“Imagination allows you to develop new ideas, we don’t know how ideas are born, this is an attempt to pollute each other”: So said Giorgio Mitta, at Wired Next Fest 2022, the inspiration behind Fahrenhei.iit2022 Literary Competition. Initiative, like Tells The Italian Institute of Technology itself, “Expert or hobbyist writers and writers and more generally those who love to write and talk about robotics, life sciences, innovation and technology are aimed at”.
The encounter between science and science fiction has often proven virtuous and at times the narrative has anticipated the world of innovation, even in an overly optimistic logic. Giorgio MitaScientific Director of the Italian Institute of Technology, Dario Tonaniscience fiction journalist and author, Marco Passarellotechnology and innovation journalist, H Monica Gouria scientist and researcher at the Italian Institute of Technology, discussed it on the stage of Wired Next Fest 2022 in Milan.
As Mita explained, the A passion for science fiction Already exists in the community of researchers but the competition stems from the desire to attract “People who want to try their hand at the institute’s research topics, which from robotics to divination, lend themselves to becoming short stories. In our area, The human component finds its place in some areasfor example in terms of ethical aspects and repercussions”.
But the synergy between research and imagination finds other outlets as shown Anthology Science Fiction, which was first released in 2019, and returns with its second volume. Once again, the Italian Institute of Technology researchers (nine in this volume) explained the nature of their research and the possible effects. Then, the science fiction authors involved in the editorial project reworked everything to write a short story. Marco Passarelloan expert journalist on technology and innovation, talks about the birth of the project which borrows from previous experience abroad: “I imagined the amazement was surprising in Italy, but I changed my mind three years later, when I met Roberto Cingolani (the director of IIT at the time) and discovered that he had a passion for science fiction. He put me in touch with researchers and eventually came out. Science fiction”.
In the new volume, to contribute, on the scientific side as well Monica Gouriresearcher at the Italian Institute of Technology, and head of the IIT U-VIP research group: The team studies and develops technologies for people with visual impairments. Research conducted in Iit -defines the world- It is based on multiple senses. In any kind of interaction, there are many senses and the brain learns to put them together. As part of the project, I spoke specifically about visual impairment, since the author of the story wanted to tell about a hero with enhanced senses. The new technologies we developed at Iit are aspects that can be found in history, it was a good experience, and it is not easy to talk about this kind of research”.
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