science fiction
Dystopia Is All Too Plausible in The School for Good Mothers
Jessamine Chan's new novel makes a world full of surveillance android children seem very real.
What Happens If a Space Elevator Breaks
These structures are a sci-fi solution to the problem of getting objects into orbit without a rocket—but you don’t want to be under one if the cable snaps.
The Best Sci-Fi Movies of 2021
From Dune to Little Fish, they’re all love stories—though some are more touching than others.
It’s Time to Reimagine the Future of Cyberpunk
In the 20th century, the genre imagined the body modifications and protective streetwear that could save us from our own future. Now it needs to envision humanity anew.
The Watch That Made Everything Now
When the Pulsar debuted in 1972, the first digital watch offered a new concept of time—and foreshadowed our fraught relationship with instantaneity.
Neal Stephenson on Building and Fixing Worlds
The science fiction author spoke with WIRED senior correspondent Adam Rogers about climate change and big solutions.
Sci-Fi Icon Neal Stephenson Finally Takes on Global Warming
The renowned author says his genre should inspire solutions. In his new novel, Termination Shock, he tackles our most existential crisis.
Is Becky Chambers the Ultimate Hope for Science Fiction?
Her gentle, heartwarming stories seek to soothe our troubled souls. They also aim to blow up the entire genre.
Artificial Intelligence and the ‘Gods Behind the Masks’
In an excerpt from AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future, Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan explore what happens when deepfakers attack the deepfakes.
The Futuristic Stink of Amazon’s Science Fiction
For years, the megacorporation has churned out sci-fi—Electric Dreams, Upload, Solos—that ranges from obnoxious to just plain noxious.
WIRED’s Picks for the 9 Books You Need to Read This Summer
From sci-fi to queer magic, these tomes have what you need when you’re headed to the beach—or anywhere else.
The Wondrous, Tedious Ocean of Subnautica: Below Zero
The game is, for the most part, a sublime seafaring sequel. Too bad it often feels like a grind.
Sci-Fi Writer or Prophet? The Hyperreal Life of Chen Qiufan
As China’s science fiction authors are elevated to the status of oracles, Qiufan’s career—and his genre’s place in society—have gone through the looking glass.
Who Is R. A. Lafferty? And Is He the Best Sci-Fi Writer Ever?
You’ve never heard of him, but your favorite writers have, and his mad-drunk prose will knock you sideways.
Bliss Is the Worst Kind of Open-Ended Sci-Fi Movie
The director Mike Cahill loves ambiguity—and he used to be good at it.
2021 and the Conspiracies of Johnny Mnemonic
William Gibson was wrong about the wetware implants (not that he wanted to make predictions), but you’re still rooting for his dark, techno-druggy future anyway.
Humanity Is in Danger of Becoming Obsolete in LX 2048
Director Guy Moshe talks about the ambitious scale and preternatural timeliness of his new sci-fi film.
The Future of Work: ‘ars longa’ by Tade Thompson
“It’s all well and good for an android to take a position and shut down motor functions. There’s no art in that. I want the old ways. That’s why I’m on Earth.”
‘Beyond These Stars Other Tribulations of Love’
“The trick was to lift consciousness into a superposition and help it lock into distinct space-time coordinates.”
The Future of Work: ‘Collaborative Configurations of Minds,’ by Lettie Prell
“No longer were we merely the created machine called Artificial Intelligence. We became Alternative Intelligence.”
The Future of Work: ‘The Long Tail,’ by Aliette de Bodard
“Everyone onboard the scavenging habitat knew there was no correlation between the unreality and what lay underneath.”
The Future of Work: ‘Remembrance,’ by Lexi Pandell
“Having no consciousness at all, surrendering to the dark nothingness of death, was better than existing with a partial one.”
The Timelines of Our Lives
The plot of America is beginning to look a lot like those time travel stories in which society is just one squashed butterfly away from fascism.
The Future of Work: ‘Work Ethics,’ by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
“He had earned that rare and elusive acknowledgement, whispered behind his back: He’s a Creative. The Capital C.”