High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Alan N. Shapiro (Brooklyn, New York, 23 April 1956) is an American science fiction and media theorist. He is a lecturer and essayist in the fields of science fiction studies, media theory, French philosophy, technological art, sociology of culture, social choreography, software theory, humanities informatics, Computer Science 2.0, robotics, rethinking science, and futuristic design. Shapiro`s book and other published writings on Star Trek have contributed to a change in public perception about the importance of Star Trek for contemporary culture. His published essays on Jean Baudrillard - especially in the International Journal of Baudrillard Studies - have contributed to a change in public perception about the importance of Baudrillard`s work for culture, philosophy, and sociology.