Administravia, Topic Prioritization, and Sci-fi Fridays

Weigh in on what you want to see most on the newsletter!

Hi Everyone, 

We’ve been brainstorming different ways that Speculative Technologies might use this newsletter to  seed ideas around creating new technologies and work with the garage door open.

We’re going to publish new posts on lessons learned building a new research organization and metascience more broadly  on the first Tuesday of every month. Frankly, there’s a massive backlog of things to write about, so we would appreciate your input on which we should prioritize:

1. Why project-based funding reduces organizational agency (eg. why grant-based funding will never create Bell Labs) 

2. Why therapeutics are bizarre (and lessons from them don't apply to other areas of innovation)

3. Why it's important to frame technology creation in terms of building capabilities instead of solving problems

4. Catalytic funding needs to launch into an existing ecosystem to be effective (or "why shadows of the future dominate everything around me") 

5. Can impact certificates work for research?

If there are any topics you’d like to see posts on that aren't on this list, please leave them in the comments! 

We’re also going to try an experiment with you all. For the next eight Fridays, we are going to provide a writing prompt based on one of the areas of research on our program wishlist. In the comments, you can post a piece of flash fiction that incorporates the prompt technology in some way. At the end of the eight weeks, we’ll pick a first, second, and third place winner through a combination of likes on posts and program manager discretion. These people will receive one of Spectech’s “core books” that we send to people who join. This Friday will be the first Flash Fiction Friday. We’re looking forward to seeing your stories in the comments. 

Lastly, a quick reminder! Applications for Speculative Technologies’ first cohort of field strategists are closing in two weeks! Please share widely with anyone you know who might be interested. The applications for the field strategist cohort will close 25 May  — see the application form here. Please do send it to whomever might be a great field strategist or apply yourself!

As always, feel free to email us at info@spec.tech with any questions, thoughts, or ideas.