futures, I talk with author and literary historian Jenni Daiches about her near-future dystopian novel They Know Where They’re Going, set in a drought-stricken Britain in 2041. We discuss climate change, water scarcity and the unequal ways environmental disruption might affect different parts of society, as well as Jenni’s decision to imagine an independent Scotland whose relative abundance of water has transformed its relationship with England.

We also discuss what it means to be displaced, how welcoming can a country remain when resources become scarce and increasing numbers of people want to cross its borders, energy and water security, renewable power, devolution and how Britain might look politically and environmentally in the decades ahead.

Books of her we discuss: They Know Where They're Going

alternatefutures.substack.com

alternatefutures.co.uk

What if our fear of AI is helping create the AI we fear?

What stories are we telling about the future — and could those stories help create the very future we expect? Professor Simon Bell has spent a career crossing the boundaries between systems thinking, sustainability, technology and human behaviour. Now he is turning those same questions towards artificial intelligence, exploring how fear, cultural narratives and our assumptions about technology may shape not only how we respond to AI, but how we build it.

Simon challenges the familiar picture of AI as either humanity’s saviour or its inevitable destroyer. Instead, he asks us to look at what humans bring to the relationship: our extraordinary collective resourcefulness, our capacity to adapt to chaos, and qualities such as compassion, presence and self-sacrifice that may prove far harder for machines to replicate. From the “ecology” of competing AIs to the mystery of consciousness, his work sits at the boundary between technology and some much older questions about what it actually means to be human.

At the heart of the conversation is storytelling. Science fiction gives us a laboratory for possible futures, but the narratives writers create can also influence the fears, expectations and assumptions we carry into the real world. Rather than endlessly retelling stories of technological catastrophe, Simon asks whether we can imagine something different — and whether crafting better stories about tomorrow might be one of the ways we begin to build a better future.

Yes there are still the Big Questions.

Books of his we discuss: The AI Aftermath pentology

https://sgbell.org/

alternatefutures.substack.com

alternatefutures.co.uk