An illustration of two hands caressing the face of two identical blond men standing one in front of the other in a room that implies a cozy, modern log cabin.

Parasocial

A short story by Monica Byrne about celebrity, imagined intimacy, and virtual doppelgangers.

Future Tense is a partnership of New America and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy and society.

Future Tense is the citizen’s guide to the future.

The partnership provides insightful, timely, and unexpected analysis at the intersection of technology and society through written commentary, original fiction, and live events in Washington, D.C. and beyond.

Recent Events

An illustration of a magnifying glass in close-up, looking at a puzzle-styled set of letters and symbols.

The Editors: Wikipedia, Internet Communities, and the Battle for Truth in the Digital Age

Crowd-sourced internet encyclopedias—most famously, Wikipedia—have the power to shape the story we tell about the past and the information with which we move into the future. The people who edit those forums—an army of unpaid volunteers—take their roles seriously. But what happens when that power is manipulated? That’s the set-up for Stephen Harrison’s new novel, The Editors. Join Future Tense and Harrison, a leading journalist covering Wikipedia and digital information ecosystems, to discuss the novel and the future of truth and information online.

August 22, 2024
12:00 pm  – 1:30 pm
ASU Barrett & O’Connor Washington Center, 1800 I St NW, Washington, DC 20006
Screenshot from the film Arrival, showing a person in silhouette standing against a foggy background, with strange alien appendages on either side of them.

My Favorite Movie: Arrival, with Shane Harris and Katherine Mangu-Ward

When 12 mysterious spacecraft arrive to Earth in the 2016 film Arrival, they bring with them an eerie question: why are they here? To answer that question, the U.S. military enlists the help of a top linguist, who is tasked with deciphering the extraterrestrial’s language. Her mission is backdropped by escalating threats of war and a particularly fraught distinction: the difference between the translations of “weapon” and “tool.” Join Future Tense and ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination for a screening of Arrival and a conversation about language, reality, (mis)communication, and how we understand worlds far beyond our own

May 13, 2024
6:15 pm  – 9:15 pm
Landmark’s E Street Cinema, 555 11th St NW, Washington, DC 20004

Future Tense Fiction


A series of original science fiction stories crafted by leading authors, exploring how science and technology will change our lives in the future. Each story is paired with a response essay by an expert in a related field.

An illustration of two hands caressing the face of two identical blond men standing one in front of the other in a room that implies a cozy, modern log cabin.

By Monica Byrne

A story about celebrity, imagined intimacy, and virtual doppelgangers.

An illustration of a person kneeling, looking up at a set of four towering computational servers in glass-fronted cabinets. The scene is in shades of blue, pink, and purple.

By E.R. Ramzipoor

A story about what happens when an AI goes to therapy.

An illustration of an oil rig in the ocean, with a helicopter flying above it, rendered in shades of blue, white, and grey.

By Suyi Davies Okungbowa

A story about oil rigs, community, and redemption.

A human figure running in the distance, away from the viewer, on the surface of a giant bright pink brain.

By Julián Herbert

A story about artificial intelligence and addiction.

Illustration of a person in a long-sleeved shirt with neck-length hair standing in front of a small desk and looking out of a floor-to-ceiling window over the ocean.

By Carter Scholz

A story about geoengineering, billionaire hubris, and “altruistic” narcissism.

A courtroom drawing–style illustration showing a person in a blue suit interrogating a mounted glowing screen on the witness stand, with the judge looking on.

By Jeff Hewitt

A story about a copyright lawsuit against a prolific A.I. author.

Best of Future Tense


Future Tense publishes commentary by researchers and scholars at Arizona State University, alongside many other writers and thinkers from the fields of journalism, public policy, science and technology, and more.