Science fiction and speculation are gaining traction as ways to expand the ethical imaginations of engineers, within and beyond traditional classrooms. But often, science fiction is taken as a sufficient source of inspiration, leaving ethnographic, historical, social theoretical, and other forms of social scientific knowledge about how societies actually work out of the scope of the exercise. The results of such limited vision are manifest in the myriad technologies that exacerbate social problems of long-time anthropological concern, like structural violence, the production of marginalization, and the persistence of Western scientific epistemologies as the definitive form of authority about the world. This talk asks, how can anthropology better inform the engineering imagination in the crucial activity of speculation? Drawing on experiences from teaching, public speaking, and workshops for professionals, I will illustrate how anthropology can be incorporated into speculation to shape how engineers identify big problems in need of solutions, envision the research and development process, and imagine narratives of social change. By including anthropological knowledge as grounds for imagining the future, engineering students and professionals can better anticipate how their visions for technology might shape and be shaped by the operations of power, representation, and political institutions.
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