4 ms·
Good point. Can someone recommend some good optimistic science fiction?
by luotuoshangdui 1y ago
Good point. Can someone recommend some good optimistic science fiction?
- jauntywundrkind 1y agoA Half Built Garden was lovely, I thought. Ada Palmer had a good write-up on Hopepunk. Many of the example books come towards the latter half of the write-up. https://beforewegoblog.com/purity-and-futures-of-hard-work-by-ada-palmer/ https://beforewegoblog.com/purity-and-futures-of-hard-work-b...
- luotuoshangdui 1y agoThanks, hopepunk is a fun new concept to learn about.
- igor47 1y agoi tried "half built garden" and just could not continue reading it. why is everyone so obsessed with their genders and pronouns?
- stevenwoo 1y agoProject Hail Mary, The Martian, Contact. Somewhat in line with a better future mentioned in the essay, The Ministry for the Future and the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson posit some solutions to some big technological challenges with a lot of time with each side in the political debate, though whether one finds it optimistic lies with the reader.
- sho_hn 1y agoI was as disappointed as everbody else by Artemis, but Project Hail Mary was a great return to form and a great Space MacGyver Procedura. Definitely left me fired up and feeling positive as well. I really appreciate just the joy in knowledge that Weir's books revel in.
- stevenwoo 1y agoI might just be vulnerable to maudlin storylines but Project Hail Mary made me tear up a couple of times. The audiobook adaptation is tremendous with sound effects, too.
- cpeterso 1y agoA film adaptation of Project Hail Mary wrapped filming last year and is set to be released in 2026. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hail_Mary_(film) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hail_Mary_(film)
- Mithriil 1y agoThe Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley Robinson. Realistic and optimistic climate fiction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ministry_for_the_Future https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ministry_for_the_Future
- blacksmith_tb 1y agoBut it begins with a nightmarish heatwave that kills hundreds of thousands in India, which may be a little hard for some people to handle (judging by the reactions of people I've recommended it to...)
- lukewrites 1y agoYeah I stopped after that and still find myself thinking about it from time to time...if the book gets happier from there, I'll pick it up again.
- gmuslera 1y agoWhen you realize all that must work (not in the physical world, but in the human one) perfectly for that problem to be solved it becomes very pessimistic. The human part of that book is fantasy, and not a great one. At some point the suspension of disbelief crash into pieces.
- porphyra 1y agoStar Trek is often considered the archetype of optimistic science fiction.
- sho_hn 1y agoSadly its present-day incarnations are often anything but, so it's not an easy rec anymore.
- morkalork 1y agoThe TNG Picard character was a man of _principles_ that you just don't see anymore on TV.
- nntwozz 1y agoYeah TNG is my go-to for optimistic sci-fi. Voyager a close second; Deep Space 9 is a bit more muddled. Modern Trek is a let-down, although Lower Decks has been awesome with lots of member berries sprinkled throughout for the TNG-era enjoyers. I should add that Star Trek: Prodigy (albeit a kids show) has been very optimistic and enjoyable too, feels very much like TNG-era. Janeway and Chakotay are in as well. P.S. On a tangent The Orville (a Star Trek TNG clone by Seth MacFarlane) is pretty good; some Star Trek actors even show up in it. Season 4 is apparently in production.
- alganet 1y agoStar Trek kinda sucks. It's an attempt at reforming quasi fascistic points of view. Strong hierarchies, heavy specialization of individuals, etc. It is also kinda nice, in the sense that it explores this idea that you should put yourself in the shoes of the places they explore. It also sucks, because their fans like to put themselves in the shoes of the quasi fascistic spaceship troops. So, in the end, it is a dystopian nightmare. Told from the perspective of the ones who brought the dystopia to fruition. Which makes it optimistic, I guess! Except for all the planets not on their control having to put up with them.
- 1y ago
- igor47 1y agoThe "Delta V" books by Daniel Suarez. I've been recommending "The Deluge" by Stephen Markeley, which is simultaneously very dark and quite optimistic. "Walkaway" by Cory Doctorow
- blacksmith_tb 1y agoI liked the _The Deluge_ (great characterization), Doctorow is generally good and _Walkaway_ was great, his _The Lost Cause_[1] is also a fairly hopeful novel. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Cause_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Cause_(novel)
- i80and 1y agoThe Monk & Robot books[1] are my personal favorites in the whole genre. [1]: https://us.macmillan.com/series/monkrobot https://us.macmillan.com/series/monkrobot
- pkdpic 1y agoLiterally anything written by Liu Cuxin. Not overtly positive all the time but always infused with a deep historical optimism about humanity and the power of science + engineering. Also I second Ministry for the Future. Reading the newer translation of We right now also and the first 1/2 or so is weirdly positive. Not what I remembered at all.
- hoseja 1y agoYou and I must have read different books or imagine vastly different things under the term "optimism".
- aaron695 1y ago[dead]
- o11c 1y agoA Miracle of Science (webcomic, 2002-2007) https://www.project-apollo.net/mos/ https://www.project-apollo.net/mos/
- WillAdams 1y agoIt takes it a long while to get there, but L.E. Modesitt, Jr.'s "Forever Hero Trilogy" has always felt optimistic to me.