Monday, August 21, 2006

The verdict on science fiction

Why do I think (some) science fiction is worth while?

Put simply, imagining a utopian or dystopian future is a necessary requisite to approaching or avoiding it.

One of the things that sets us apart from other animals is the ability to anticipate future events logically. We know, from careful observation, that the regular flooding of the Nile coincides with the seasons. At some point some Egyptian dude put his imagination to work, hatched a hypothesis and set off to prove it. His mode of imagining could have been superstitious (Ra is punishing us by flooding the Nile - must sacrifice more virgins) or logical (maybe the summer rains play a role).

Science fiction is simply a literary extension of that logical modality of thought. As if to prove its utility consider some of the predictions made by HG Wells around 1899: air conditioning, TV & Video, gas warfare, electronic billboards, "pleasure cities to placate the masses"! An oft cited example is Arthur C Clarke who first proposed the geo-stationary satellite.

However SF is not about predicting the future. Instead it uses the future as an altered frame of reference in which to test novel ideas or simply to ask new questions.

The science fiction I'm most interested in deals with imaginary possibilities of the biological, religious, political, psychological, ethical, philosophical etc. What and why are we, why did we evolve and on which path is our evolution headed, what are the potential future outcomes of current trends (thereby informing us about *the present*), what ethics would apply during extra-terrestrial contact, how human are human rights and who/what should they apply to, what is the nature and basis of intelligence, how far to take pleasure seeking, why do civilizations fail, what are the limits of automation, what are the most stable political forms, what is the aim and outcome of industrial development. To me these are, like, The Questions.

Why do others belittle science fiction?

'Tis true: I know otherwise intelligent people who dislike science fiction. Vehemently. What are they missing? Or should I ask, what am I missing?!! ...

Regrettably most non-print science fiction is pretty poor we'd probably agree. Mass pulp like latter Star Trek and Star Wars, where special effects take centre stage papering over flimsy plot lines and wafer thin character development, detract from a genre otherwise adorned by the likes of Bladerunner, Solaris and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (it qualifies).

Plenty sci-fi betrays an infantile escapism by placing sole emphasis on "he's from planet X" otherworldliness, reducing human interest to the padding between explosions & cool hardware.

So that kinda deals with the bad by saying "people think it's bad because it usually is". What about good SF? There are some greats in the genre: Stanislav Lem, Philip K Dick, Larry Niven, Vernor Vinge, Arthur C Clarke, George Orwell (1984 anyone?), William Gibson to name but a few. Why is it that many (most?) intelligent, scientifically literate folk see science fiction as nothing more than escapism for grown-up boys? This attitude is too wide-spread to be a mere matter of taste.

One possibility is that science fiction is, like medieval art, didactic . I read somewhere (?) that science is to science fiction as religion was to medieval art. In the age of the individual perhaps most people just aren't ready to be in a sense 'preached' to.

I prefer the explanation that good science fiction takes getting into. The realm conjured by the author is frequently detailed and complex, bending or dispensing with the rules we take for granted and take comfort in. It can be taxing and scary to do away with such unshakeable constraints and replace them with new & bendy ones.

...or maybe these pesky detractors simply haven't read any good science fiction lately!

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