MFEL4852

Fact, Fiction and the Future

Explore how science, technology, media and imagination shape what society believes about crises, innovations and possible futures, and turn contested questions into interdisciplinary student projects.

Introduction

Where does evidence end and speculation begin? In this village, students investigate real-world questions that sit between established knowledge, uncertainty, media narratives and imagined futures. Topics may range from artificial intelligence, pandemics and climate risks to forensic science, human enhancement, cybersecurity, space exploration and misinformation. Teams choose their own problem within the theme and examine it from several perspectives: scientific, technological, ethical, legal, economic, cultural and communicative. The village is useful because society increasingly has to make decisions before all facts are known. It is therefore designed for genuine interdisciplinarity: no single discipline can understand evidence, consequences and public meaning on its own.

Relevant competency

Students from all disciplines are welcome. The strongest teams will combine different ways of knowing and making: natural sciences and medicine; engineering and technology; computing and data science; social sciences and psychology; economics and management; law and ethics; humanities, media, communication, design and the arts. You do not need prior expertise in science fiction. What matters is the ability to bring your own academic perspective, explain it to others, question assumptions, evaluate evidence and collaborate across disciplinary boundaries.

About the village

This is the 2027 development of the MFEL4852 Science and Fiction village. Student teams define their own project within the broad theme. A good project starts with a real claim, controversy, technology, risk or future scenario and asks what is known, what is uncertain, who is affected, and how the issue is represented or imagined. The goal is not to “prove fiction right or wrong”, but to use different disciplines to build a more complete and useful understanding.

Possible starting questions include:

• Can AI-generated evidence be trusted in science, medicine, law, journalism or education?
• How should society communicate low-probability, high-impact risks such as outbreaks, extreme events or technological failures?
• When does fiction predict, distort or actively influence scientific and technological development?
• How do law, ethics, economics and culture shape acceptance of biotechnology, human enhancement or autonomous systems?
• How can stories, visualisations, prototypes or simulations help people understand uncertainty without oversimplifying it?
• What would a scientifically plausible future scenario look like, and what social choices would make it desirable or undesirable?

External partners

The village is designed so that student projects can succeed without dependence on a specific external partner. Where useful, potential contributors may be invited from NTNU research environments, public-sector organisations, museums and science communication, media, technology companies, health and biotechnology, or civil-society organisations. External contributors can provide a real problem, short expert input, data or case material, and feedback on the relevance of a student project. Any specific partner involvement will be confirmed separately before it is presented to students as established collaboration.

Virtual Experts in Teamwork (VEiT)

This village is virtual and students from all campuses meet here. All teaching and group work takes place using online collaboration tools. Students in virtual villages must take part both with their camera switched on and with a microphone available.

Attendance

Intensive village: Teaching and group meetings take place between 08:00-16:00 Monday to Friday in weeks 2-4. Individual work is also expected.

More about Experts in Teamwork

In the document Formal Framework, you can read more about the course, including the general course description for EiT, which covers learning outcomes, learning methods and activities, as well as more information about assessment and compulsory activities. NTNU Experts in Teamwork information.

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