Dreaming Dreams...



Matthew J. Laznicka - Popular Mechanics

Acts 2:17 (redacted): ...and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams...

Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower, and Parable of the Talents are defined as "dystopian novels," not unlike "1984" (which happens to be the year I graduated college undergrad - Orwellian). I'm not so sure that a movie of either work would do justice to the stories told: based on the after effects of global warming, short-sighted politics, hyper empathy, religion, race, class, sexuality, slavery and spaceflight! A lot in both works.

The [apparent didactic] function of the dystopian: sound the alarm of where we're likely heading, make it as horrible as humanly possible and steer us in a course correction from plunging over a social/political/scientific cliff (metaphorically speaking). Or, at least the sheer satisfaction of saying: "I told you so!" The Dark Knight Returns (void of didacticism), another influential, modern example.

However, I was struck by the call in this article for "Big, Bold Science Fiction" reflective of the big, bold times. However, we're dominated by the technology as "end-users" not producers; the goal now to get-a-job to buy/consume the stuff; our fantasies are handed to us on a CD or million-player online universes by video game programmers. I seldom see or hear of kids reading comic books (most of the purchases are by adults now). S.T.E.M. careers are being avoided in droves, the void filled by other young people in other countries more prepared to face the challenges of a high-tech world...and probably higher reading rates in speculative and classical fiction.

*****

The future isn't what it used to be. And neither is science fiction. While books about space exploration and robots once inspired young people to become scientists and engineers—and inspired grownup engineers and scientists to do big things—in recent decades the field has become dominated by escapist fantasies and depressing dystopias. That could be contributing to something that I see as a problem. It seems that too many technically savvy people, engineers in particular, are going to work for Web startups or investment firms. There's nothing wrong with such companies, but we also need engineers to design bold new things for use in the physical world: space colonies instead of social media.

Read more: Why We Need Big, Bold Science Fiction - Popular Mechanics
See also: FutureMorphdotorg