The Final Frontier

Science Fiction

How Can You Tell if it’s Science Fiction?• Story contains futuristic technology-technology

that hasn’t been invented yet. (Avatar)• Blends science fact and fictional elements.

(Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs)• Speculates on what might happen in society if

current trends continue. (2012, Day After Tomorrow)

• Utopias and the price you pay. (Wall-E)

Themes in Science Fiction

• Love• Justice• Truth• Loyalty• Goodness• Courage• Wisdom• Equality or Fairness

Controversy

• Looking at society and saying “what if” or “why not” tends to make people uncomfortable.

• Asking us to look at our own society’s inequalities or dark sides isn’t always pretty.

• Often written for adults so it includes subject matter not considered appropriate for children.

• Asks us the question of what price will you pay for a perfect society?

Types of Science Fiction

1. We call out to the Universe to see who answers… And the Answer is…..

• Dinner is served!• Look at all the pretty little animals!• Look at all those resources! And then WWIII.• Alright! Free labor! • Big Brother shows up to show us the way.• Earth is quarantined or slated for destruction.

Types of Science Fiction

2. We go visiting other planets and find more “primitive” life forms.

• Is it the colonists vs. the Indians all over again?• Do we destroy another planet’s ecosystem just because

we want the resources?• Do we give benevolent “help” and move the natives up

to our technological level?• Do we have a policy of non-intervention?• Who of us gets to go and benefit from space exploration?

Avatar

How Science imitates Fiction

• In 1977, NASA launched a probe called Voyager to explore some of the planets in our solar system.

• Attached to Voyager was a golden record of greetings in various earth languages and the sounds of nature.

• There was also a star map showing where Earth is located in relationship to the Milky Way Galaxy, our home galaxy.

• Voyager is currently leaving the fringes of our solar system and will continue out into intragalatic space.

• NASA will be able to communicate with Voyager through 2025 http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov

Types of Science Fiction

3. Alternate universes- what would have happened if big turning points in earth history had gone the other way?

(Planet of the Apes)

Types of Science Fiction

• 4. Man’s technology gets away from him and causes problems or destruction. (Terminator, Stephen King’s The Stand, I am Legend.

Types of Science Fiction

5. Utopia studies and Worst Case scenarios.• The story really focuses on changes in society

and human relationship interactions. • Set in another place and time so we can

objectively look at things without having our prejudices and pre-conceived notions get in the way.

Is it Science Fiction or Fantasy?

• Fantasy uses elements magic or myth.• Science Fiction uses more “hard” or “real”

science.*Lines between the two are often blurred and

hard to define.*

Jules Verne: one of the Founding Fathers of Science Fiction

• “Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.” Jules Verne from Around the World in Eighty Days.

Jules Verne: Feb. 8, 1928 - Mar. 24, 1905

Inventions and Ideas of Jules Verne that Came True

• Submarines, especially electric (battery powered)• Televison and newscasts• Skywriting• Space satellites for communication and defense• Solar sails• Rockets and space flight and methods of landing the spacecraft.• Tasers• Videoconferencing or Skyping• Gene splicing, genetic recombination• Subways• Gasoline powered automobiles for the average person• Fax machines

Science Fiction Greats

• Isaac Asimov (January 2,1920-April 6, 1992)

• Robert Heinlein (July 7, 1907-May 8, 1966)

• Arthur C. Clarke (December 16, 1917-March 19, 2008)

• Gene Roddenberry (August 19, 1921-October 24, 1991)First Science Fiction Magazine: Astounding Science

FictionLiterary Award for Science Fiction: The Hugo