 What can science fiction movies tell us about the risks and the benefits of emerging technologies? More than you might think as it turns out. Sci-Fi films are, of course, notoriously good at getting the science bit wrong. From ear-splitting explosions in space to giving DNA magical properties, sci-fi scriptwriters rarely let reality get in the way of a good story. And yet, as I explore in the new book Films from the Future, because most science fiction movies are about what happens when you mix people and technology together, they're surprisingly good at revealing what could go wrong with real world innovations if we don't think before we act. To give you an example, Steven Spielberg's 1993 movie Jurassic Park is, on the surface, an enjoyable if scientifically implausible tale about bringing dinosaurs back to life. But dig a little deeper, and it's also a movie about the risks of scientists not thinking about the consequences of their actions or the dangers of powerful entrepreneurs with more money and imagination than sense playing around with nature. Another example is the film Minority Report, another Spielberg classic. This can be watched as just an entertaining futuristic murder mystery, or it can be viewed as a sanitary tale of the dangers of punishing people for crimes they haven't yet committed. Minority Report in particular has become more relevant in recent years, as police forces and private companies start to use advanced technologies to take action against people who they believe might commit a crime, or who they think could behave in ways that are considered inappropriate. Here, technologies such as machine learning and ubiquitous data collection are allowing people to do everything from tag potential criminals to identify trustworthy babysitters. And while this may sound like a good idea, they all too easily reflect the biases and the values of their very human designers. There's also something ethically worrying about creating machines that are designed to be judge and jury, and that charge people for what they might do rather than what they've already committed. This is where films like Minority Report and others can open up conversations around what we collectively want our technologies to do, and what we don't want them to do. Other examples include the movie Limitless and Smart Drugs, the film Ex Machina and Artificial Intelligence, and even Dan Brown's Inferno and Weaponized Pathogens. These and many other movies provide a powerful starting point for thinking about what can go wrong with emerging technologies and how to get them right. Of course, only a fool would take sci-fi movies as gospel here. Movie makers intentionally paint dire pictures of the future to thrill and entertain us, and yet, with the right guide, these creative visions of technology gone wrong tell us more than we might imagine about future risks and how we might avoid them. This is at the heart of the book Films from the Future. Using 12 science fiction movies, it explores real-world trends in science and technology and what we might learn about what can go wrong so we don't repeat the same mistakes. Of course, these movies are still make-believe, and yet, through the creativity of their writers and directors, they offer us the chance to climb out of the rut of conventional thinking and imagine what the future might be like if we don't get our act together. In effect, they play out future risks as they might be so we can avoid them. That is, if we learn to innovate responsibly now before it's too late. To find out more about how science fiction movies can help navigate future risks, please do check out the book Films from the Future, and as always, stay safe.