How Afrofuturists Think Different and Why the Questions They Ask Matter

“Futurists labor over questions about the nature of Android consciousness and empathy. Afrofuturists ask how race might be wired into Android consciousness and whether the android world might be as divided as ours is.”

I admit, before reading this article on Afrofuturism from WIRED, I hadn’t considered some of these questions related to the future — and I’ve read quite a bit about it. This was a blind spot for me and this excellently argued article helped me to realize it and articulated exactly why it matters that I do consider it. As someone speaking frequently with those imagining the future and often providing advice and counsel on the directions they take, reading this was a reminder that there are larger and sometimes unconsidered questions that need to be asked.

When technologists build the future, their views of the world become embedded into that technology. It is, therefore, not enough to ask and imagine what tomorrow’s innovations will be. We must also ask who will build them and how we can make those teams more diverse than they often are.