I’ve been thinking about science fiction again. Namely I’m considering the role of sci fi in driving the scientific frontier. This popped up again recently when I recognized that the new Pizza car is straight out of a Neal Stephenson novel. Stephenson wrote in 1992, “As he scrunches to a stop, the electromechanical hatch on the flank of his car is already opening to reveal his empty pizza slots, the door clicking and folding back in on itself like the wing of a beetle. The slots are waiting. Waiting for hot pizza.” So, that happened. Finally.
The space between what writers dream and scientists create is collapsing in on itself, as if the two sides of an already thin line are bantering back and forth, one playing against the other for ideas and vie versa. Yesterday’s post was as much about no longer being part of that conversation as it was about anything else.
I don’t feel a part of the conversation because of the very specific niche of science fiction I am writing in as of late. My 2070 is spun out from 90’s tech that evolved quite a bit slower than how things turned out in real life. Likewise, outside of my tiny corder of sci fi, there are a lot of speculative writers–especially in the deep space genre, are being thwarted by the lack of interest and advancement in science. We are collectively more about making money these days than about making discoveries.
The point is that writers and scientists need to push each other and to do so effectively, I believe writers need to imagine what lives far beyond the tech curve to the unimaginable future of what could be. I don’t think I’ve been doing that, and I can think of few writers who are. The majority of us hit a point where we are more interested in talking about the whole thing collapsing than imagining the cool world that would follow if it doesn’t collapse.
Some Thoughts:
- More boys means more noise. Seriously. The more I fill the house with l’il dudes, the more I recognize how truly boisterous and busy boys are.
- I’m learning to take Trump seriously. He very well could be the next president of the United States. A large part of that is our own political ignorance. For one thing, we have a total inability to distinguish socialism from communism.