Science Fiction essay

How has Science Fiction Evolved as a Literary Genre and has it
Influenced or Been Influenced by Contemporary Scientific
Knowledge?

What is Science Fiction?

Science Fiction has been defined as 'fictional stories with scientific
theories that explains known phenomenon or predicts new phenomenon'
[1]. Science Fiction is based on the 'what-might-be' and the
'what-might-have-been', in general. It is usually considered a
relatively new literary genre, but as the definition shows, it can be
expanded to include many myths, legends and even religious works. It is
a broad genre with a rich history and interesting future.

Science fiction divides into two main sub genres: Hard Science Fiction
and Soft Science Fiction. Hard Science Fiction focuses on the physics
side of science, dealing primarily with technology and using a great
deal of 'real' science. It is often written by scientists from various
fields, applying their knowledge in situations they would probably
never encounter in their real lives and exploring how phenomena they
could encounter might be explained. Soft Science Fiction usually deals
with the Psychology side of science, building stories on human emotions
and investigating how people might react when forced into situations
the authors themselves have never encountered.

The sub genres can also be divided into further subcategories,
including agenda SF, utopias and dystopias, new wave, cyberpunk and
space opera. These too can be broken down into more descriptive
categories, such as post apocalyptic, alternate history, alien
invasions and first contacts, time travel and lost worlds. Each
category is typical of the era in which it was written, so that sub
genres of science fiction novel come and go in waves, evolving with the
scientific and social world surrounding the people who write
them.

The Evolution of Science Fiction as a Literary Genre

Science Fiction, whilst dealing with possible futures, is always based
upon the present in which it was written. Thus, societies in Science
Fiction reflect the author's own society and their reactions to it, and
science in Science Fiction is usually based on current science fiction
knowledge. The earliest Science Fiction novel is usually considered to
be 'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley, but the genre stretches back much
further than that, so that novels like 'Utopia' by Sir Thomas Moore can
be included under the general term: Science Fiction.

Many very early Science Fiction novels, prior to the Twentieth Century,
would be considered Hard Science Fiction, or fall more broadly into
other literary genres, such as Fantasy or Horror. Those that are
clearly Science Fiction often accurately predicted certain areas of
Science that had yet to be discovered, while were woefully wrong in
others. Bishop Francis Godwin wrote 'The Man in the Moone' in 1638, and
while the concept, birds pulling a raft to the moon, is clearly
ridiculous, it did correctly predict that the moon's gravity would be
much weaker than Earth's [2]. HG Wells made the same prediction in
'First Men in the Moon', a tale based on humanity's discovery of lunar
life, and the lunar people's discovery of us.

It wasn't until the late 1800s that the science used in Science Fiction
became more recognisably accurate. Authors like HG Wells and Jules
Verne popularised the idea of the evolution of science, HG Wells even
predicting an atomic bomb in 'The World Set Free'. By the end of the
First World War Einstein had established his Theory of Relativity and
the Wright Brothers had made their first flight in 1903. Novelists now
had a lot more material to work with when finding a scientific basis
for their novels.

In the early twenties, Agenda SF was born. Perhaps one of the earliest
examples is Karel Kapek's novel 'R.U.R.', which introduce the word
'robot' to the world. Agenda SF, or Early Science Fiction, is usually
considered to be Hard Science Fiction. It generally follows (or
followed, as it is much less popular now) its contemporary
socio-political developments. As the genre aged, the impressions events
like the world wars, recessions and the atomic bomb left on the authors
are mirrored in their works. The overall tone is positive, emphasising
the advance of society and the overall improvement on a world scale. It
started to fall out of popularity in the 50s and went into a continued
decline as it became apparent that the 'space age' was much more
political and bureaucratic than the authors had expected, making the
novels seem na?ve and overly optimistic.

New Wave SF frequently uses dystopias as backdrops for it's Soft
Science Fiction themes. Utopianism, based on Thomas Moore's
philosophical novel Utopia (1516) is an outlook that believes in
perfect conditions of life that are exist nowhere, and may never exist.
The dictionary defines utopia as 'an ideal state or government'. A
dystopia is the opposite, defined as 'a place where people lead
dehumanised and often fearful lives'. A great deal of future science
fiction falls loosely into one of these categories, either visualising
a peaceful world without war, hunger, suffering and vice, or an
overpopulated urban sprawl, barely controlled by a corrupt and
degenerate government.

