Join the Arizona chapter of the World Future Society on Thursday, May 18, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Scottsdale Civic Center Library for an engaging presentation on Science Fiction and the Future. Tom Lombardo, who was recently honored as a World Future Studies Federation Fellow, will be previewing his forthcoming book, Science Fiction: The Evolutionary Mythology of the Future. RSVP here. I hope you can join us!

About Science Fiction: The Evolutionary Mythology of the Future

Science fiction is the most visible and influential form of futurist thinking in contemporary pop culture. Why is science fiction so popular? Similar in myriad ways to the great myths of the past, science fiction speaks to the whole person—intellect, imagination, emotion, and the senses—providing expansive narratives that enlighten, motivate, and engage. Facilitating the holistic psychological development of what I refer to as “future consciousness”—our integrative awareness of the future—science fiction has, for many people, become a way of life and a way of experiencing reality and creating the future.

As futurist narrative, science fiction encompasses the future of everything, and even extends beyond into alternative and higher dimensional realities. This presentation, introducing my new book series, offers a sweeping overview of the evolution of science fiction—from Prometheus and the ancient Greeks, to H. G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon’s Star Maker, and into the present with Star Wars, Watchmen, and transcendence through the “Singularity”—highlighting the importance of mythic consciousness within the human mind. We will consider how science fiction has emerged as the most powerful and relevant mythology of contemporary times, informing and inspiring futurist thinking in our modern world. We will examine how science fiction advances the purposeful evolution of future consciousness, and why it is the evolutionary mythology of the future.

What Others are Saying about Science Fiction: The Evolutionary Mythology of the Future  

“For those interested in science fiction, cultural history, or the interplay of myth, science, and literature, Tom Lombardo has given us a veritable cornucopia of fascinating and enlightening information about science fiction and its place in the story of civilization. For those of us interested in the history of ideas and especially the role played by science fiction in the evolution of consciousness and our awareness of the future, Lombardo’s work will be the touchstone for many years to come.”

— Allan Leslie Combs, Ph.D., CIIS Professor of Consciousness Studies

“Professor Lombardo’s encyclopedic assessment of science fiction as a uniquely evolutionary art form is mind candy of the highest order — must reading for serious fans of the genre. ”

— Oliver Markley, Professor Emeritus, Graduate Studies of the Future, University of Houston-Clear Lake

“Tom Lombardo dives into some of the eternal questions of science fiction, its relationship with tomorrow, with the universe, and with the vastly more complex realm within each human brain and heart.”

— David Brin, Author of Startide Rising, The Uplift War, The Postman, and Existence

About Tom Lombardo

Thomas Lombardo, Ph.D. is the Director of the Center for Future Consciousness and The Wisdom Page, the Managing Editor of the online journal Wisdom and the Future, and Professor Emeritus and retired Faculty Chair of Psychology, Philosophy, and the Future at Rio Salado College, Tempe, Arizona. He has published seven books and over fifty articles, and given an equal number of national and international presentations on diverse psychological, philosophical, and futurist topics. A member of numerous futurist organizations and contributing editor to futurist journals, his newest book Future Consciousness: The Path to Purposeful Evolution has been described as a “masterpiece” and “truly breathtaking,” “a deeply wise book for a wise future…challenging us to take our everyday thinking to a whole new epic scale.” He is presently working on a new book series Science Fiction: The Evolutionary Mythology of the Future, covering the history of science fiction from Prometheus to the “Singularity” and beyond.