Here's my Boskone schedule for 2018:

Technology and the Crisis of Conscience

Format: Panel

17 Feb 2018, Saturday 10:00 - 11:00, Marina 4 (Westin)

Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. Characters like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Masamune Shirow's Major demonstrate some consequences of the headlong pursuit of scientific breakthroughs. What are the real stakes in the playing-god game? Will we use technological advances for good or evil? What will guide us? And how does fiction help inform our ethical dilemmas?

Pete Hollmer, Karl Schroeder, JeffWarner (M), LJ Cohen, Cady Coleman

Colonialism and the New Space Race

Format: Panel

17 Feb 2018, Saturday 11:00 - 12:00, Burroughs (Westin)

European expansion into the American West and other "new frontiers" used to be portrayed as a great adventure — and a civilizing enterprise. For those being invaded, however, colonial expansion has been less pleasant. The Space Act of 2015 allows the commercialization of space by private entities. But if powerful technocrats like Elon Musk use tropes from Westerns to promote Mars exploration, will we venture into space with the same old colonialist attitudes? Or can we learn from history, and approach space exploration with new mindsets?

Allen M. Steele (M), Vandana Singh, Pete Hollmer, Karl Schroeder, William Hayashi

Modern Marvels

Format: Panel

17 Feb 2018, Saturday 15:00 - 16:00, Burroughs (Westin)

Our panelists consider their favorite gadgets, and list their Top 10 — including landmark examples from the past, as well as modern gadgets that are currently changing the future.

Priscilla Olson (M), Karl Schroeder, Geary Gravel, Daniel P. Dern, Carrie Cuinn

Reading by Karl Schroeder

Format: Reading

17 Feb 2018, Saturday 16:30 - 17:00, Griffin (Westin)

Karl Schroeder

Kaffeeklatsch: Karl Schroeder

Format: Kaffeeklatsch

17 Feb 2018, Saturday 17:00 - 18:00, Harbor I - Kaffeeklatsch 2 (Westin)

Karl Schroeder

The Future of Work

Format: Panel

18 Feb 2018, Sunday 11:00 - 12:00, Marina 2 (Westin)

How has innovation — changing technologies, new digital platforms, advanced AIs — altered the fundamental nature of work? While humans may always have a place in the labor hierarchy, just where will we find ourselves on the food chain? Is there room for everyone? Specifically, how will technology eliminate current jobs and enable new ones?

Mark L. Olson (M), Karl Schroeder, James Cambias, Jeff Hecht, B. Diane Martin

Hope to see you there!

Here's my final (-ish) schedule.  Things can always change on the day-of, but you should note that I've got a few events on Friday, so make a particular note of that; if you want to see me, Friday's a good day.  Here's the full schedule, including times and locations:

Reading: Karl Schroeder

Friday 10:00 - 11:00, 2203 (Readings) (Kansas City Convention Center)

Karl Schroeder

An Idiot's Guide Revisited, circa 2000

Friday 13:00 - 14:00, 2208 (Kansas City Convention Center)

It's circa 2000 and authors Cory Doctorow and Karl Schroeder just published The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Science Fiction. Fast-forward 16 years later, and the world of publishing has evolved, but how much has it really changed? Cory and Karl take a look back and discuss what they got right, what they got wrong, and how things have changed over the years.

Karl Schroeder, Cory Doctorow, Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Literary Beer : Lawrence M. Schoen, Karl Schroeder

Friday 16:00 - 17:00, Literary Beer Space (Kansas City Convention Center)

Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen, Karl Schroeder.  [Yay, Lawrence!  You should sign up to talk to him, he's a fascinating guy and vastly entertaining.  I can only promise to show up, myself.]

Futurism vs. SF

Friday 18:00 - 19:00, 2209 (Kansas City Convention Center)

Science Fiction explores the future.  Futurism explores the future and tries to relate it to the real world.  What causes someone to be a Futurist rather than a science fiction author?  Where are the overlaps and the differences between the two practices?

S.B. Divya (M), Karl Schroeder, Andrea Phillips, David Brin

"Ellie's Last Line". Scriptwriting and Narrative for Videogames

Saturday 11:00 - 12:00, 2209 (Kansas City Convention Center)

Some of today's most popular video games are based upon narrative storytelling, but that's only part of conveying the tale implicit in a videogame. What does it take to develop a game script? Participants discuss the ins and outs of building a quality gaming script.

Seth Dickinson, Karl Schroeder (M), Carol Wolf, Brianna Spacekat Wu

Societal Aspects of Technology

Saturday 13:00 - 14:00, 2208 (Kansas City Convention Center)

If your cellphone died would you be late for work? When your power goes out, would you dispair for entertainment? In a world where people are digitally dependent, what will happen when energy fails us? Downton Abbey dramatized the advent of home electricity, the telephone and the radio. How did those advances change social lives? Instead of bringing us together, have phones increase our isolation? We discuss how technology changes the way people communicate and relate in society. 

Mike Shepherd Moscoe, Andrea Phillips, Edward M. Lerner (M), Karl Schroeder, David Brin

The Future of Government

Saturday 17:00 - 18:00, 2208 (Kansas City Convention Center)

The world has seen many different forms of government over the centuries. What might governments be like in the next 10, 50, or 200 years, and how will changing technologies and world conditions (e.g. climate change) affect those forms? Are there forms of government that have been proposed that have never existed in the real world, but might?

