In 1978, Isaac Asimov wrote in his essay My Own View, ‘No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our every man must take on a science fictional way of thinking.’ Reading this in 2021, this quote is both relevant and an example of the short term thinking it warns against: apparently, taking a science fictional view in 1978 didn’t include a world run by anybody but men.

The circumstances in which I came across this quote further illustrated the importance of taking on a science fictional view. I was reading a book on AI ethics, addressing the implications of living in a world where artificial intelligence is already woven into many aspects of our lives, where we contemplate giving AI agents responsibility for life and death decisions in industries such as transport, and where there seems a strong chance that, within our lifetimes, AI agents will exhibit properties which lead us to hard questions about rights and consciousness. Moreover, I was reading the book on a device that fit in the palm of my hand, connected to a global network that gave me access to the world’s knowledge - as well as playing videos and letting me talk to people. A long way from 1978, and not just in social attitudes.