The rapid pace of technology and the
advancement of scientific understanding in the past one hundred years are at
the backbone for the distinctly twentieth century genre -- science fiction. Such rapid advancement in these fields of
technology have opened up literally worlds of possibilities for the
future. One hundred years ago the
possibility of simply flying from city to city may have seemed nothing more
than a distant futuristic dream to most.
While a mere sixty years later the impossible was achieved -- a human
being on the moon. Since technology has
brought as much change as it has in the past one hundred years the next hundred
should be entirely incomprehendable to us. Who knows what to expect? "The modern discoveries and applications
of
Science throw deeply into the shade the old romances and fanciful legends of
our boyhood" (James 8) observes James.
Technology has made what was once thought impossible, plausible and weather or not technology is directly
incorporated into a science fiction story as an obvious vehicle, the author
knows that it is always present in the mind of the reader. It is this plausablilty of what
conventionally should not be acceptable that has led to science fiction's
increasing popularity over the years.
As James explains, "much sf is concerned with the future and with
the possibilities presented by scientific and technological change" (James
3). Truly, humans exploring and even
colonizing other worlds, the plot of many a science fiction novel, has to many become inevitable. The successful series of Apollo moon
landings in the 1960's and the knowledge that we already possess the technology
to send humans to other worlds leads many to believe that it is only a matter
of time. Even such a notably respectable
news source as Newsweek has detailed the future maned missions to Mars
(September, 23 1996). When I look
forward to the future I can hardly imagine the changes that will occur as a
result of new discoveries in science and new technologies. With so many possibilities for the future,
science fiction is able to capitalizes on this by showing the audience entirely
new worlds and alternatives to our own.
Technology presented in science fiction stories
most commonly serves a very important role in the stories plausablilty to the
audience. While this does not mean that
technology is necessarily the focus of such stories it is often used as the
vehicle for which such alternative and wonderous events occur. Without the
advanced spaceship how could the Segnauts
have gotten to the planet Zorgon and defeated the evil empire? In 2064, or Thereabouts by David R. Bunch,
the robotic men and the mechanical world play a secondary role to the
importance of the human traits these half man half machines possess. Despite the fact that these people have
become converted into a part robot for increased strength and, apparently, longer life the mind still searches for
something that technology apparently has not solved -- the meaning of
life. The initial recognition by the
reader that technology in our time and place is continuously expanding allows
for plausibility such a strange and bizarre plot to occur. In Pohl's Day Million the seemingly strange
world set one thousand years in the future is so completely different from
earth today because of technological changes in virtually everything -- even
the act of love, which is at the center of the story, has become completely alien to the
audience. (Pohl 166) Despite the fact
that the technology presented may seem strange and unusual to the audience Pohl
draws his ideas directly from modern day science and technology. Gene manipulation and machine interaction
with the body are all currently being researched and used in the science labs
and hospitals. In the case of Day
Million such technology shapes how these people live and interact with one
another.
Science fiction in many cases attempts to
better our understanding of our own world and our surroundings by using
technology not as a form of advancement, as it is commonly seen in many
stories, but as a form of destruction and danger. James states,
"You might note that only on sf shelves are there serious fictional
discussions of the possibilities of survival after nuclear warfare or the
consequences of the greenhouse effect or of overpopulating or of the possible
dire consequences of genetic engineering" (James 3). Truly, the 'mad scientist' character itself
was spawned from science fiction. Earth
by David Brin deals with a miniature black hole developed by a scientist who
believed he knew how to contain it.
Instead the experiment goes out of control and results in a expanding
black hole that consumes the Earth from the inside out. Technology in Michael Chrichton's Jurassic
Park, the best selling novel in 1990, enables scientists, lured by greed, to
genetically engineer dinosaurs that turn out to be too much for the human
scientists to handle, despite the technological precautions taken
beforehand. The reader surely can not
help but compare the world of the story to that of their own. "Not only is science fiction an idea of
tremendous import, but it is to be an important factor in making the world a
better place to live in, through educating the public to the possibilities of
science and the influence of science on life" (James 8). Science fiction in this sense does much more
than simply relay a story but it calls for the awareness of the reader to judge
the possibilities of the future of their own world. Certainly science fiction in many cases
serves not only as a beautiful vision of our future but also as a clear warning
of what might become. "The content
may be not scientific but scientistic, when science and technology are
presented as deity (or negatively as demon).
Science is all-powerful: it can create anything (destroy
everything). Science will save us
(destroy us). It can solve any problem (it is the problem). It is the essence of human (it creates
monsters). Science is a purely rational
process (the scientist is mad)" (Guin 23).
Technology in these science fiction stories poses clear questions to the
audience as to the merits of such 'advancement'. "Science fiction not only allows us to
escape our assigned space and time and step into other dimensions. It lets us examine our mundane, earthbound problems
from a fresh original viewpoint" (James 1).
The advancement of science and technology in
the twentieth century and the unknown of what lays ahead in our future have
allowed science fiction to not only plausibly escape the world as we know it but
criticize it as well. "If you
thought about it, you might see that sf...because they deal with imaginative
alternatives to the real world, also frequently offer criticism to that
world" (James 3). Science fiction
can not help but draw upon the promise of future technology and analyze how it
will effect our lives. While this role
may be secondary in many science fiction stories, its importance most certainly
is not meant by the author to be ignored.
No comments:
Post a Comment