appeal of science fiction
Some of science fiction's appeal is shared with other sorts of literature: if one of the aims of writing fiction is to explore the human condition, science fiction allows literature to explore that even further. Science fiction can place humanity in situations it cannot or has not encountered, test our identity and inner nature against new and extreme conditions. How do human values and emotions change or endure in a far-flung future? How much can we change and still be human? One example of humanity in extremis I often think of is Gateway by Frederik Pohl, a novel; but some short stories online that explore this are "Wind from a Dying Star" by David Levine and the recent "I'm Alive, I Love You, I'll See You in Reno" by Vylar Kaftan.
Science fiction allows us to compare humanity against other intelligences. While some might maintain there are other sentient species on our planet -- chimpanzees and dolphins are often nominated -- there is no species that provides an exact analogue to our intelligence. Comparing things lets us tease out their natures, so science fiction allows us to create foils for humanity -- artificial or alien -- and then play humanity against them. What would they think of us? If the universe is full of sentient races, what makes us special? What would we have in common with them, and which deep parts of our nature are just evolutionary happenstance? Books like C.J. Cherryh's Faded Suns trilogy, Ursula Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness or Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep are good examples of this.
Of course, science fiction also lets us project current trends forward. While science fiction writers and readers often love to think about and debate big ideas about the future, science fiction is usually rooted in the time it's written. Cory Doctorow has written "I'm of the opinion that science fiction writers suck at predicting the future. We mostly go around describing the present in futuristic clothes..." Science fiction can set current societal quandaries in stark relief, or reframe them by postulating a changed society or advanced capabilities. The classic dystopias -- 1984, Handmaid's Tale, et cetera -- do this, but so do other works, like Starship Troopers. When we return from the worlds of science fiction, we often see our own time differently. Science fiction offers insight, caution, or new and fruitful questions.
Another important reason people read science fiction is "sense of wonder". Sense of wonder, often glossed in fan communities as "sensawunda," is a feeling of awe, increased sense of perspective and possibility. It is sometimes a matter of simple scale -- of contemplating the size of Rama in Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, or realizing how huge the second Death Star is when the Super Star Destroyer crashes in Return of the Jedi. Sometimes the reader gets a glimpse of the weird and wonderful things that might exist out there, like the planet with the constant equatorial wildfire in Iain M. Banks's Player of Games. That sense of grandeur and immensity brings a lot of readers to the genre.
There are plenty of other reasons to read science fiction. As Gary Valan said, sci-fi offers escapism on a grand scale -- the future and the stars are usually pretty far away. Steven Brust's Cool Stuff Theory of Literature also comes into play: if you think spaceships and robots are cool, or genetic manipulation, or nanotechnology, you will find science fiction pretty cool.
Science fiction allows us to compare humanity against other intelligences. While some might maintain there are other sentient species on our planet -- chimpanzees and dolphins are often nominated -- there is no species that provides an exact analogue to our intelligence. Comparing things lets us tease out their natures, so science fiction allows us to create foils for humanity -- artificial or alien -- and then play humanity against them. What would they think of us? If the universe is full of sentient races, what makes us special? What would we have in common with them, and which deep parts of our nature are just evolutionary happenstance? Books like C.J. Cherryh's Faded Suns trilogy, Ursula Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness or Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep are good examples of this.
Of course, science fiction also lets us project current trends forward. While science fiction writers and readers often love to think about and debate big ideas about the future, science fiction is usually rooted in the time it's written. Cory Doctorow has written "I'm of the opinion that science fiction writers suck at predicting the future. We mostly go around describing the present in futuristic clothes..." Science fiction can set current societal quandaries in stark relief, or reframe them by postulating a changed society or advanced capabilities. The classic dystopias -- 1984, Handmaid's Tale, et cetera -- do this, but so do other works, like Starship Troopers. When we return from the worlds of science fiction, we often see our own time differently. Science fiction offers insight, caution, or new and fruitful questions.
Another important reason people read science fiction is "sense of wonder". Sense of wonder, often glossed in fan communities as "sensawunda," is a feeling of awe, increased sense of perspective and possibility. It is sometimes a matter of simple scale -- of contemplating the size of Rama in Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, or realizing how huge the second Death Star is when the Super Star Destroyer crashes in Return of the Jedi. Sometimes the reader gets a glimpse of the weird and wonderful things that might exist out there, like the planet with the constant equatorial wildfire in Iain M. Banks's Player of Games. That sense of grandeur and immensity brings a lot of readers to the genre.
