Bill MacKenty

What about the future, what about science fiction?

What is our future in 100 years? 1000 years?

I'm not sure of course, but it is really fun to think about it.

I am a voracious reader and consumer of science fictionEven early we encounter a problem! The definition of science fiction, science fantasy, and fantasy is pretty nebulous. There are sub-genre's of science fiction. More on that in a bit.. Books, movies, TV shows, video games and RPG's all shape and inform my view of science fiction. I note a few common themes in science fiction:

• a near-future dystopian hell-scape (fallout)
• a dystopian far-future empire (warhammer, maybe Starfield)
• a cyberpunk, hyper-modern world (William Gibson, and Cyberpunk 2077)
• an idealized clean-future federation (star trek)
• a dark dystopian steampunk-like setting (China Miéville and Perdido Street Station)
• a feudal / science-fictiony setting like Star Wars
• a science fantasy - where magic / multiple races are present (starfinder)
• a near-future apocalyptic / hard science fiction (Seveneves by Neal Stephenson)
• a far future, fantastical world (Stanislaw Lem)

We could almost say for every piece of science fiction work, there is a different vision / idea about what the future will be like. This is very interesting because thinking about the future, imagining the future, putting ourselves into a future can start us building towards it.

Of course in all science fiction we explore what it means to be human in a very different culture, place and context. Science fiction is a unique genre allowing this sort of placement-of-self.

In the next few posts, I will be exploring ideas around science fiction, and ask for your thoughts and ideas as I do so.