Cat Greenberg (M), Matthew Johnson, Dr Jamie Metzl, Karl Schroeder, Ada Palmer

Autographing: David Boop, Ellen Datlow, Richard Hescox, Jack McDevitt, Karl Schroeder

Sunday 10:00 - 11:00, Autographing Space (Kansas City Convention Center)

David Boop, Ellen Datlow, Richard Hescox, Jack McDevitt, Karl Schroeder

Is Mining the Asteroids Feasible?

Sunday 11:00 - 12:00, 2204 (Kansas City Convention Center)

Once the province of science fictiion, asteroid mining is moving into the realm of venture capital, with startup efforts from here to Luxembourg. A number of approaches exist, none of them downselected by experience... yet. Does it make more sense to bring raw material back or process it in situ? What might the near term, mid term and far term of asteroid mining look like? 

Karl Schroeder, Dr. Jordin Kare, Courtney Schafer, Les Johnson (M), Jennifer Brozek

I'm not primarily a fantasy writer, but some great works have had a huge influence on me--most importantly, Mervyn Peake's epic Gormenghast.  I read The Lord of the Rings like most kids, and was on my third read of it when I discovered Peake.  After finishing Gormenghast, I didn't return to Tolkien for another twenty years.

I'll be going on about that and other stuff on my panels, but heck, I'm really there just to hang out and talk, so if you're going to the convention look for me.  I'll be around and happy to shmooze.

The schedule:

Friday:

Reading, 11:00, in Broadway 2

I hope to see you in Spokane.  Here's what I'll be doing:

The Changing Face of Hard Science Fiction

Thursday 16:00 - 16:45, Bays 111B (CC)

Hard science fiction has roots that at least go back to Verne, and it's been a major part of the field -- some would argue it's been the center of the field, or even the only real SF -- since at least the 1940s.  But like the rest of SF, it has evolved and change.  Where is it now and where is it going? 

The Future of Government

Thursday 17:00 - 17:45, 300B (CC)

We like to think that US democracy is the ultimate and best form of government. But the world has seen many different forms of government over the centuries, and even today many different forms exist around the world. What will governments in the US and other countries be like in the next 10, 50, or 200 years? How will changing technologies and world conditions (e.g., climate change) affect those forms? Are there forms of government that have been proposed that have never existed in the real world, but might?

Genre and the Global Police State

Thursday 20:00 - 20:45, 300C (CC)

Thanks to the Five Eyes -- the joint intelligence sharing treaty between the USA, UK, Australia, and others -- and the total penetration of the internet by NSA/GCHQ monitoring, we now live in a society that is a secret policeman's dream. Wikileaks and then Edward Snowden blew the lid off the scandalous subversion of western democracies by unaccountable secret government agencies. In past decades, SF and fantasy provided a vehicle for trenchant social and political commentary on on-going cultural changes (consider "The Forever War" as a comment on Vietnam), but where are the genre works dealing with the global police state?

SF and Futurism (Moderator)
Friday, August 21 2015, 1:00 pm 
with Trina Marie Phillips, Matt Wallace 

Kaffee Klatsche 

Friday, August 21 2015, 4:00 pm 

Reading 
Saturday, August 22 2015, 12:00 pm 

Climate Change and Health

Sunday 11:00 - 11:45, Bays 111B (CC)

The climate is changing in ways that have big implications for the future well-being of humans. There will be direct effects (e.g., heat stress) and indirect effects (e.g., disease-carrying mosquitos moving northward). The panelists will discuss what is happening now, what we can expect in the near future, and what might occur down the road if climate change continues on its present course.

Autographing CANCELLED - TRYING TO RESCHEDULE

Sunday 12:00 - 12:45, Exhibit Hall B (CC)

Saturday

A Trillion Is a Statistic ◼Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Room: Markham B

Panellists: Andrew Barton, Ian Keeling

It happens so often in science fiction there's a name for it: "earth-shattering kaboom." From Lensmen to Ender's Game and beyond, sf has been solving problems with genocide for decades. Is this just authorial laziness, motivating heroes with a big enough bang, or is reflective of something dark in the genre's soul?

A.I. and Us: Heuristics of Surpassing the Human Brain ◼Science & Technology

Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Room: Aurora

Panellists: Hayden Trenholm, Madeline Ashby, Nina Munteanu

When the BBC posts an article reporting the world's preeminent theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking warning that AI will eventually spell the end of the human race, all eyes turn to predictions of the Singularity. Those same predictions put it within the prime of the upcoming generation of scientists and engineers, so what teachings can the current generation pass on to insure the singularity doesn't mean the end of the human race? Or is the deprecation of our intelligence inevitable...

Sunday

Readings: Karl Schroeder & Hayden Trenholm ◼Readings & Podcasts

Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Room: Buttonville

Panellist: Hayden Trenholm

They're studying Sun of Suns at the U of T this term and Professor Michael Johnstone has invited me down to talk to the class on February 25th.  This event is open to the public, so if you want to come by, we'll be at the Muzzo Family Alumni Hall 400, at 121 St. Joseph Street.  We'll be starting at 7:30 p.m. with a reading, and then I'll be doing a Q&A.  My priority is to answer queries by the students, but I'm not about to turn down any good question.  Afterward, there'll be signing.

I'm flattered that the class has chosen Sun of Suns, and would like to thank Prof. Johnstone and the class for inviting me in.