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Erik Viirre, M.D. Ph.D, is a Professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in the Department of Neurosciences. Working in the UCSD Health System since 1997, he treats people with vertigo, balance problems and tinnitus. Dr. Viirre’s scientific interests include vision, hearing and the vestibular system and higher cognitive function where he is extensively published and cited in the scientific literature with numerous papers, textbook chapters and patents. He has made presentations around the world to universities, corporations and government agencies. Dr. Viirre has carried out work in a broad range of areas including neurophysiology, military medicine, human space flight, laser technology and neuroethics. Since 2019, Dr. Viirre has been the Director of the Arthur C Clarke Center for Human Imagination, a center dedicated to the Neuroscience of Imagination, and themes of Cosmology, Science Fiction and the future of Humankind. He had the privilege of meeting Sir Arthur in Sri Lanka in 2002. At the Clarke Center, Dr. Viirre directs Human Neuroscience research and has been the co-PI and PI on microgravity space projects bringing stem cell neurons in autonomous bioreactors to the International Space Station on SpaceX flights. Dr. Viirre has had research funding from and served as a consultant for: the National Institutes of Health, the United States Navy, DARPA, NASA, the National Academies of Science and other agencies. He has been a leading participant in a variety of start-up companies, including Zero G Corporation, 3E Corporation, Otosound and Cen Inc. As Chief Medical Officer of Zero G, Dr. Viirre led the medical team that explored gravity fields with Stephen Hawking.
Practitioners of the emergent field of Speculative Futures Studies use speculative forms – including, but not limited to, art, literature, and theory- to confront the legacies of imperialism, colonialism, and racism in order to imagine and enact more sustainable and just futures.
Science explains it, but
art may be the key to finding it.
The Speculative Futures Collective seeks to cultivate research with faculty, graduate students, and community members using speculative cultural forms and theories to collaborate on the future of education, ecology, gender, sexuality, and race.
Practitioners of the emergent field of Speculative Futures Studies use speculative forms – including, but not limited to, art, literature, and theory- to confront the legacies of imperialism, colonialism, and racism in order to imagine and enact more sustainable and just futures.
Science explains it, but
art may be the key to finding it.
The Speculative Futures Collective seeks to cultivate research with faculty, graduate students, and community members using speculative cultural forms and theories to collaborate on the future of education, ecology, gender, sexuality, and race.
Unlike intelligence, memory, and creativity, there is an alarming lack of coherent theory and a thin empirical literature on imagination. Why alarming? Imagination may be one of the most important keys to human flourishing and human progress, with spiritual and evolutionary adaptive benefit.
The science of imagination needs a guide for the future.
The Atlas of Imagination is the guide, focusing coherent theoretical models of imagination to drive further investigation and the tools needed for the empirical study of the neurodiversity of imagination.
Unlike intelligence, memory, and creativity, there is an alarming lack of coherent theory and a thin empirical literature on imagination. Why alarming? Imagination may be one of the most important keys to human flourishing and human progress, with spiritual and evolutionary adaptive benefit.
The science of imagination needs
a guide for the future.
The Atlas of Imagination is the guide, focusing coherent theoretical models of imagination to drive further investigation and the tools needed for the empirical study of the neurodiversity of imagination.
The Clarke Center is a research-and-practice hub, where the best insights from the neuroscience of imagination are connected with the latest in technology and put to use to unlock the transformative power of imagination across age groups, and communities to tackle the most pressing issues facing the planet.
Imagination discovers
new possibilities within the impossible.
Imagination is at the root of empathy and compassion. Imagination gives rise to hope. We aim to unleash the power of imagination to tackle the most pressing issues facing life on Earth – to envision and build a more equitable an sustainable world.
