The Best Science Fiction Stories: 1949 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I just found this interesting article (via this post on the The Passive Voice):
Why We Need Big, Bold Science Fiction – Popular Mechanics.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned before, but science fiction is my favourite genre (also thrillers, and particularly techno-thrillers), so this caught my attention.
In short, the article asserts that SF has gone from the optimism and big science of the Golden Age to a darker, more skeptical, dystopian tone, and that this mirrors a change in the general public’s view of science, which in turn has led to a decline in actual technological development. Engineers are going to work for web start-ups or investment firms instead of building space colonies and such. On the other hand, science is now far ahead of what is being written about in SF, rather than SF leading science.
It’s an interesting hypothesis. I can see SF inspiring (or not) young people to go into science and technology fields to a certain extent. But it’s no doubt a complex issue. Some great points were also made in the comments of that article, such as the trend toward trying to make everyone feel appreciated and special rather than teaching them to work hard and accomplish things. Not that it’s a bad thing for kids to develop a healthy level of self-esteem, but it has to be kept in balance.
This seems to go beyond just SF, though. This post on The Write Practice encourages us to add humour to our writing, and makes the observation that the submissions to his contests and practices, as well as his own writing and the books he reads, are all very serious and dark.
I think it’s also part of an overall trend in our society toward pessimistic views of the future. Many of us grew up on a steady diet of increasingly dire warnings about the state of the environment. Economic conditions for most people have been getting worse, not better. Disasters, both natural and man-made, have been getting worse and occurring more frequently (some people claim this is just a nostalgic view of the past, but the statistics prove otherwise; for example, check out these graphs from the International Disaster Database). I believe this has coloured our view of the future, making most of us more pessimistic than people used to be.
In fact, I have a pet theory that this rise in pessimism is at least partly behind the rise in extreme sports (widespread Affluenza probably also plays a part, with so many young people having already experienced so much, they don’t have a lot of new experiences to which to look forward)—they don’t see much of a future, so no reason not to risk their lives now for a thrill.
What do you think about these issues?
some interesting theories….
There’s definitely been a decline in the science of SF, but pessimism being the cause? I’m not so sure, though a lack of faith in the economy has certainly stalled innovation.
Yes, I doubt there’s any one reason. But it could be one of a number of contributing factors. I remember seeing quotes in the past of scientists who made early contributions to space exploration saying they had been inspired to go into that field by SF they read when they were young.
While I certainly agree that there is more pessimism and general darkness in science fiction of the last 10 years that of Golden Age scif (of which I have a huge weakness for), I wonder if the reason isn’t the absolute opposite of that article’s idea.
I think part of the joy and wonder of golden age scifi was at that time, we didn’t know what wasn’t possible. we didn’t know life (as we know it) on Mars and Venus didn’t exist. We didn’t know how much of a pain in the butt it was to get to the Moon, or how complicated zero gravity would be. we weren’t quite sure how rare planets that can sustain life are.
And now that we know that there this no life on Venus or Mars, that getting to the moon is really fricken complicated, that aliens aren’t going to be contacting us anytime soon. . . now we know everything beautiful from golden age scifi is more than likely impossible, it sheds a black cloud on science fictional inspiration.
ehh, just my two cents.
Yeah, that’s likely a factor too. There were lots of big new ideas available then. Now, at least as far as space goes (and probably a lot of other science topics too), they’ve all been done. We’ve also seen the negative side of technologies like nuclear power. In many ways the newer SF is probably a more realistic view of science and technology.
“In many ways the newer SF is probably a more realistic view of science and technology.”
realistic, but depressing.
makes me want to go read some good old skool stuff. Cordwainer Smith, here I come!
Yeah, it would have been fun to be around during those early years. I’m just old enough to be remember being woken up one night to watch one of the Apollo launches. It certainly made a lasting impression on me.