New Wave grew popular as Agenda SF died, a society reacting against the
Cold War and seeing it reflected in the colonial enthusiasm often seen
in Agenda SF [3]. New Wave came about as a backlash to Agenda SF,
rejecting the recycled heroes and 'new horizons' exploration in favour
of exploring the social and political nuances of possible future or
current societies. The idea that people were fallible, unlike the
protagonists of Agenda SF, yet redeemable, unlike Agenda SF's
antagonists, was a common premise, and decadent, corrupt societies and
sprawling urbanisation reflected the oppressive atmosphere of the
depressions and recessions that gripped many countries at the
time.

Space Operas fall both within and without the boundary of New Wave SF,
and a lot of it could be considered Agenda SF. Space Operas focus on
action, rather than either people or technology, making it a grey area
between Hard and Soft Science Fiction and more suited for the screen
than the pages of a book. Space Operas usually consist of large and
diverse galaxies, populated with a wide range of cultures and
societies. Within these galaxies, the story focuses on a single idea or
a small cast of characters that carry the plot. Around this main theme
is the possibility of thousands of other stories that could be told,
using the same background. Perhaps the most famous Space Opera is Star
Wars, which has spawned a collection of novels, exploring the 'other
stories' that could happen in George Lucas's vast Galaxy. An entirely
literary example of a Space Opera would be Isaac Asimov's 'Foundation'
series, which follows a psychologist's plan for the building of a new
empire, based on what he saw of his own crumbling around him.

The Space Opera is an enduring form of Science Fiction, and often the
most responsible for introducing new fans to the genre. It allows
authors to use their favourite themes from other genres, tailoring them
to fit contemporary ideals. Perhaps at it's most common in the late
seventies and early eighties, due to the success of films like Star
Wars, it's most common failing is a tendency to become clones of
itself, so that all Space Opera novels have the same basic background
and general plot, which puts off many modern readers.

Like Agenda SF, New Wave fell victim to being caught by it's own
prophesising. As standard of life improved it fell out of popularity.
Space Opera had it's hey day, drawing on many different kinds of
Science Fiction, and Hard Science Fiction in general made another brief
comeback, but the age of the internet heralded a new sub genre:
cyberpunk. The first cyberpunk novel actually came out in 1975, 'The
Shockwave Riders' by John Brunner. However, the genre didn't really
kick off until 1983, when Bruce Bethke wrote 'Cyberpunk', introducing
both the word and the genre to an expectant Science Fiction Community.
It is in this genre that the impact modern computer science has on
Science Fiction is most keenly felt, though it goes both ways. William
Gibson invented the term 'cyberspace' in his novel 'Neuromancer', still
considered one of the best Cyberpunk novels today, despite not even
owning a computer himself. Cyberpunk introduced the idea of 'inner
space' to a genre that was still associated with 'outer space'. It is a
rebellion against Capitalism, showing its dark side whenever it can,
overlooking anything on a much smaller scale than a multi-national
corporation, unless it is the hacker that usually features as the
emotionless protagonist of the novel. A lot of cyberpunk is Hard
Science Fiction, but the technology it deals with is usually treated as
an abstract concept, making it a bit more complex to define, like Space
Opera.

As the Internet continues to grow, Cyberpunk is also slipping back.
Most of it is still relevant, but as progress continues at an alarming
rate it seems to deal not with what-might-be but
what-was-just-now-and-is-outdated-in-a-few-seconds. A new kind of
Science Fiction is on the increase, dealing with an inborn fear of
superiority. As cloning and genetic modification make single lives seem
less valuable more and more each day, Science Fiction turns to
Artificial Intelligence and superior life forms to demonstrate how this
new knowledge could be used for either good or evil. The fear remains
that one day humanity will create something, be it machine or living,
that it won't be able to control. A theme first picked up in Mary
Shelley's 'Frankenstein', a book well ahead of its time and perhaps
worthy of the title 'the forerunner of modern Science Fiction', authors
continue to warn against the consequences of playing with things we
don't yet understand.

