A recent Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast interviewed Paul Krugman about the connections between science fiction and economics. It’s a fascinating half hour interview that you can listen to or read at Wired.
If you’re interested in SciFi and/or economics this is worth looking at.
Krugman isn’t the only economist who’s into science fiction. He also counts Brad DeLong at Berkeley and many of the contributors to the Crooked Timber blog among fans of the genre.
“I have friends, political scientists, sociologists, who all share an interest at least in certain kinds of science fiction,” says Krugman. “It’s speculative, we’re thinking about what society could be like.”
Krugman’s involvement in the science fiction world peaked in 2009 when he attended the World Science Fiction convention in Montreal and joined author Charles Stross for a free-wheeling, hour-long discussion.
Beware though, one of the hosts of Geek’s Guide does that annoying up-talking thing with his voice.