This presentation aims toward a critical and creative exploration of the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) for society through scenarios generated by science fiction prototyping. After a brief introduction to some of the major issues posed by AI, students across the disciplines will be guided through a basic outline for creating science fiction prototypes. Then, motivated by the 2022-2023 SPACE theme WHAT IF?, students will be encouraged to populate the outline with “what if” questions and thus to arrive at multiple scenarios. Ultimately, these scenarios will be part of a design-based methodology to help students generate project ideas related to the challenges of an AI-powered future.
Image: What_if_AI_was_used_to_create_intelligent_transportation_systems created by dreamstudio.ai
Joel Trudeau has taught in the Physics Department at Dawson College since 2004. His background is in Theoretical Cosmology but his interests and activities involve ideas across a range of knowledge domains. In 2007 he founded SPACE (Sciences Participating with Arts and Culture in Education), an initiative that seeks to expand academic discussion and collaboration across and within disciplines at Dawson College and beyond. He is also the project lead of the Dawson AI Artificial Intelligence initiative, part of a team building the infrastructure and curriculum needed to implement a comprehensive plan for AI education. His work lies in the domain where sciences, arts and technology overlap. Over the years he has been involved with Physics, Robotics, and Science Education research with aspecial focus on design-based, active and experiential learning. With colleagues at Dawson, he is involved in the enterprise of creating next gen curriculum that develops the critical technical and transversal skills needed for solving the pressing, emerging and potential future problems we all share.
Andrew Katz grew up in Montreal. After graduating from McGill medical school, he went on to complete his Masters in English and Creative Writing at Concordia, and since
2006 he has been teaching English and Creative Writing at Dawson College, where in 2013 he won the Director General’s Award for teaching Excellence. He has been involved as a SPACE coordinator and fellow since 2008, and he uses his background in both the sciences and the arts to help students across the disciplines explore connections within and beyond their primary fields of study. He is also a published picture book author; his first picture book, How to Catch a Bear Who Loves to Read (2018), published simultaneously in French as Comment attraper un ours qui aime lire, was nominated for the 2020 Prix Peuplier, an Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading award. His
second picture book, I Just Want To Be Super! (Je suis Super Nino!) was published in both English and French in 2020 and won an Independent Press Distinguished Favorites Award. His next picture book, A Starlit Trip to the Library (Voyage de nuit à la bibli) was published in Fall 2022.
Comments
noor1584
July 31, 2026Prototyping an idea as fiction before building anything is a genuinely underrated method, because it surfaces the assumptions a technical spec would quietly bury. You end up arguing about what you actually want rather than what is easy to implement. That reframing sticks with me. I apply something similar to my own routines, setting a limit before I open https://banzai-fr.com/ instead of deciding once I am already there. Good session.
You have to be registered and logged in in order to post comments!