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I forget which year, but my high school had a class on science fiction. Which the teacher did not understand too well. I ended up having to publicly correct h

I forget which year, but my high school had a class on science fiction. Which the teacher did not understand too well. I ended up having to publicly correct her on the interpretation of the end of 2001 (the book -- not that it matters given how closely it parallels the screen play). To her credit, she thought about it and publicly acknowledged my correction in a subsequent class. Also to her credit (and/or the school's): They offered a class on science fiction!

Kiro 14y ago
What was her interpretation?
- pasbesoin 14y ago
  That it was the death of mankind/Earth (not as in evolution, but as in "doomed").
bane 14y ago
An old classmate of mine had an English professor in college who, upon questions of why there was no Science Fiction on the reading list for the year, derisively called it irrelevant trash prose or some such while making pew pew sounds. He managed to overcome this by gifting the teacher a dog eared copy of Dune stating "it's an allegory". The book went unread for some time, but a year later the professor looked him up to let him know that he had read Dune, found it intriguing in how many subjects it touched, from social issues to ecology to economics and called it profound. He asked for some more recommendations upon which he rapidly became a fan of Clark, Heinlein (who he had read before, but now again with new eyes) and a few others. I was with my classmate one day years later at a grocery store and this professor saw him and walked up to say hi. A short conversation later and the professor mentioned how he had turned into quite a fan of the genre and regrets he had spent so long ignoring it. Some of the works, he said were "silly" but a few were some of the most profound descriptions of the human condition and where we're going as a species, coupled with some of the only explorations of the changes to the ethical landscape as technology transforms the world in literature...etc. etc. Before he left he said he had recently started reading some of the old Cyberpunk works and found himself sitting up at night with the realization that many of the things described in the books were coming true now, decades later. It was really interesting to see a man, who must have been in his 70s by this point, catch the sci-fi religion like that.
- pasbesoin 14y ago
  That is a great story and sums up much of my perspective quite well.

Kiro 14y ago

What was her interpretation?

pasbesoin 14y ago
That it was the death of mankind/Earth (not as in evolution, but as in "doomed").

bane 14y ago

An old classmate of mine had an English professor in college who, upon questions of why there was no Science Fiction on the reading list for the year, derisively called it irrelevant trash prose or some such while making pew pew sounds. He managed to overcome this by gifting the teacher a dog eared copy of Dune stating "it's an allegory". The book went unread for some time, but a year later the professor looked him up to let him know that he had read Dune, found it intriguing in how many subjects it touched, from social issues to ecology to economics and called it profound. He asked for some more recommendations upon which he rapidly became a fan of Clark, Heinlein (who he had read before, but now again with new eyes) and a few others. I was with my classmate one day years later at a grocery store and this professor saw him and walked up to say hi. A short conversation later and the professor mentioned how he had turned into quite a fan of the genre and regrets he had spent so long ignoring it. Some of the works, he said were "silly" but a few were some of the most profound descriptions of the human condition and where we're going as a species, coupled with some of the only explorations of the changes to the ethical landscape as technology transforms the world in literature...etc. etc. Before he left he said he had recently started reading some of the old Cyberpunk works and found himself sitting up at night with the realization that many of the things described in the books were coming true now, decades later. It was really interesting to see a man, who must have been in his 70s by this point, catch the sci-fi religion like that.

pasbesoin 14y ago
That is a great story and sums up much of my perspective quite well.