This idea expands on the real-life ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition underway with teams all over the world competing to develop avatar technologies. In this case, they were asked to imagine the uses of avatars in the near and far future. I love working with writers from all over the world and seeing what they can come up with. When I was later asked to edit Avatars Inc, I immediately said yes, and what a wonderful venture it has been. I was also thrilled to work with other writers for the first time, including Malka Older, Madeline Ashby and Gu Shi. It was a dream project and I was thrilled to see writers like Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, Deborah Biancotti and Karen Lord get excited about stories and work with them again. I had the opportunity to bring in new voices and work with other writers that I knew and admired. I was first approached last year to edit the Current Futures anthology to promote World Oceans Day. It’s not just that certain technologies and ideas that originated from science fiction stories become real in our modern day, but also that some SF readers go on to pursue careers in the sciences and make an impact in the world. Many scientists who became involved in the Space Program at NASA were early readers of science fiction and were inspired to make a career of science. The relationship between science fiction stories and actual science has always been there. Indeed, storytelling is often used for applied creativity in problem solving. And the stories being expressed with the XPRIZE anthologies give rise to the imagination. At XPRIZE, people are working together to find solutions for the future. We face many challenges in the modern world, what with climate change, health issues, global conflicts, access to education, and poverty.

Which is why you are seeing more and more fiction writers invited to speak at science conferences. It’s much easier to get the point across in a story than in a bland, jargon-filled article.

And why not? Including the arts into any science and technology program will only expand your reach and include more people. There has been a big push in the last several years in current STEM programs around the world to add in the “A” for Arts and have STEAM. The goal: To use storytelling to intrigue and inspire the public about our possible futures, brought about by the work XPRIZE is doing today. In 2018, XPRIZE produced Seat 14C, its first fiction anthology, followed by Current Futures in 2019, and now Avatars Inc. The XPRIZE Foundation has been around for over twenty years, doing great work by incentivizing breakthroughs in science and technology. But it is an anthology, and it’s something I think qualifies here, because as editor Ann VanderMeer explains, it’s got quite a big idea behind it. And now for something a little different: A Big Idea about a Web site, not a book: Avatars, Inc.

Ann vandermeer