We live in remarkable times: the world is changing at an increasing pace, our societies face challenges that extend across national and geographical borders, and we are flooded with (dis)information. The scientific process has already changed extraordinarily in the past half century with research environments evolving from isolated and loosely connected islands to dense networks of researcher and institutional cooperation. In order to develop and explore visions for research, science and society that give us ways into desirable futures an exploration series to consider different perspectives on how research will be conducted in the future was launched. This document contains the interview with Biologist and Science Fiction Author Peter Watts.