4 ms·

The Form and Function of Science Fiction (2019)

29 points by conanxin 5y ago

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
dsr_ 5y ago
Completely misses the bit where science fiction doesn't have a unified purpose. Some SF comments on current society. Some comments on trends. Some is escapist. Some are warnings, and some are dreams. Some are didactic, or moralist, or propaganda. Some SF, like other kinds of art, is commentary on previous works of art. SF doesn't have a singular function any more than any other major genre of art has a singular function. And SF clearly transcends form -- is not the Chicago Bean SFnal? So there is SF illustration and painting, poetry and short stories, novellae and novels, epics, short films, feature films, music and sculpture.
- fit2rule 5y ago
  SF is 'speculative fiction', which does indeed encompass an extraordinarily imaginative realm, near-infinite in scope. If you ask, "what if?", you're in the midst of it - whether there is a clear answer, or otherwise.
37ef_ced3 5y ago
Everyone should read Vernor Vinge's "Rainbows End" to understand a plausible outcome of the technological change we are witnessing today. It's a bittersweet book, about being a small human in a world where the value of individual creative efforts are overwhelmed by the sheer might of automation and vast collaboration and technological accumulation. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End You will recognize Pokemon Go, and many other things that happened after the book was published (2006). Great foresight. Wikipedia: Vernor Vinge is an American science fiction author and retired professor. He taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University. He is the first wide-scale popularizer of the technological singularity concept and perhaps the first to present a fictional "cyberspace" (in his novella True Names). He also wrote "A Fire Upon the Deep" and "A Deepness in the Sky", but those are more escapist.
dwd 5y ago
From the illustrations FLW's concept of a super-tall skyscraper looks very much like the Burj Khalifa.

29 points by conanxin 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

dsr_ 5y ago

Completely misses the bit where science fiction doesn't have a unified purpose. Some SF comments on current society. Some comments on trends. Some is escapist. Some are warnings, and some are dreams. Some are didactic, or moralist, or propaganda. Some SF, like other kinds of art, is commentary on previous works of art. SF doesn't have a singular function any more than any other major genre of art has a singular function. And SF clearly transcends form -- is not the Chicago Bean SFnal? So there is SF illustration and painting, poetry and short stories, novellae and novels, epics, short films, feature films, music and sculpture.

fit2rule 5y ago
SF is 'speculative fiction', which does indeed encompass an extraordinarily imaginative realm, near-infinite in scope. If you ask, "what if?", you're in the midst of it - whether there is a clear answer, or otherwise.

37ef_ced3 5y ago

Everyone should read Vernor Vinge's "Rainbows End" to understand a plausible outcome of the technological change we are witnessing today. It's a bittersweet book, about being a small human in a world where the value of individual creative efforts are overwhelmed by the sheer might of automation and vast collaboration and technological accumulation. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End You will recognize Pokemon Go, and many other things that happened after the book was published (2006). Great foresight. Wikipedia: Vernor Vinge is an American science fiction author and retired professor. He taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University. He is the first wide-scale popularizer of the technological singularity concept and perhaps the first to present a fictional "cyberspace" (in his novella True Names). He also wrote "A Fire Upon the Deep" and "A Deepness in the Sky", but those are more escapist.

dwd 5y ago

From the illustrations FLW's concept of a super-tall skyscraper looks very much like the Burj Khalifa.