I am a professor of physics (Florence, Italy) and I am preparing a series of lectures on the "science of science fiction", say time and space travels, aliens (their behaviour, mind and languages), exobiology, robots and artificial intelligence, etc.
My main focus is the relationship between science and science fiction, for instance how relativity changed the ideas of space travel, how biology affected alien representation, the influence of computers, neural networks, deep learning on artificial intelligence.
In many cases scifi authors anticipated the reality, but in others (especially in the biology of parasites, and in the role of inter-individual communication) the reality is weirder than imagination.
Suggestion and references are welcome (and try to help me in recovering old references, see my other posts).
In case someone is interested I can share my draft, when ready.
My main focus is the relationship between science and science fiction, for instance how relativity changed the ideas of space travel, how biology affected alien representation, the influence of computers, neural networks, deep learning on artificial intelligence.
In many cases scifi authors anticipated the reality, but in others (especially in the biology of parasites, and in the role of inter-individual communication) the reality is weirder than imagination.
Suggestion and references are welcome (and try to help me in recovering old references, see my other posts).
In case someone is interested I can share my draft, when ready.