William Gibson once said that the future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed. Geographical location and wealth could indeed limit access to considerable advances in technology. However, imagination is a more subtle power. It does not know borders or languages. From Beijing to Lagos, from Rio de Janeiro to Los Angeles, ideas are flourishing in the form of stories.
An online science fiction convention that has been intended from the start to be an online convention, which takes advantage of the ability of the internet to connect people worldwide. Why did it take a global pandemic for this to happen?
I’m glad it did however, because both the schedule as the invited guests look mighty tasty. According to one of the organisers, Cheryl Morgan, everything will be available on Youtube, in English, for free. It’s unclear whther there will be interactive Discord channels or other ways to participate in the con if you’re not on the panels. UPDATE: looks like there will be.
Futurecon is important because it’s an experiment in how to make science fiction more global. Or rather, how to learn to connect the various strands of global science fiction in a way that does so without needing a centre and its periphery. Traditional Worldcon fandom has always been revolving around American science fiction, with even UK and other English speaking countries being of secondary interest. As its name suggest, it also harbored under the illusion that it was the entirety of world fandom. With Futurecon we have what I think is the first English language attempt to make this boast true. A world fandom in which fans in China can find common interests with fans in South America and Africa, without having to rely on the goodwill of US/UK fandom. Where there’s equal attention paid to writers from Ghana even when they don’t publish in English.
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