Journeys of Imagination

Taking existing issues and trends and projecting them into the future makes science fiction an exciting treat. And, if this can be accomplished with short stories -- not requiring you to slog through a lengthy novel -- so much the better!

There are tens of thousands of objects in orbit around the Sun. If a large such object were to be found on a trajectory to strike Earth, a cooperative multinational effort might be needed to divert it.

We are rapidly developing artificial intelligence. Such visionaries as Elon Musk and the late Stephen Hawking have warned that runaway growth of artificial super-intelligence could spell the end of the human era.

Alpha Centauri, a triple star system, is the closest star to us -- 4.3 light years distant. Is it possible we could send a human being there?

Although the sheer enormity of time and space makes contact with an alien civilization unlikely, such contact is nonetheless within the realm of possibility. If an advanced race of beings were to encounter us, would they want to make contact? Or, would they find us technologically worthy, but not philosophically and socially worthy, of contact?

What would happen if, as some have speculated, a human being's consciousness could be uploaded onto a computer chip and inserted into a device?

In this collection of short stories, Dr. Michael Slavit explores these and other questions regarding the future of human civilization