#rp25 speaker Chen Qiufan: Is reality outpacing fiction?

In 2025, ‘intelligent’ machines belong to everyday life. AI is changing the way we search for and find information. With the help of image generators such as Midjourney, visual ideas can be realised in a matter of seconds. In China, facial recognition cameras are hidden on streetlights and robots deliver dinner directly to the table.

Has our reality now caught up with fiction? Inspired by science and technology, science fiction literature has always been in search of the world of tomorrow, imagining alternative realities and predicting modern technology. So what role does it play in an age of ever faster technological progress? At re:publica 25, author Chen Qiufan and moderator Geraldine de Bastion will be delving into these questions in a fireside chat. In addition to the significance of science fiction, they will also discuss how cultural approaches towards AI and the embracing of progress differ between China and Europe.

What particularly inspires Chen Qiufan is the inner life of characters struggling with accelerated change – an experience that many people in China have today. As soon as he has a feel for a particular scene while writing, he transports impressions from the real world into the ‘hyperreal’. There, fact and fantasy become so blurred that they can no longer be clearly distinguished.

Chen Qiufan (a.k.a. Stanley Chan) is an award-winning speculative fiction author, translator, curator, and futurist. He focuses on issues of artificial intelligence and cybernetic society as well as climate change and the environment, and reflects on how to incorporate ancient non-dualistic philosophies into the narrative framework for constructing a future symbiotic society. His works include the debut novel Waste Tide (2013) and AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future (2021, co-authored with Dr. Kai-Fu Lee). Chen Qiufan was honoured with the Taiwan Dragon Fantasy Award, the Galaxy Award and the Chinese Nebula Award.

The motto of re:publica 25 is ‘Generation XYZ’. What is your message for future generations with regard to the digital society?

Chen Qiufan: “To tell a new story is to create a new reality. Don't let anyone limit your imagination.”