Written by: Vinnie C.
Edited by: Jairaj Vij
Illustration by: Ananya Prabhakar
Science Fiction is often called the literature of ideas due its depiction of limitless futuristic possibilities.
It can be set in a mythological setting or in space or even in the underworld and still be closer to reality than we think.
As Isaac Asimov described it, it is “The branch of literature concerned with the impact of Scientific Advance on Human Beings”.
In Science Fiction all the “what if”s are valid. The current understanding of practicality is not a hindrance here.
What if we encounter aliens? What if a giant asteroid hits Earth? What if the decision taken by robots to kill humans is logical and valid since machines are programmed by us to only use sound logic and rationality to make decisions.
The genre also inherently explores what it is like to be human, even if unintended. The movies that are set in a dystopian world embed fear in the minds of its human audience because the content of that production is more real and plausible than we thought. We realise that those events can happen to us, as soon as we see a connection of humans suffering in the media and it makes us wonder about the fiction aspect of it and whether it will remain fictional or not?
Science Fiction does not only focus on a complicated future but it also includes an interplay of History, Psychology, Politics, Sociology and a lot of other subjects.
Jurassic Park, for example, focuses on us using Science to revive a version of something that has been History for a long period of time and yet, we try to make it as authentic as possible.
Two Science Fiction novels that use a blend of many subjects and also paved for all other novels under this genre are Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The left hand of darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Through these novels and many more, we get acquainted to two of the most explored environments in this genre are dystopia and utopia.
Dystopia is seen where humans struggle to maintain societal structure under oppressive conditions which they created for themselves and those who did not agree to these conditions are simply left behind.
The want to and to an extent, need to build a utopian future is so in demand for humans that they do not mind putting themselves through an intensely dystopian and inhumane present for it.
Moving on to Utopia, where humans live in the most idealised version or the world around them but at what cost? Rationally speaking, in order to derive an idealised world, everything will have to be mechanical in the start and a lot of compromises will have to be made. People will receive a set job or family or environment instead of picking their own. Free will, will be altered in the name of utilitarianism.
Science Fiction is often called the Literature of ideas and as we know, Literature branches out into multiple sub genres and those genres are a whole different worlds of their own, with a vast array of themes.
In tiny ways like this, through a social monocle, this genre might be closer to us than we think.
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