Science Fiction vs. Science Fact

The relationship between Science Fiction and Science Fact has always
been a curiously oscillating one. While authors like Jules Verne and HG
Wells accurately predicted many of the twentieth century's innovations,
they in turn were inspired by the innovations of their time. Science
Fiction is most often based on whatever the most recent scientific
discoveries have been. 'Frankenstein' was inspired by experiments that
showed that by applying electrodes to a dead frog, the legs could be
made to move as though it were still alive. Of course, many scientific
discoveries were heralded by science fiction, years earlier: '20,000
leagues under the sea', by Jules Verne, gives an accurate account of
what could only be described as plastic, despite the fact that nothing
of the sort existed in Verne's time [4].

Soft Science Fiction can have an impact as well. George Orwell's
'Nineteen Eighty Four' accurately portrays many of today's societies
more subtle intrusions on privacy, as CCTV and police cameras give the
impression that 'Big Brother is Watching You'. Isaac Asimov's
'Foundation' series reflects the downfall and uprising of many of
history's great empires, and it is possible to see the beginning of a
similar trait in America's rise to power.

And interesting example of two-way feedback between science fiction and
fact are Arthur C Clarke's novels '2001: A Space Odyssey',
'2010:Odessey Two' and '2061:Odyssey Three'. '2001' was written and
filmed at the same time, just prior to the first moon landing. Stanley
Kubrick and Arthur C Clarke drew on a lot of the information about the
moon landing to design their space ship, but in an ironic turn, their
slingshot method of reaching Saturn in the book (Jupiter in the film)
was used by the Voyager spacecraft eleven years later. Later, the crew
of Apollo 8, the first men to see the dark side of the moon, had seen
the film and declared they were very tempted to report 'a large black
monolith', as in 2001. A similar black monolith within a large white
oval is, in the book, seen on Japetus. In a frightening coincidence,
when Voyager 1 reached Japetus they beamed back a photograph of a
large, clear-cut white oval with a tiny black dot in the centre.

It is worth bearing in mind that many eminent Science Fiction authors
were, and still are, respected scientists or sociologists in their own
particular fields. Bishop Francis Godwin accurately predicted that the
moon's gravity would be many times weaker than the earth's over three
hundred years before Neil Armstrong experienced it for himself. HG
Wells made references of germ warfare and atomic weapons long before
either became a possibility. Edgar Allan Poe published 'Eureka' in
1848, accurately guessing much modern astrophysics and cosmology that
wouldn't become common for at least another century [5]. One can't help
but wonder what Einstein or Newton would have predicted, had they
written Science Fiction.

Conclusion

Science Fiction has always been about predicting the future and
explaining the past, but, no matter what sub genre, it has always
reflected the present. It evolves with society, and is often used to
show exactly what the author feels is both right and wrong with the
world in which they live. The movement of information and innovation
between Science Fiction and scientific knowledge is mutual, as both
inspire each other. Science Fiction is a genre that constantly
reinvents itself to keep up with science and keep one step ahead, and
is probably one of the most interesting genres in literary fiction
today.

Bibliography

Introduction to Arthur C Clarke's '2001: A Space Odyssey'; Legend
Paperback Edition, published 1990 by Arrow Books.

Introduction to Arthur C Clarke's '2010: Odyssey Two'; Harper Collins
Science Fiction and fantasy, published 1995

'Nineteen Eighty Four' - George Orwell

SFX Collector's Edition, The Greatest Science Fiction Movies

Science Fiction Timeline - http://www.sci-fi.org.uk

Science Fiction After the Future Went Away - a feature by Ken Macleod,
1998, http://www.infinityplus.co.uk//index.htm

Science Fiction in Context - a short essay by Damon Guy,
http://www2.glam.ac.uk/saps/sciencefiction/sf102.html

The Evolution of Science Fiction -
http://hem.passagen.se/gumby/sf/eng/

British Science Fiction Association - http://www.bsfa.co.uk/