There are plenty of other reasons to read science fiction. As Gary Valan said, sci-fi offers escapism on a grand scale -- the future and the stars are usually pretty far away. Steven Brust's Cool Stuff Theory of Literature also comes into play: if you think spaceships and robots are cool, or genetic manipulation, or nanotechnology, you will find science fiction pretty cool.
I can tell you why are I LOVE science fiction
ReplyDeleteI was able to read at a very young age i was one of those kids who “ broke the code” very early on I also had ( and still have) incredible ADHD. My parents didn't want to medicate me and I can't be medicated now ( there was a short time when I was). By 5th grade I was college level comprehension. My teachers knew they could get me quiet if they let me read, so they did. There isn't much adult literature that is appropriate for a child that age. I ha dalready cyvled through Poe and Lovecraft ( horror is also my thing).
I also had fairly neglectful parents not to the point of abuse. It was more emotional distance and selfishness on their part. My dad, I was his girl from the day I was born. He was in the Navy and gone a lot. He also drank, a lot , but again, not really abusive, actually I have great memories of him for the most part. I think my parents met and married young because, sex, and that was what you did back in the early 60’s when you were Catholic.
My dad used to always watch Star Trek with me. He also had a wonderful habit of waking me in the middle of the night to watch old Japanese monster movies like, Godzilla and Gamorrah. It was our time to hang out.
After exhausting Nancy Drew and the above, my principal ( he was very progressive ) gave me “ A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeline L’Engle I was hooked. I identified with Charles and proceeded to devour Asimov, Heinlein and Bova. I just kept with it.
The speculative fiction genre is vast. I eventually moved on to writers like Philip Dick and Harlan Ellison. You get everything from grand space opera to alternate history to science fiction erotica. Yes, that exists and is amazing.
It saved me from myself it saved me from trouble. I think it gave me a vast fascination for the sciences, especially physics and computers. I wound up in the IT world most of my life and I was gonna d at it it is endlessly changing and fascinating.
I still read, mostly horror, fantasy and science fiction. I go through 3–5 books a week. I became disabled and it was my old friend still.
I can see boring real life stuff every day hell, I have had 3 near death experiences.
Poop on reality I want to be taken far away and shown wonder and imagination. I have too much reality staring me in the face.
There is no single catch-all answer to the question. There are a wide variety of personality types. Different people can be attracted to the same thing for different reasons. Plausibility or the lack thereof is certainly one factor. Your follow-up question has an implicit assumption that SF is as a rule implausible. This is not characteristic of all SF, not by a long shot.
ReplyDeleteScience Fiction is a big, huge tent. You have all the different incarnations of The Doctor in Dr. Who. You have the Star Trek franchise. There's the T.V. shows Firefly, the 4400, the Stargate franchise. There's Babylon 5 and its' spin-off Crusade. You have books by Kim Stanley Robinson, Iain Banks, Jeffrey Carver, Alistair Reynolds, Frank Herbert. You have a zillion movies from the debut of the original The Day the Earth Stood Still all the way up to The Matrix and the present-day The Martian.
It can depict the present day with some element of our world akimbo, a plausible near future, or something radically far into the future. It can also show us horrific futures that we would rather avoid. You can even do something completely unhinged like Star Wars, Farscape or David Brin's Uplift series.
Different people like some of these writers and titles and not others. I realize that sounds like a tautology. See, some people don't mind the camp of the original Battlestar Galactica. Other people revile it for exactly the same reason and want only stuff that appears to be utterly realistic like something out of the mind Arthur C. Clarke. And don't get me started on the divisions in fan bases like the Star Wars franchise.
I can only tell you why I myself love SF. It's because it's the only genre that, as a general rule, focuses on the future. I gravitate the most to the hopeful stuff like Roddenberry's Star Trek, JMS's Babylon 5 or Bank's Culture novels. Although, on the other hand I have an incredibly high tolerance for ambiguity. I love the thought experiments that are everywhere in SF. I love the imagining of different worlds. I love how a universe is built up before my eyes while watching or reading. I love the exploration of the universe and the human heart. I love the imagery of going forth into deep space in spacecrafts. And I love the comparison/contrast between humans and aliens, physical, intellectual, whatever.
Continual exposure to SF has helped me to mature personally and become the kind of person I wanted to be. I am in a very different place intellectually and emotionally for the better chiefly because of Star Trek and Babylon 5. They spoke my language when I needed to hear what they had to say. They guided me in realizations I might never have had otherwise, certainly not at the tender times of my childhood and middle school years. They spoke to my head and my heart equally and that is a powerful combination.
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ReplyDelete3032 Tomcat Inox
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