Science Fiction 🤝 Tech Startups

The (alleged, but increasingly validated) discovery of room-temperature ambient pressure superconductors got me thinking: How can I prepare better for the future? To expect it and build for it, instead of be shocked by it? I believe one answer is to read more science fiction.

SciFi authors and tech founders are similar in some ways. Both try to predict the future, then bet years of their life on those predictions. The former with a book, the latter with a business.

There are some differences as well. SciFi tends to be about the distant future, while startups build for the nearer future. And critically, SciFi is less constrained by practicality.

Which is exactly why us tech bros should read more of it.

Technological progress is accelerating exponentially, and humans are famously bad at intuiting exponential outcomes. We're not ready for what's coming. And new forms of leverage - ubiquitous code, permissionless media, open-source AI - enable us to build the future faster than ever before.

So we need to recalibrate. We need to predict further into the future than we did before. And science fiction, in all of its entertaining lunacy, might be our signal through the storm.

P.S, my favorites so far:

• The Three Body Problem Trilogy by Cixin Liu
• Foundations by Isaac Asimov
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Any recommendations for me?