LITR 4632: Literature of the Future

Student Midterms 2011: Sample Essay 2

Tanya Partida

Taking Some of the Science out of Science Fiction

Science Fiction writing is a relatively new genre of writing that has the ability to combine ideas in classic literature with a highly technological world of futuristic gadgets and machines. But, a lot of science fiction seems to lack, or at least not get too hung up on, science and technology. There are many science fiction stories that present futures, alternate realities, catastrophic events, and time travel with not too much emphasis on the complex science of it all. These low-tech stories present futuristic ideas in an easy to understand form that utilizes science but doesn’t confuse its readers, and these stories seem to making a more lasting impression.

While high-tech science fiction writing has a way of capturing our attention with images of flying cars and robotic armies, readers are still looking for a good story behind all the description. High-tech narratives are immensely interesting, but when not done right they have an easier time losing an audience. High-tech narratives are always in danger of bogging down readers with over the top descriptions about future technology that is difficult to keep up with in our less advanced age. While only a matter of opinion, low-tech stories that have limited descriptive elements of science and technology kept within a larger concept or idea always seem to work better in getting its message across.

The Time Machine is one example of a rather low-tech story that has been able to maintain audiences for over a century. Of course, at the time it was first published descriptions of the time machine and the way it moved through time would have seemed like extremely high-tech storytelling, but even then it would not have been so far-fetched for people to understand. In a time where locomotives are the main form of transportation and the automobile is not far from replacing the locomotive, the idea of a man sitting in a tiny train car, speeding along, watching the world go by wasn’t a hard concept to understand. Furthermore, once the time-traveler got to his future destination, technology was not present at all. Although he was in the future it seemed he had been thrust thousands of years back into the Stone Age. Although I cannot say why Wells chose this environment, it does seem that it allowed the ideas and concepts that the story presented to take center stage. The Time Machine is still capturing the attention readers with its comments on social equality, evolution, and scientific exploration.

Relating this to more recent narratives, Stone Lives is a more high-tech story. Although the idea of a corporate takeover and its dystopian society are easily identified, there is a lot of science and technology as well. Although Stone Lives is a very imaginative and interesting story, words and phrases like “4M”, “Citrine Rejuve”, or “Bronx FEZ” become distracting. Readers have to spend time wondering what it all means only to discover the story doesn’t fully explain it anyway, consequently drawing attention away from the storyline. Stone Lives manages to bring is audience back in the short amount of time it has and is a great read. It has survived the last 20 or years in the science fiction world, and, hopefully, will stay around longer.

Another more high-tech story that I found interesting was Mozart in Mirrorshades. While a fun and enjoyable read, I found it hard to imagine. Perhaps it was imagining Mozart dressed in jeans and Thomas Jefferson being the first American president that distracted me. Although the futuristic technology is not overwhelming, modern technology serves as a form of distraction. We are constantly piecing together the image of the “past” by having to add in a new accessory we didn’t think would be there before. The best part of the story, of course, is the conversation that takes place about alternate realities and the different branches of the future that are accessible. A story that describes a similar concept of time is Borges’ The Garden of Forking Paths. Although it has slightly complex storyline, there is almost no scientific or futuristic images that is distracting to the reader. In fact, one would not even think it was a science fiction story until the very end. The concept of different realities where our lives are different based on the choices we make is an idea that is so futuristic that the concept does not need extra scientific facts. The idea itself is enough to spark our interest that from there we will read short stories about symbolic mazes and characters we hardly understand without worrying about the confusion.

Although science-fiction writing is great in any form, I find it much more enjoyable with a little less science in it. High-tech future narratives are great ways to imagine and speculate over new ideas about technology that we might be able to later use ourselves, but it will always be the underlying issues of society, ethics and morality, and humanity that will gain our interest.