The Science of Fiction // World Building In Action (2013) 5D University of Southern California, US
World Building: LA 2.0 2020
Group #3: The Reality of Fiction // Unfiction: the Triumph of the Quoditian
Henry Jenkins, Alejandro Lopez, Amy Mainzer, Ben Stokes, Terry West, Sean Brennan, Jim Lemley, Sarah Jane Pell, Neil Leach, John Underkoffler, Marcus Nance, Alexei Tylevich.
World Building is the collaborative process of designing imaginary worlds to test virtual narrative solutions for real challenges. As the discourse of white-coated scientific objectivity increasingly seems like a quaint anachronism, we continue to invest a combination of wishfulness and faith in the efficiency and certainty of the scientific enterprise. How can both artists and scientists most productively share engagement with the gadgets and grandeur of scientific inquiry? Is it possible for media makers to articulate a creative equivalent of the scientific method for deploying the principles of Worldbuilding? Where is the line between legitimizing and clarifying a creative process and reducing it to formula? While photographic and cinematographic images increasingly resemble computer generated ones and computer images asymptotically approach "photorealism," the line between " real" and "virtual" seems blurrier than ever. But image perception is only as important as the content it represents. This theme "Unfiction: the Triumph of the Quoditian" is not meant as an invitation to revisit well-worn ‘video vs. film’ or ‘analogue vs. digital’ debates, but to catalyze a discussion of the realities of Science as revealed in Fiction and the perceived realities of Science as a result of Fiction. At stake is our fundamental relation to reality and the ease with which data spaces increasingly serve as flexible and evocative narrative spaces. We are building LA 2.0. 2020. There is high crime and marshall law. Water levels are rising.












Alex McDowell and Eric Matthies host The Science of Fiction // World Building In Action event, USC School of Cinematic Arts Complex and 5D Institute, Apr 13, 2013.
5Di: Science of Fiction presents a day-long, live, and interactive demonstration of the power of World Building to create narrative solutions for a changing media landscape. The Science of Fiction will move beyond tired binaries to present a one day World Building event. Teams that include leading theorists and practitioners from a wide spectrum of creative and scientific disciplines will join with young innovators who are working on the bleeding edge. Using the narrative design principles of World Building, these revolutionary minds will work together to create an alternate visionary world, a near future reality that could lie just around the corner if only given the right impetus. Each working group will engage with a specific theme, each of which is in turn networked to the larger entirety of a shared world. The process is akin to a sophisticated ant colony in which each group has a role to play in creating one entire colony. Group #1: The Architecture of Fiction // Habitat: Structure, Shelter and Ecology. Group #2: The Culture of Fiction // ReverseGen Culture & Cyber Organic Youth. Group #3: The Reality of Fiction // Unfiction: the Triumph of the Quoditian. Group #4: The Design of Fiction // Artifacts of the Bespoke Economy. Group #5: The Biology of Fiction // Bio Punk, Science and Information. Group #6: The Future of Fiction // Los Angeles 2.0 2020. What follow is unfetted creative world building, followed by public presentations by core members of each of the six world building groups (including Graham Smith and team presenting the work of the Youth Group). Then: Synthesizing the World: reflections on the science of fiction and world building. This unprecedented event will launch a unique and persistent world designed to evolve through continuing transmedia projects at USC and 5D Institute. Postscript: the enchanting 5Di Leviathan emerged from this world...
KEYNOTE | The Science of Fiction: Brian David Johnson and Jeffrey Kipnis challenge us: