Ray Nayler, acclaimed sci-fi author, on the climate crisis, artificial intelligence, the ethics of human thriving and creative storytelling

In Episode 14 of Do Not Adjust Your Focus, the podcast from sustainability and communications consultancy Blurred, Stuart talks to award-winning author, Ray Nayler. Ray is the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Mountain in the Sea, which The Washington Post called "(a) poignant, mind-expanding debut." The Mountain in the Sea is a finalist for the Nebula Award and for the LA Times Book Awards' Ray Bradbury Award for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction.

The novel dramatizes what happens, in a post-climate-crisis, AI-centric world, when humankind discovers super intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture. It prompts us to question, what is intelligence – human, computer, animal – and what kind of intelligence do we need to thrive on a fragile planet?

In this podcast episode, Stuart and Ray explore the climate crisis, how humanity is responding and might respond better and how the emergence of ChatGPT heralds the coming of true AI. Ray also reveals his creative approach to writing and storytelling and shared a lesson that is relevant to everyone in comms: communication must involve the audience, who, as Ray puts it, are “curled into the narrative”. Storytelling is about “building a place where you ask questions.”

​​Born in Quebec and raised in California, Ray Nayler lived and worked abroad for two decades in Russia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, and Kosovo. Ray works for the US Department of State, and previously worked in international educational development, as well as serving in the Peace Corps in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. In Vietnam he was Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Officer at the U.S. consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. 

Ray currently serves as the international advisor to the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Beginning in August, 2023, he will take up a residency at the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at The George Washington University. He holds an MA in Global Diplomacy from the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS, the University of London.