I’m heading down to New Zealand, where I’m going to Kiwi FOO Camp in Warkworth, then on to the alarmingly-cool Webstock Conference in Wellington. Still not sure if I’m going to present anything at FOO – I’ll have to see if I get any ideas on the plane.

I’m giving a talk at Webstock called “Your Business Plan Is Science Fiction – And That’s a Good Thing.” Which is sort of a lie, because sometimes it’s a bad thing. The talk is about the way inventors and developers have to grapple with what I’m calling the “science fiction baggage” that comes with any new tech creation. I talked to synthetic biologist Drew Endy about this quite a bit – he claims he hates science fiction because it’s made his work with cloning and inventing new life forms so difficult to do. He’s always having to say, “No I’m not doing a Frankenstein thing – no I’m not inventing a zombie virus.”

Futuristic stories helped prepare people for everything from smart phones to robot warfare, and even (back in the old days) the web itself. But scifi can also scare people off of good ideas like cloning because there is so much misinformation about the science in popular works of scifi. So inventors should try to be savvy about the cultural environment where they’re releasing their cool new ideas. Have they created something that will freak people out because it reminds them of the bad guy in Batman? Or have they created something people will misunderstand because it involves robots, and most people think of Battlestar Galactica when they think of robots? I’ll even have some pointers on how to get rid of cultural baggage – or at least make it weigh a little less.

Plus, this talk will give me a chance to talk about the not-so-secret connections between Battlestar Galactica and Google’s Android platform. And to show a special clip from the new Joss Whedon TV series Dollhouse when we talk about brain-computer interfaces.

Also I’m really, really hoping that I’ll get a chance to tour Weta – both the digital side and the real-life props side. I am a total prop geek. And needless to say, I was a fan of Peter Jackson back in the Bad Taste days, OK? I’m serious. I love alien barf.