Toronto 2033: science fiction writers imagine the city of the future

Toronto 2033 is a shared-world science fiction anthology edited by the incomparable and multi-talented Jim Munroe (previously), where authors like Zainab Amadahy, Madeline Ashby, Al Donato, Kristyn Dunnion, Elyse Friedman, Paul Hong, Elan Mastai, Mari Ramsawakh, Karl Schroeder and Peter Watts were challenged to imagine a future for the city.

The book's sponsored by Spacing magazine, and it launches on December 6th at Toronto's punk science fiction bar, See-Scape.

In the meantime, you can read Elyse Friedman's story, We Have Everything They Have Nothing (they'll be releasing another story from the book every month for ten months).

The motto of Toronto, known to few, is "Diversity Our Strength".

These days, that's a contentious statement. In the twenty years since themotto was chosen, diversity has become a highly-charged buzzword, withconservatives claiming that diversity actually makes us weak.

Science, however, teaches us differently. Science shows us the danger ofmonocultures. Sure, a certain strain of coffee might be the easiest togrow, with the highest yield and the most popular flavour. But it mighthave a particular vulnerability to a disease another strain is moreresistant to. Putting all our eggs in one basket, to coin a phrase, is aterrible idea... because no one knows the future.

Until now.

Here collected for you are ten peeks into the future of Toronto, from tenwriters chosen for their talent and because they reflect Toronto's mix ofcultures, backgrounds, and perspectives.

Earlier this year, we all met for a design session. Inspired by briefingsin environmental science, municipal politics, and futurism from Spacing'sbraintrust we spent an afternoon deciding on some events that would shapeToronto 2033, some common threads. And despite few of the writers knowingeach other, and the different perspectives everyone brought to the table,we hammered out some key elements of our shared world within a few hours.