will.i.am Partners To Explicate Clarke’s Third Law

At this year’s New York Comic Con, Black Eyed Peas musician will.i.am appeared with Brian David Johnson, a futurist who works with (among others) Intel.  They were at the Comic Con to promote their upcoming comic book, Wizards and Robots (H/T STEMDaily).  will sees the project as a means of getting more young people interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.  STEM is an interest of will’s, brought about by concerns over the future of the kids he works with in some of his charitable efforts:

“Will had been working with inner city kids for his charity i.am.angel, encouraging them to study math and sciences, and was concerned that technological intelligence was outpacing human’s ability to control it.

“‘I started feeling really concerned,’ Will said. ‘You mean to tell me that my 7-year-old niece, when she’s 47 years old, will have to compete with an appliance? It sounds giggly and funny, but it’s something we should all be concerned about. In the industrial revolution we made a train, but we didn’t think we would have to compete with a train in regards to speed. We didn’t think it would outthink us.’”

The premise behind the book is that robots from the future fight with wizards of the past in the present day.  While there are fantasy elements, will and Johnson are interested in grounding the robots *and the magic* in science.  While they don’t mention it by name, they are evoking what is called (Arthur C.) Clarke’s Third Law – any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from science.

“‘Wouldn’t it be awesome if the robots are really going to be based on the work that I was doing? What if we made the magic based on quantum physics?’ Johnson says, so the two reached out to scientists – roboticists, social scientists, physicists and quantum theorists – to help design both the robots and the wizards.

“‘First off they would look at us like we were a little crazy. And then we would explain the world and they would get it,’ Johnson says. ‘If you were going to do time travel – and there’s problems with time travel, but at the quantum level, at the plank level, you can actually do time travel. What would that look like? If that literally happened right here in this room, what would it look like? And then they would get excited about the possibilities.'”

As befits a technology-focused comic book, this project involves more than paper.

“They then showed off special 3D-printed containers containing four books explaining the backstory to “Wizards and Robots,” as well as a USB drive shaped like an obelisk containing digital copies of the materials. These artifacts, made exclusively for NYCC, are limited to 1000 copies. The books included a story bible for both the wizard and robot factions, plus a pamphlet called the “Hope Algorithm” that explains how time travel is possible in the story.”

The release of Wizards and Robots is scheduled for next March.  With luck will and Johnson will borrow some of the PR machinery of the Black Eyed Peas to promote the release.