---
title: "It’s This Woman’s Job To Dream Up Hollywood’s Sci-Fi Future"
description: "For its new show \"The First,\" Hulu consulted with futurist Amy Webb to anticipates what the technology of the future might look like."
date: "2018-09-13"
modified: "2018-09-13"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/amy-webb-future-sci-fi-first"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "amy webb"
  - "manned Mars mission"
  - "the digest"
  - "the first"
---

# It’s This Woman’s Job To Dream Up Hollywood’s Sci-Fi Future

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/amy-webb.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.gettyimages.ca/license/930563884" target="\_blank"\>Photo by Mike Jordan/Getty Images for SXSW/Victor Tangermann\</a\>\</em\>*

## FUTURE VISION

The post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland of "Mad Max." The wholesome space utopia of "Star Trek." The eugenicist, gene-hacking society of "Gattaca."

When film and television creators envision future worlds, it's not just an exercise in special effects. It's also an opportunity to reflect on the futures to which our present moment could lead. That was one challenge that the creators of Hulu's [upcoming sci-fi series](<https://www.hulu.com/series/the-first-54d5d84a-95e6-4f0e-b22b-a3cec5fd1242>) "The First," which dramatizes a human mission to Mars in the 2030s, had to deal with — they didn't just want to depict an accurate Red Planet. They also wanted to show the life on that future Earth that the protagonists were leaving behind.

For that task, they consulted with New York University business professor and noted futurist Amy Webb. In a [new interview](<https://www.marketplace.org/2018/09/12/tech/when-hollywood-needs-get-future-right-they-call-futurist>) with *Marketplace*, Webb described how she anticipated what life in the show's future might look like: she took a hard look at the present.

## DUMB PHONE

Webb's primary directive, she said, is to dream up technology that allows us to understand how characters in the future live their lives, but that doesn't take center stage. In "The First," that meant that smart phones have become passé, replaced by ubiquitous smart glasses and earpieces that facilitate communication.

"\[I\]f anything the technology shouldn't be something that people are focusing on as they're watching the show," Webb told interviewer Molly Wood. "It should be more like, 'Oh, ok. That makes sense.' And then they go back to the stories of the characters."

## TOMORROW, TODAY

Webb doesn't believe it's possible to predict *exactly* what the future will hold. Instead, she envisions ways that the present could lead to different futures. That's a compelling way to look not just at TV, but also many of our policy and business decisions that will inform the role today's technologies, from social media to [killer robots](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/un-military-killer-robots>), will play in our own future.

"The goal is to make connections," she said. "So given what we know to be true in the year 2018, what does the year 2031 look like?"

**READ MORE**: [When Hollywood producers need to get the future right, they call a futurist](<https://www.marketplace.org/2018/09/12/tech/when-hollywood-needs-get-future-right-they-call-futurist>) \[*WIRED*\]

***More on Mars: [It’s Official. Humans Are Going to Mars. NASA Has Unveiled Their Mission.](<https://futurism.com/its-official-humans-are-going-to-mars-nasa-has-unveiled-their-mission>)***

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)