5 ms·

Sci-fi depictions of everything bothers me. Everything just looks like Tron. Why? Because sci-fi authors are obsessed with shallow aesthetics and design - the "

Sci-fi depictions of everything bothers me. Everything just looks like Tron. Why? Because sci-fi authors are obsessed with shallow aesthetics and design - the "futuristic" look, functionality and objectivity take a back seat. The sad thing is that people like Elon Musk embrace the sci-fi look and that has influenced the new dragon capsule design, the spacesuit design, just because it looks "cool". How about ignoring how something appears, and focusing on functionality, maintainability, operability, serviceability, legibility, etc. Let's replace all buttons and knobs with touchscreens everywhere in a space cockpit because it fits Elon's taste of aesthetics inspired by sci-fi movies. Ugh... this stuff bothers me.

balfirevic 7y ago
You can always start your own rocket company and design the suits and buttons the way you want.
- spectramax 7y ago
  SpaceX has done extraordinary things and criticizing Elon's design taste shouldn't be conflated with the rest of the efforts.
m463 7y ago
I think you have to separate out the origins of each thing here. Scifi ideas come from authors, and come primarily from text. Scifi book covers come from artists, and create a sort of "look and feel" that is at best loosely related to the book, but generally unrelated and may not be chosed by the author. And then there's Hollywood. By now we're several minds removed from the scifi author and the sausage for public consumption has little resemblance to the original beast. But it definitely has a look and feel. Think of the early scifi pulp, and although the ideas may be timeless and strong, people picture bug eyed monsters holding damsels wearing brass clothing, and spaceships that stand upright on fins with a ladder leading down the side. Similarly scifi of the 70's might conjure up images of planetscapes with multiple moons and floating islands in the sky. I suspect the Tron look is a period theme derived from the state of computer graphics when the movie was authored.
mr_tristan 7y ago
This is the one aspect of The Expanse, the tv series, that I like a lot. One day, I'd actually think their terminal system would actually be a real thing: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2017/03/08/science-and-tech-in-syfys-the-expanse-it-may-look-like-a-cell-phone-but-its-a-hand-terminal/#47ccce61752d https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2017/03/08/science... (Unfortunately, this would probably require public infrastructure, not private, which just seems to create more walled gardens. But... I digress...) This approach to technology is really a major difference from the expanse and a lot of other sci-fi. FTA: > The writers and creators of The Expanse take the view that technology develops over time to serve human needs but it doesn’t do away with those needs by either wholly satisfying them or destroying the people who have them. Technology advances but the human problems remain. In many ways, a lot of sci-fi writes focuses on technology first, people second. And _that_ often resembles "concept products" that never see the light of day.
- spectramax 7y ago
  I am not sure if I'd call that terminal system anymore useful that those futuristic interfaces where everyone is moving screens around with their hands, headsets with contextual information overlaid atop objects, etc. They ignore: 1) Usability and ergonomics 2) Privacy implications 3) Technical feasibility 4) Operability in adverse conditions 5) Health effects I could list more. Also, why do these futuristic interfaces have so much pizzaz, its no less decorative than say victorian frames with french curves. Instead, we have 45 degree lines and chamfers. WHY!? The entire sci-fi aesthetics throw away what we know about the world, pragmatism and functionalism. Instead, sci-fi aesthetics focus on what looks cool. If future is full of this kind of interfaces, devices and aesthetics; I don't want to be part of it. I also understand the fiction bit in science fiction. This is a collection of ideas imagined and not supposed to be practical. That's fine and treat it like Harry Potter or any fictional world. But, when you start desiging real things with consequences (such as human-machine interfaces where astronaut's lives depend on), I have a problem with that. Marketing is not the language of nature and decoration is a crime.
  - atoav 7y ago
djokkataja 7y ago
I also dislike modern design, but I dislike it because of how boring and meaningless it is. Architecture's a good example: brutalism conveys meaninglessness in a heavy-handed way, whereas modern architecture does it effortlessly. Smartphones represent the pinnacle of modern design: "This is a plain, perfect geometric figure, nothing more. It was not crafted by anything as messy and complex as human dreams, nor is it tainted by any human story or aspiration. Its existence is fundamental, inexorable."

balfirevic 7y ago

You can always start your own rocket company and design the suits and buttons the way you want.

spectramax 7y ago
SpaceX has done extraordinary things and criticizing Elon's design taste shouldn't be conflated with the rest of the efforts.

m463 7y ago

I think you have to separate out the origins of each thing here. Scifi ideas come from authors, and come primarily from text. Scifi book covers come from artists, and create a sort of "look and feel" that is at best loosely related to the book, but generally unrelated and may not be chosed by the author. And then there's Hollywood. By now we're several minds removed from the scifi author and the sausage for public consumption has little resemblance to the original beast. But it definitely has a look and feel. Think of the early scifi pulp, and although the ideas may be timeless and strong, people picture bug eyed monsters holding damsels wearing brass clothing, and spaceships that stand upright on fins with a ladder leading down the side. Similarly scifi of the 70's might conjure up images of planetscapes with multiple moons and floating islands in the sky. I suspect the Tron look is a period theme derived from the state of computer graphics when the movie was authored.

mr_tristan 7y ago

This is the one aspect of The Expanse, the tv series, that I like a lot. One day, I'd actually think their terminal system would actually be a real thing: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2017/03/08/science-and-tech-in-syfys-the-expanse-it-may-look-like-a-cell-phone-but-its-a-hand-terminal/#47ccce61752d https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2017/03/08/science... (Unfortunately, this would probably require public infrastructure, not private, which just seems to create more walled gardens. But... I digress...) This approach to technology is really a major difference from the expanse and a lot of other sci-fi. FTA: > The writers and creators of The Expanse take the view that technology develops over time to serve human needs but it doesn’t do away with those needs by either wholly satisfying them or destroying the people who have them. Technology advances but the human problems remain. In many ways, a lot of sci-fi writes focuses on technology first, people second. And _that_ often resembles "concept products" that never see the light of day.

spectramax 7y ago
I am not sure if I'd call that terminal system anymore useful that those futuristic interfaces where everyone is moving screens around with their hands, headsets with contextual information overlaid atop objects, etc. They ignore: 1) Usability and ergonomics 2) Privacy implications 3) Technical feasibility 4) Operability in adverse conditions 5) Health effects I could list more. Also, why do these futuristic interfaces have so much pizzaz, its no less decorative than say victorian frames with french curves. Instead, we have 45 degree lines and chamfers. WHY!? The entire sci-fi aesthetics throw away what we know about the world, pragmatism and functionalism. Instead, sci-fi aesthetics focus on what looks cool. If future is full of this kind of interfaces, devices and aesthetics; I don't want to be part of it. I also understand the fiction bit in science fiction. This is a collection of ideas imagined and not supposed to be practical. That's fine and treat it like Harry Potter or any fictional world. But, when you start desiging real things with consequences (such as human-machine interfaces where astronaut's lives depend on), I have a problem with that. Marketing is not the language of nature and decoration is a crime.
- atoav 7y ago

djokkataja 7y ago

I also dislike modern design, but I dislike it because of how boring and meaningless it is. Architecture's a good example: brutalism conveys meaninglessness in a heavy-handed way, whereas modern architecture does it effortlessly. Smartphones represent the pinnacle of modern design: "This is a plain, perfect geometric figure, nothing more. It was not crafted by anything as messy and complex as human dreams, nor is it tainted by any human story or aspiration. Its existence is fundamental, inexorable."