Future Visions: Original Science Fiction Inspired by Microsoft

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Does the science fiction influence the science, or does the science influence the science fiction?

Throughout my life, I have personally been influenced by both. I grew up in 1960s China, in a society in the midst of change. It was a decade of monumental technological advancements—man in space, satellites, supersonic jets, the emergence of new computing systems and languages.

It was also considered by many to be a heyday of science fiction. TV shows like Star Trek went mainstream. Science fiction paperbacks became best sellers for the first time. Movies like Planet of the Apes defined a new kind of blockbuster.

I remember talking to my dad about computers. Many people, including him, hadn’t actually seen them, but they had heard about them and knew that they would be “big,” with the potential to change our world. He pushed me to pursue my studies around this completely new field.

Spurred on by both the science and science fiction of our time, my generation of researchers and engineers grew up to ask what if? and what’s next? We went on to pursue new disciplines like computer vision, artificial intelligence, real-time speech translation, machine learning, and quantum computing.

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