[Home] [The list] [Scifi Authors] [Scifi vs SF] [Best book right now] [Partners]

Science fiction Science fiction has often been concerned with the great hopes people place in science but also with their fears concerning the negative side of technological development; the latter is expressed in the classic theme of the hubristic scientist who is destroyed by his own creation. Much science fiction attempts to generate a sense of wonder, or awe, from the setting, circumstances, or ideas presented. Paradigm shifts may be used to induce a sense of shock, or a change in the frame of reference for the reader. A popular misconception is that science fiction attempts to predict the future. Some commentators may even go so far as to judge the "success" of a work of science fiction on the accuracy of its predictions.[citation needed] However, while some science fiction is set in the future, most authors are not attempting literally to predict it; instead, they use the future as an open framework for their themes. As Ray Bradbury put it, "People ask me to predict the future, when all I want to do is prevent it." A science fiction writer is generally not trying to write a history of the future that they believe will happen, any more than a writer of westerns is trying to create a historically accurate depiction of the old West. Writers are as likely to write of a future that they hope will not happen as they are to write about a future they think will happen. Future societies and remarkable technological innovations are presented as enabling devices for cognitive exploration - or simply for entertainment - and the narratives are not meant to be predictive in any simple way. There are exceptions, however, especially in early science fiction. According to Eric S. Rabkin: "The touchstone for scientific fiction, then, is that it describes an imaginary invention or discovery in the natural sciences. The most serious pieces of this fiction arise from speculation about what may happen if science makes an extraordinary discovery. The romance is an attempt to anticipate this discovery and its impact upon society, and to foresee how mankind may adjust to the new condition." (Pilgrims Through Space and Time [New York, 1947]) Also on another note, for all you science fiction, fantasy and book fans, don't miss out on the big BokMässa in gothenburg, Sweden this September. A place filled with lots and lots of yummy books!