Literature of the Future: terms & themes

Alternative History as Narrative of the Future

metaphors:

maze, labyrinth

branches of tree

forking paths

string quartet in "Half Past Eight"

classrooms in a university

Related concepts or cultural correspondences:

alternative genders

multicultural society

Key terms or signs: :

What-if?

quantum physics, probability, time travel / parallel world

scale of time:

infinite, but not merely in extension--infinite multiplication of realities

verifiability:

Quantum physics predicts limited probability of time travel. Most people can't understand the scientific explanation, but scientists verify their speculations, so the ideas are serious even if we don't do more than play with them.

ethical issues:

alternate reality > alternate morality?

colonizing alternative histories

cross-cultures, mixed time frames

appeals:

playfulness

irony

multiplicity of story-lines (to point of diminishing returns)

popularity:

A frequent plot gimmick of science fiction is time travel that threatens to change the past or future

What kind of future is promised?

Nature or reality is enormous, complex, and multiple, beyond the human mind. Any effort by the human mind to comprehend is an aspect or angle on the subject, not exclusive of others.

Normally apocalypse and evolution are choices, either one or the other. Alternative futures enables an acceptance of all regardless of understanding.