Science Fiction and the Futures of Artificial Womb Technology : Towards a Carrier Bag Theory of Design Fiction

This article brings together science fiction literary theory and design research to examine how the narrative modes used to frame novel technologies shape biomedical futures. Focusing on current research into artificial womb technologies (AWTs), we show how scientific innovation in this area is currently framed using the archetypal ‘hero narrative’, defined by Joseph as the story of the struggle and triumph of the individual. Such a framing, we argue, restricts understanding of this technology’s transformative potential while also occluding the intersubjective nature of reproduction as well as the labour of gestation. Drawing on Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1986 articulation of a feminist mode of science fiction in The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction (2019), we argue that a narrative frame rooted instead in multiplicity, resourcefulness and collectivity is necessary for approaching speculation about AWTs. To show how Le Guin’s theory might reshape futures debates, we propose a theoretical framing of a design method: a carrier bag theory of design fiction. Reflecting on a design fiction exercise developed through engagement with Le Guin’s essay, we show how taking account of a diverse range of perspectives as well as a broad spectrum of possible futures fosters discussion of a technology that is not restricted to individual benefit and desirability. Rather, such an approach decentres existing narratives, juxtaposing them with alternative fictions that educe the wider impacts of novel technologies. By reflecting on this process, the essay considers the affordances of the carrier bag as a form, showing how narrative structure shapes the types of futures that can be imagined.