Philosophy, Ideology and SFF

[Michael Colton]

This topic cropped up in my mind due to some of the discussions that have occurred over in the World Affairs subforum. The question is threefold. I'm sure these issues have been discussed before in various threads, but they seem to happen incidentally out of our discursive peripheral vision. I want to ask them explicitly.

• What philosophies, ideologies, worldviews, or systems of thought do you think have been important in the development of SFF?
• Do you think there is something about your own views related to the topics of the first question that drew you to SFF?
• Do you think these sort of topics should be intimately involved in SFF?

Per usual, move this if it is in the wrong section. I picked History because of the first question.

 

[The Judge]

As all three questions are concerned with SFF, I think it is really more a matter for the SFF Lounge than History, so I'll move it over.

 

[Michael Colton]

As all three questions are concerned with SFF, I think it is really more a matter for the SFF Lounge than History, so I'll move it over.

Much appreciated. I will learn to post properly someday.

 

[Mirannan]

Of present-day systems of thought, beliefs and political standpoints many of them would be either superseded, greatly altered or flat-out disproved in many SF settings. Two examples are the left/right dichotomy in politics specifically relating to economic policy (in a world where most things can be had for the asking (those that don't involve rare elements or large amounts of land, perhaps) what price any sort of economic theory?) and religious beliefs in a world that includes sapient (or transapient, perhaps) entities with capabilities much greater than human. If Skynet wasn't evil, I can easily imagine mere humans worshiping it - maybe they would consider it some sort of avatar or messenger from whatever god or gods they worship.

Of systems more related to SF, maybe transhumanism is the most obviously dependent on high technology. And it's going to creep up on us; I saw a report recently that live machine translation of voice calls has just gone live.

 

[tinkerdan]

Asking all of this in relation to SFF seems sort of odd in the sense that SFF relies on the what if of all of those and many more things and where the writer goes is mostly limited by imagination and possibly the known progression of what we have today that might lead to that. All relying on the what if in relationship to what we know exists.

To take that backwards: What if someone had told Clark that by 2001 we'd never be as advanced in spaceflight because of budget constraints and safety concerns. Would he have back peddled or would it have been 2101 Space Odyssey.

I think the only limit comes when it comes to preaching; there has to be moderation with an understanding that in some cases someone will have to come out ahead so maybe your philosophy will win out this time but maybe by some strange but similar logic it doesn't. There has to be a realistic balance of uncertainty or at least a logical progression to whatever paradisaical end you come to.

I think it's the extrapolation of all things that drew me into SFF and perhaps it was tempered with an optimism that somehow the best things might prevail.

But the larger picture that is sometimes the more important or interesting becomes those stories that deal with trying to shift the boundaries of what we think is best.

Everything must be respected to a large extent, but nothing is sacred. (Though some might object to the latter.)

 

[Anne Spackman]

I think having a philosophical turn of mind is integral to creating good writing. I like psychologically complex fiction and characters that are multi-faceted and complex as well. An author's beliefs and values usually have a considerable effect upon his work, but sometimes they can overwhelm a novel and at other times, the ideologies and philosophy are presented with a light touch that intrigues and persuades us to the author's point of view. I like to be intrigued and even won over by something I might not have believed before, by what I read that is compelling on some level. I like science fiction because it makes us wonder what could be possible that currently is not, and it often tests our values by setting up extraordinary circumstances where the protagonists must face unforeseen challenges.